Training the Way We Fight: How Basic Phase Postures HSC Detachments for Success LT Rob “O.G.” Swain, USN

Training the Way We Fight: How Basic Phase Postures HSC Detachments for Success

By LT Rob Swain, USN

Halfway through the 2018 Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)/26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Deployment, the VMM-162 Reinforced Air Combat Element (ACE) and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28 Detachment 4 furnished the confirmation brief for a combat rehearsal with Task Force 111 in support of Commander, Joint Special Operations Task Force, East Africa/Arabian Peninsula. The mission fragged HSC-28.4 to provide rotary wing escort with precision-guided hellfire and unguided rockets for the MV-22B Assault Flight Lead and embarked Quick Reaction Reconnaissance Force. When the Commander, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrived at the force laydown slide of the confirmation brief, the Commanding General pointedly asked the MEU Commander, “is your HSC Detachment qualified to fly this mission?” Without pausing or deferring to the Sea Combat Detachment Officer in Charge, the MEU Commander responded, “HSC-28 has been working side by side with my Marines since the beginning of the Pre-Deployment Training Program, I have full confidence in their capability.” That was all the General needed to hear to confirm the plan and benefit from the force-multiplying capability of the MH-60S. This advocacy came from a deliberate and synergized approach to HSC and MEU deployment preparation beginning well before advanced phase training.

The modern security environment demands an agile, flexible joint force readily available to the combatant commanders. To achieve military advantage over our adversaries, joint doctrine and strategy highlights the necessity of combined arms, or, “operational art through the integration of joint capabilities in all domains.” The National Military Strategy emphasizes the need for this synergized military to be able to meet the challenges of Great Power Competition (GPC) and other security threats across the globe. While the Global Force Management Allocation Plan outlines joint requirements for the full range of military operations, it is in training where dissimilar military units develop the tactics, techniques, procedures (TTPs), and relationships to “fight above their weight class” in the high-end fight. Helicopter Sea Combat Weapons School Pacific (HSCWSP) has advanced the movement towards this synergized approach to training with joint partners through HARP.

The Basic Phase Helicopter Advanced Readiness Program (HARP) of the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP) establishes foundational tactical skills for HSC Detachments. These skills enable follow-on Sea Combat Detachment integration with the joint force and the force-multiplying benefits of manned and unmanned full-spectrum rotary wing warfare in the maritime domain. As the HSC Community begins to reorganize and align with the agile requirements of an all-expeditionary force, innovation in training and readiness must accompany the community’s new, focused direction. Over the past year, informed by the OFRP, and Commander Naval Air Forces Training and Readiness, HSCWSP leveraged HARP to network with surface and aviation subject matter experts (SMEs) across the Fleet, educate partner service warfighters to HSC capabilities, and host partial and full mission profile training events for Navy and joint units. The primary mission areas of HSC - Surface Warfare (SUW), Combat Support Operations to include maritime special operations (MARSOF) and personnel recovery (PR), and Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM), require synchronized movement between all supporting units to achieve combatant commander’s desired effects in theaters around the globe. Early integration of HSC Sea Combat Detachments with Navy and joint tactical units in basic phase training establishes a trajectory for deployed HSC operational success.

The mission of Naval Aviation training is “to prepare tactically and technically skilled aircrew to win a war.” Over the past two decades, asymmetrical warfare fought in the Middle East allowed for operational units to hone their TTPs autonomously. The Great Power Competition, however, necessitates a networked and synergized combat approach across all warfare areas. The sobering reminder that in the high-end fight, our military will “fall to their training, not rise to the occasion” reinforces the importance of basic phase in developing the foundational skills for sustained operational readiness. Collaborative training of assets who will ultimately deploy and fight together requires communication and relationship-building well before the formal work-up cycle. To advance HSC’s contribution to this dialogue, HSCWSP began inviting subject matter experts from across the Fleet to speak during the HARP academic phase of training.

During HSC HARP periods over the last year, SMEs from the Surface and Mine Warfare Development Center (SMWDC), Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) Air Department, Helicopter Marine Light Attack (HMLA) Squadrons, USMC AllDomain Reconnaissance Team (ADRT), Marine Aviation Training Support Squadron (MATSS), Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Units (EODMU), Marine Countermeasures Squadron (MCMRON), Tactical Air Control Squadron (VTC), Amphibious Squadron (CPR), and Third Fleet (C3F) briefed their TTPs, operations, and capabilities to deploying expeditionary HSC Squadrons. More importantly, HARP initiated the conversation for how these units and staffs can support and be supported by MH-60S Sea Combat

HSCWSP prepares the expeditionary Sea Combat Detachments for follow-on Blue/Green integration in NonCombatant Evacuation Operations during HSC-21.1 HARP. Photo by P/C: MC2 Colby Mothershead, USMC

Detachments in the primary mission areas of rotary wing naval aviation. HSCWSP expanded HARP academics from merely the review of Seawolf Manual Rotary-Wing TTPs into a forum for warfighters to brainstorm how to best align their efforts and bridge capability gaps with the common goal to “win a war.” The genesis of this new model came from deployed detachment vignettes and the identified importance of establishing officer in tactical command (OTC) trust prior to advanced phase training.

Defined in the OFRP, basic phase focuses on “development of unit core capabilities and skills…units and staff that have completed the basic phase are ready for more complex integrated or advanced training events.” To provide OTCs with the confidence to validate HSC participation in joint training and operational missions demands trust from all intermediary commanders. Rather than standing by for integrated phase to hone TTPs with external units during full mission profiles and establish trust, HSCWSP has capitalized on fostering relationships earlier in the OFRP. Integrated basic phase training in HARP provides more robust “partial task” events and operational exposure to external assets in the “crawl” stage for HSC Squadrons. Over the past year, HSCWSP facilitated training with USAF A-10s and MQ-9s executing surface warfare and maritime interdiction operations, USMC UH-1 and AH-1 attack aircraft providing rotary wing escort to MH-60S for personnel recovery, non-combatant evacuation operations, and Humanitarian Aid/Disaster Relief Training, Fleet Synthetic Training – Aviation surface warfare events with MH-60R and F/A-18E/Fs, Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Squadron Staff and EOD expeditionary MCM engagement during MCM training, and multiple training periods supported by U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) and USMC ADRT Assaulters for Airborne Use of Force (AUF) and Helicopter, Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (HVBSS). Across all mission sets outlined in the HSC Requirement of Capabilities/Projected Operational Environment (ROC/POE), HSCWSP facilitated opportunities for collaborative, joint training framed by the challenges of GPC.

While HSC has historically provided overland and overwater support across the full range of military operations, Great Power Competition acutely focuses on the challenges of the maritime environment. Therefore, the primary missions of SUW and AMCM have garnered specific basic phase focus.

In the maritime domain, the MH-60S brings unparalleled flexibility and capability for close-in ship defense. During high-profile and high-risk restricted water transit events, the HSC Community provides critical situational awareness and layered defense for Navy Composite Warfare Commanders regarding the common operational picture surrounding restricted-maneuvering warships. Since outfitting the MH-60S with the Armed Helicopter Weapon System in 2011, the HSC Community has refined TTPs for air operations in support of maritime surface warfare (AOMSW). By championing HSC’s understanding of combat operations in the maritime domain, HSC Wing Pacific has increased readiness for the Fleet and joint partners through the application of HARP.

MH-60S helicopters embarked on amphibious and aircapable ships provide critical capability to littoral operations. Aligning with Commandant of the Marine Corps guidance to transition the USMC “force in readiness” from the desert to the littorals and blue water operations, HSCWSP actively engaged with Marine Corps WTIs from all USMC air platforms to educate Marine Aviation in how the Navy trains to high value unit (HVU) ship defense. By inviting Marine HSCWSP leverages USMC Exercise Trident Storm to conduct integrated ASUW training for Corps Squadrons to HSC-21 with HSM-71 and HMLA-169. Photo by P/C Sgt. Charnelle Smith, USMC participate in HARP events and providing Seahawk WTI support to instruct squadron moving from maintenance to sustainment phase SUW training in Marine attack helicopter simulators at in solidarity, squadrons will maintain an elevated operational Camp Pendleton, HSCWSP continues to foster the blue/ tempo obligated by multiple detachments operating in green relationship and synchronize efforts in Defense of the various OFRP phases simultaneously. The nature of an allAmphibious Task Force. expeditionary Navy helicopter force model invites the risk of Fleet leadership continuously tasking HSC Squadrons

Another critical element of the HSC reorganization with short-turn operational tasking throughout basic phase. involves the burgeoning mission and requirements of airborne Expeditionary HSC Squadrons in HARP have had to pause mine countermeasures (AMCM). Naval Air Forces intends or forgo training for Fire Fighting, Humanitarian Aid/ to stand down all Helicopter Mine Countermeasures (HM) Disaster Relief, Defense Support of Civil Authorities, Carrier Squadrons and sundown the MH-53E Sea Dragon within Qualification periods, and aviation logistics support for nonthe next five years. To avoid a dangerous void in AMCM OFRP surface exercises. Messaging the importance of HARP, knowledge across the Naval Aviation Enterprise, HSCWSP respecting the need for a structured basic phase, sourcing has engaged closely with HSC Weapons School Atlantic and operational tasking by squadrons outside of basic phase, and the HM MCM SMEs. The fostering of cross-coast MCM resourcing the Weapons School appropriately to continue support by HSCWSP has prepared HSC Wing Pacific to providing a strong, foundational tactical baseline will ensure adequately source the first Aviation Detachments trained continued deployed Sea Combat Detachment success. to deploy with LCS MCM Mission Packages. The AMCM qualified WTIs at HSCWSP also established relationships By leveraging the instructional format of HARP to expose with the MCM Command and Control Staff at MCMRON deploying HSC Squadrons to the TTPs of partner units and Three, Seven, and the MCM SMEs at SMWDC. This ensured staffs they will deploy alongside, HSCWSP is breaking the the MCM training provided to MCM AVDETs sourced by cycle of expeditionary detachments having to “reinvent the HSC-21 aligned with TTPs practiced by the rest of the Mine wheel.” No longer do the Sea Combat Detachments have Warfare Community. to broadcast their capabilities for the first time in the OFRP advanced phase or on deployment. Through a networked

Establishing the relationships to leverage the MH-60S as approach to basic phase academics, by initiating the capabilities a force multiplier in Navy and Joint operations necessitates and limitations dialogue earlier in the OFRP, and through coordinating effort at all echelons. Air Wing of the Future robust partial-task training with joint assets, HSCWSP has and the restructuring of the HSC Community compels a established a curriculum allowing squadrons and supporting fluid and innovative approach by HSC Wing Leadership assets to train the way they’ll fight. to the linear design of the OFRP. Rather than the whole