The Army’s aviation branch has developed–on its own initiative to avoid financial budget cutters–a plan to sustain rotary wing capability over time, while producing a ready, affordable fleet, the branch chief said.
Photo: U.S. Army
The first major airing of the initiative, which has repeatedly been emphasized as pre-decisional, left stunned looks and some some mouths agape in the audience of service and industry personnel.
“If we left it (aviation reorganization) purely to budgeteers, it would be really be ugly, so instead of being victims…we collectively brought all the stakeholders together” to determine how to sustain and package aviation to provide the capability combat commanders require, said Maj. Gen. Kevin Mangum, commanding general, Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker.
The goal is to have the “very best force we can afford,” he said.
As the Association of the United States Army Aviation Symposium kicked off in Virginia, one of the first slides Mangum showed said, “we must balance force structure, modernization and training to mitigate the impacts of the Budget Control Act on Army aviation readiness to ensure that expectations do not exceed capabilities in future first battles.”
Mangum said to assess the impact of budget cuts, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno said the service can’t afford to have too little aviation, but “we darn sure can’t afford to have too much.”
Since the same conference a year ago, $250 million was cut from the flying hour program, something felt at Fort Rucker and the surrounding community, he said. While forced to take cuts, the Army will not lower its standards.
“We have the best rotary wing pilots in the world…we will have to train fewer with budgets we are afforded,” he said.
A deep dive analysis examined how much aviation capability was needed for a force of 490,000 and how that would change if that number dropped even further–with symposium attendees often mentioning a figure of 420,000 as a potential bottom line.
“What we’ve done for Army leadership is built a strategy that that allows him to balance manpower, cost, capability and risk,” Mangum said.
In a jaw-dropping recital, Mangum said looking to the FY ’16-’19 Program Objective Memorandum cycle, modernization and equipping accounts will take about a 40 percent decrement, sustainment depot levels and reset take about a 40 percent reduction and about 25 percent reduction in training across the Army. In aviation, that translates into an operational tempo of 10.7 hours per month for active component aviators, and six hours per crew per month in the reserves.
Acquisition and modernization are but $3 billion per year through FY ’19, he said, and the AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk are extended by 10 years to the late 2030s.
The service will divest 898 aircraft, the OH-58 A-C and D Kiowa Warriors, and the TH-67 trainer.
The numbers are stark. To modernize 336 Kiowa Warriors would cost more than $10 billion, and a new program now to replace the 58D with a new aircraft would cost $16 billion.
Moreover, the AH-64E fulfills more requirements for armed reconnaissance than the OH-58, he said. An analysis of alternatives in 2010 said the Apache with manned unmanned teaming would be the best mix of existing capability to fulfill the role.
“Scouting is a mission not a platform; reconnaissance is mission not a platform,” Mangum said in response to platform advocates.
Apaches will be brought out of the reserve fleet to fill the scout role and more Black Hawks moved in to beef up medical evacuation and lift.
With training cut by more than 40 percent, TH-67 trainer will be divested, and replaced by the LUH-72 produced by Airbus Group from the active force. About 100 LUH-72s specially configured for border missions would remain in the National Guard.
LUH-72 aircraft are “bought and paid for,” he said.
The proposed plan also calls for consolidating eight different aviation variants–three in the active component and five in the reserves will restructure to one active component aviation design and two designs in the reserve.
Packaging the force this way would actually provide more capability to the force than what it has today as far as accessibility and readiness, he said.
The financial cuts are clear: this year, there will be some 899 pilots trained in initial training, he said, compared to a previously planned 1,199. Seventeen months ago, pilot training was to ramp up to 1,500 per year, but the highest achieved was 1,250.
The stretch out of programs is also clear–Apaches and Black Haws will outlast lieutenants and warrant officer 1s serving today planning to fill out 20-year careers.
The notional plan does not present the Army with a bill, but pays its own way. There is also a way to potentially buy back capability if budget opportunities exist.
“We tried to seize the day and come up with a bold proposal that answers all the mail,” Mangum said.
What Army leadership decides is still to come–there are no decisions and no execute order, he said. The aviation branch works the issue daily.