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New missions, new machines

The Navy’s decision to pare down its type/model/series of helicopters to one or two multipurpose models makes perfect sense for a business-based enterprise. From the operational perspective, however, such an approach could compromise the service’s ability to accomplish myriad missions.

Here’s what we want our helicopters to do: detect and destroy submarines; attack and destroy surface targets on sea and land; find and destroy mines; perform special operations missions, including combat insertion and extraction; carry out combat search-and-rescue missions and battlefield medical duties; handle fleet logistics needs at sea and over land; and provide humanitarian and emergency assistance.

Here’s what we’re buying to do this: two models of the MH-60 medium/light helicopter and — perhaps a decade or more from now — an enhanced version of the H-53 heavy helo.

“Eventually, we will become an all-MH-60 Romeo and Sierra fleet,” Capt. Paul Grosklags, the Seahawk program manager, said in the June issue of Seapower magazine, alluding to the near-term demise of the MH-53E, the Navy’s only heavy-lift rotary-wing asset.

The MH-60 S and R versions are outstanding helicopters, but they can’t do everything, and in many cases, such as heavy lift or moving large numbers of troops, they simply are unable to meet the need. Nevertheless, the service is buying more than 500 of them to replace its aged fleet of SH-60B and F, UH-3H, CH-46D and HH-60H helos. Elimination of the MH-53E Sea Dragon mine warfare helicopter will add to the list of Sierra or Romeo requirements.

This is not to say the Navy should buy fewer MH-60 S and R helicopters; the Navy needs them all. But senior naval leaders increasingly are recognizing the need for a more robust helicopter force to address new requirements such as the Littoral Combat Ship, medical support and expeditionary operations.

Consider humanitarian relief. An enduring image of the 2004-05 Asian tsunami relief effort was that of naval helicopters delivering relief supplies to storm survivors in Indonesia. Upon closer observation, two starkly different images of helicopter relief tactics emerge: fire brigade-style unloading of crate-sized material from the SH-60B and SH-60F Navy helicopters embarked on the carrier Abraham Lincoln, and large pallets of relief material sliding down the ramps of Marine Corps CH-53 and CH-46 helicopters embarked on the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard.

Given the overwhelming — and enduring — positive impression the Navy left behind in the world’s most populous Muslim state, this is one mission the Navy should plan for, not treat as a minor subset of other missions.

And here, perhaps more than in any other mission, the ability to haul large quantities of palletized material intact is a huge factor in mission success.

The plan to replace the helicopter fleet was approved in the late 1990s — before the war on terrorism, conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and large-scale disaster relief efforts in the U.S. and abroad. But the Navy is surging ahead with its plan. Service leaders tout the advantages of the business case, which are undeniable. However, the operational case demands an equally prominent hearing.

A generation ago, naval helicopters were considered by many to be — at best — peripheral players in accomplishing the Navy’s missions; mission success was viewed as important, but perhaps not as critical as it is today.

Today, the crucial importance these rotary-wing assets play in accomplishing the service’s missions is universally recognized. Mission failure is not an option. This demands that Navy leaders provide the fleet with the right helos to accomplish the mission.

As the Navy examines the options regarding its mix of helicopters, buying more of the same is not the only choice. Indeed, an up-to-date Navy helicopter expansion plan that includes a medium-heavy helicopter may indeed be the most affordable path both from an acquisition and a total life-cycle cost perspective.

Fortunately, the Navy does not have to start from scratch to design and procure a medium-lift helicopter, as platforms such as the S-92, the US-101 and the NH-90 are in military and commercial use in the U.S. and abroad and could readily be adapted.

The Navy’s rotary-wing procurement plan, developed in the waning years of the last century, must be reassessed.

The default solution of simply continuing to acquire aircraft already in production and hoping these platforms can be adapted to perform every mission the Navy anticipates will not succeed. Muddling through — like hope — is not a strategy.