ORAC
22nd Aug 2009, 07:29
No, no, not us - the Americans.
It sounds very familiar though. :ouch:
U.S. Air, Naval Forces to Get More 'Expeditionary' Work (http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4245844&c=AME&s=TOP)
A U.S. Army helicopter shortage and the positioning of expeditionary forces are two issues Pentagon officials are hotly debating as part of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, according to sources and documents.....
HELO SHORTAGE
The QDR analysts are looking at "a shortage of rotary-wing capacity," according to "Guidance for Development of the Force," a Pentagon document issued in April that helped shape the quadrennial study.
Defense officials have alluded to such a shortfall in recent weeks, but have stopped short of disclosing options under consideration to address it.
For instance, David Ochmanek, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for force transformation and resources, told reporters July 28 that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is "very aware of persistent shortfalls that have existed in the ability to support forces in disbursed operations in Iraq and Afghanistan." He then ticked off a list: "rotary-wing, lift, civil affairs, persistent ISR, and the exploitation and dissemination that goes with that, [and] intratheater lift."
Ochmanek said getting those things to Iraq and Afghanistan will likely mean more than simply buying new ones and rushing them to war. "Some of these things aren't about technology so much as better management of the force, or a rebalancing of the force so that the things we can access readily are readily accessible," he said. "Whether we move things from the reserve component into the active, or change the rules and procedures under which we access things in the reserve component."
The former appears to be a leading option the Army is leaning toward to fill its part of the military's active component helicopter shortfall. The Pentagon planning document says within the Army, the rotary-wing QDR debate "is focused on converting a reserve component aviation brigade to the active component."
The Army's strategy, plans and policy directorate has directed the service's aviation director to study "all options to generate greater capacity," the document said. Thompson said the rotary-wing deficit "seems to be concentrated in heavy lift, such as the Sikorsky CH-53s," flown by the Marines. Other aviation analysts added the Army's Boeing-made CH-47 to that list.
Moving military gear and personnel by air is more important in an austere environment like Afghanistan.
Thompson said the U.S. military cannot simply devote more fixed-wing cargo planes to that region because Afghanistan lacks an ample number of suitable landing strips. "So in some places like mountain outposts, troops and supplies need to be moved mainly be helicopters," Thompson said. "The combination of speed and vertical agility afforded by helicopters is well-suited to the kind of operating environment Afghanistan presents. The V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, made by Boeing and Bell Helicopter for the Air Force and Marine Corps, could be ideal, given the fact that it has greater reach than conventional rotorcraft."
Others say the military has plenty of rotary-wing aircraft. So how to explain the shortfall? A Pentagon source said that one reason is the military has more chopper pilots than available helos. "The availability ratios for combat aircraft are much more acceptable," the source said.
Eaglen said another reason is that only one of every six U.S. military choppers are deployed; Pentagon planners prefer a 1:3 ratio, but many of the U.S.-based helicopters are assigned to reserve units, which deploy less often. For that reason, she said it is likely DoD will continue seeking to convert reserve aviation brigades to the active force, as the planning document suggests.
Action is needed, and soon. That's because, as Gates signaled with his 2010 Pentagon budget request, in which he added funds to helicopter-related coffers, Eaglen said: "The Pentagon has made it clear that it sees no end in sight for the heavy-lift requirement."
It sounds very familiar though. :ouch:
U.S. Air, Naval Forces to Get More 'Expeditionary' Work (http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4245844&c=AME&s=TOP)
A U.S. Army helicopter shortage and the positioning of expeditionary forces are two issues Pentagon officials are hotly debating as part of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, according to sources and documents.....
HELO SHORTAGE
The QDR analysts are looking at "a shortage of rotary-wing capacity," according to "Guidance for Development of the Force," a Pentagon document issued in April that helped shape the quadrennial study.
Defense officials have alluded to such a shortfall in recent weeks, but have stopped short of disclosing options under consideration to address it.
For instance, David Ochmanek, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for force transformation and resources, told reporters July 28 that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is "very aware of persistent shortfalls that have existed in the ability to support forces in disbursed operations in Iraq and Afghanistan." He then ticked off a list: "rotary-wing, lift, civil affairs, persistent ISR, and the exploitation and dissemination that goes with that, [and] intratheater lift."
Ochmanek said getting those things to Iraq and Afghanistan will likely mean more than simply buying new ones and rushing them to war. "Some of these things aren't about technology so much as better management of the force, or a rebalancing of the force so that the things we can access readily are readily accessible," he said. "Whether we move things from the reserve component into the active, or change the rules and procedures under which we access things in the reserve component."
The former appears to be a leading option the Army is leaning toward to fill its part of the military's active component helicopter shortfall. The Pentagon planning document says within the Army, the rotary-wing QDR debate "is focused on converting a reserve component aviation brigade to the active component."
The Army's strategy, plans and policy directorate has directed the service's aviation director to study "all options to generate greater capacity," the document said. Thompson said the rotary-wing deficit "seems to be concentrated in heavy lift, such as the Sikorsky CH-53s," flown by the Marines. Other aviation analysts added the Army's Boeing-made CH-47 to that list.
Moving military gear and personnel by air is more important in an austere environment like Afghanistan.
Thompson said the U.S. military cannot simply devote more fixed-wing cargo planes to that region because Afghanistan lacks an ample number of suitable landing strips. "So in some places like mountain outposts, troops and supplies need to be moved mainly be helicopters," Thompson said. "The combination of speed and vertical agility afforded by helicopters is well-suited to the kind of operating environment Afghanistan presents. The V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, made by Boeing and Bell Helicopter for the Air Force and Marine Corps, could be ideal, given the fact that it has greater reach than conventional rotorcraft."
Others say the military has plenty of rotary-wing aircraft. So how to explain the shortfall? A Pentagon source said that one reason is the military has more chopper pilots than available helos. "The availability ratios for combat aircraft are much more acceptable," the source said.
Eaglen said another reason is that only one of every six U.S. military choppers are deployed; Pentagon planners prefer a 1:3 ratio, but many of the U.S.-based helicopters are assigned to reserve units, which deploy less often. For that reason, she said it is likely DoD will continue seeking to convert reserve aviation brigades to the active force, as the planning document suggests.
Action is needed, and soon. That's because, as Gates signaled with his 2010 Pentagon budget request, in which he added funds to helicopter-related coffers, Eaglen said: "The Pentagon has made it clear that it sees no end in sight for the heavy-lift requirement."