Army Guard may provide AH-64Ds
Inside Army
As soon as next month, the Army will present the Office of the Secretary of Defense a set of options for how to resource an additional combat aviation brigade, a proposition that could cost billions of dollars and is expected to involve the purchase of new helicopters as well as new ways of using existing aircraft, according to Pentagon officials.
OSD, in a classified resource directive issued last year, asked the Army to deliver by Feb. 1 proposals for how to field a 13th combat aviation brigade in order to provide additional “enablers” that combatant commanders say are critical to operations like those in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Army officials are still preparing options and associated analysis for how to further expand the service’s aviation force by fiscal year 2015, in accordance with guidance from OSD.
“The Defense Department has asked the Army to look at courses of action on how we’d increase Army aviation capacity in the active component,” said a service official. “We’re looking at lots of different options; we’re admiring the problem right now.”
The assessment, according to Pentagon officials, is examining everything from where to base the aircraft, how quickly they might be stood up and associated pilot training issues.
A combat aviation brigade can be assembled from up to five types of aviation battalions or squadrons: general support aviation operate UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters; assault battalions are equipped with UH-60s; light attack and reconnaissance squadrons fly OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters; and heavy attack and reconnaissance battalions are equipped with AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
The Army’s FY-11 budget request sent to Congress earlier this month includes funds to begin forming a 12th combat aviation brigade, and the service’s new five-year investment plan includes funds to begin forming a 13th combat aviation brigade by FY-15, as Inside the Army has reported.
Resourcing the 13th aviation brigade will require purchases of new aircraft. Also, the Army staff is exploring where it might utilize existing equipment.
For example, Pentagon officials say that one proposal floated in recent weeks as part of the OSD-directed study was for AH-64D Apache helicopters assigned to the National Guard to be folded into the attack battalion of the 13th aviation brigade. Army sources say that proposal initially met with resistance from the Guard’s leadership.
However, a source close to the National Guard Bureau said that the Army Guard would be willing to offer 20 AH-64Ds for the new brigade.
“The Army Guard is going to give 20 helicopters to stand up the 13th CAB,” said a source. “They’re not happy about it, but they are being team players.”
Asked about this development, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau said only that discussions on the matter are continuing.
“The Army National Guard is working with Department of the Army to develop courses of action, and determine the feasibility of various resource options, to form a 13th combat aviation brigade with existing aircraft and force structure,” said Lt. Col. Robert Ditchey. “No decision has been made how this will impact the Army National Guard.”
Army National Guard units operate nearly 100 AH-64D aircraft, combat helicopters with very limited utility in a homeland defense and state roles, Pentagon officials said.
Guard units in North Carolina, Utah and Arizona have 24 AH-64D models each, and South Carolina’s Guard has 16, according to a source knowledgeable about Army National Guard aviation capabilities. In addition, Army National Guard units in Pennsylvania, Idaho, Missouri and Texas all operate versions of the AH-64 that are slated to be upgraded to the D model over the next five years, the source said. -- Jason Sherman
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