US. Navy helicopters flying to the aid of devastated villages in Sumatra, Indonesia, were “worth their weight in gold,” said United Nations emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland. Because of the utter devastation wrought by the 26 December tsunami, the only way to reach many of the areas that desperately needed assistance was by helicopter.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), Carrier Air Wing Two and their sailors arrived on scene to provide the region with the first wave of international support in the U.S. military’s largest humanitarian assistance operation since the Berlin Airlift in 1947. This was made possible by the helicopter force embarked with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.
Thousands of people stranded along a 100-mile stretch of decimated landscape benefited from this assistance. Roads were cut off or, in many cases, completely washed away with no way of receiving water, food or medical care. Operating without pause from dawn to dusk, Navy helicopters provided the aid that prevented an already catastrophic human disaster from becoming even worse.
Abraham Lincoln on the Scene
It was fortunate that Abraham Lincoln happened to be the carrier deployed to the Pacific when this disaster struck, because it was the test platform for the future carrier strike group (CSG) helicopter operational concept. Abraham Lincoln was exercising the latest in a series of “Bravo to Sea” (B2C) initiatives that, for the first time, deployed an entire HSL (helicopter anti-submarine, light) squadron, including the CO and XO, with a strike group.
As a result, a total of 17 helicopters from three squadrons (Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Two, Helicopter Anti-Submarine (Light) Squadron 47 and Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 11) were assigned to the CSG — helicopters that were urgently needed by the survivors in Sumatra.
This large number of helicopters is the future for carrier aviation as the S-3B Viking is retired and the Navy brings the MH-60R and MH-60S into service with new ideas and capabilities. The road map for this transition is the Helicopter Concept of Operations (Helo CONOPS).
Expanding Capability While Reducing Costs
Helo CONOPS, which is already being used, outlines how we will move the Navy’s helicopter force from six-platform type-model-series presently in the force to three — the MH-60R, the MH-60S and the MH-53E. The overall objective is to expand warfighting capability while significantly reducing cost by capitalizing on the 85 percent commonality between platforms and the efficiencies of similar maintenance, logistics and training pipelines. Helicopter force and command structure will be changed in order to derive the maximum warfighting capability from the helicopter force, and from the men and women who will operate them.
Instead of regarding helicopters as merely a means of extending the capabilities of individual ships, Navy warfighters envision a helicopter force in which a streamlined command relationship complements the enhanced warfighting capability of the new helicopters. Beyond the traditional missions of search and rescue, logistics and maritime dominance, helicopters will be key to 21st century warfighting as they provide surveillance, sensor netting and strike capability.
Under Helo CONOPS, carrier air wings will be assigned an MH-60R and an MH-60S squadron (a total of approximately 18 helicopters) that will operate from the carrier as well as in detachments to other air-capable ships in the CSG. All CSG helicopters will work for the carrier air wing commander.
Shore-based MH-60R/S squadrons will provide dets for non-CSG deploying ships. They will look much like the HC and HSL squadrons that exist today, but will include the enhanced combat capability found in the fleet’s most technologically advanced helicopters.
New Sensors Boost Helo Effectiveness
In the surface and subsurface environments, the MH-60R will support our defensive capability throughout the world. Its sensors and weapons include Airborne Low Frequency (dipping) Sonar, various electronic support measures, Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, Advanced Forward Looking Infrared sensor and precision air-to-surface missiles and torpedoes. These systems will provide potent maritime dominance from blue-water oceans to the littoral (inshore) areas.
The MH-60S will support Sea Shield, the projection of global defensive assurance, and Sea Strike, the projection of precise and persistent offensive power from the sea, in the surface and overland environments with a reconfigurable cabin dictated by mission requirements. Advanced Forward Looking Infrared sensor, machine guns, precision air-to-surface missiles and airborne mine countermeasures suites are some of the sensors and weapons that will ensure access for our Naval forces at sea and ashore.
Both helicopters will have robust communication suites that will link with the entire CSG providing integration across the battlespace. This capability will also facilitate the employment of highly effective hunter-killer teams through the inherent commonalities between the MH-60R and MH-60S.
Future combat and the War on Terror will require maritime dominance, overwhelming force and the ability to respond rapidly to a wide range of missions in complex threat environments. Helo CONOPS delivers the equipment and operational concepts that will enable these capabilities, thus ensuring the Navy’s ability to project power as required well into the future.