1. ARMY AVIATION Magazine 42 February 29, 2016
Since our last TCM-RA update,
we continue to work to get the
requirements “right” within the Avia-
tion attack/recon portfolio. A seem-
ingly straight-forward premise, there
are many contributing factors that
make this fundamental objective more
challenging. Factors include continu-
ously changing conditions, the result
of rapidly evolving threats, competing
priorities, and fiscal realities impact-
ing both current readiness and future
capability development. We focus our
efforts linking strategic guidance and
doctrine to various requirements docu-
ments in order to close gaps in mobil-
ity, survivability, and lethality. By doing
so, the requirements we codify through
the Joint Capabilities Integration and
Development System (JCIDS) will
remain operationally relevant within
our three main lines of effort (LOEs)
– weapon/munitions, attack, and re-
connaissance capabilities.The end state
is to increase Army Aviation’s contri-
bution into unified land operations by
delivering capabilities (in the form of
both material and non-material solu-
tions) to more effectively conduct air-
ground operations (AGO) consistent
with FM 3-04 Army Aviation.
We are leveraging opportunities,
created by continuously changing con-
ditions, to correctly set requirements
within our main 3 LOEs – weapon/
munitions, attack, and reconnaissance.
Starting with weapons, we are drafting
a comprehensive and holistic lethality/
munitions strategy that will align efforts
across the Aviation enterprise. This is a
significant endeavor and we are incor-
porating stakeholders throughout U.S.
Army Aviation Center of Excellence
(USAACE), the Army Staff, and re-
spective program managers – Joint At-
tack Munition Systems (JAMS), Un-
manned Aircraft Systems (UAS), and
Apache – aiming toward three ends:
1. Improve lethality against sophisti-
cated threat armor including passive
and active countermeasures (CM);
2. Provide more air-to-ground weapon
options (scalable and tailorable based
on targets);
3. Right-size the munition mix/inven-
tory supported by the Total Army Mu-
nition Requirements (TAMR) analysis.
Weapon/Munitions
The underpinnings of the lethality/
munitions strategy are three-fold: the
emerging Aviation training strategy/
gunnery qualification standards com-
bined with ongoing TAMR analysis
forming the ways; and resourcing in
the Program Objective Memorandum
(POM) and Long-Range Investment
Analysis (LIRA) funding documents
providing the means. This strategy will
balance necessary operational capabili-
ties with associated funding, creating
trade space and remaining cost neutral
within the Aviation portfolio. Addi-
tions over the next 3-5 years include
both the “Romeo” model Hellfire (R-
HF) that effectively combines separate
capabilities currently found in several
HF variants. Additionally, the Joint
Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) will
provide a dual-mode seeker (laser and
radar guidance) in one missile deliver-
ing improved lethality against threat
armored systems that are protected
with passive and active CM. Stake-
holders are working to fully integrate
the R-HF and JAGM (Initial Opera-
tional Capability in FY19) on both the
AH-64E and MQ-1C Gray Eagle.
In the short term, we are collaborat-
ing to field a limited quantity of laser-
guided 2.75”Hydra rockets providing a
smaller, precision-guided, complimen-
tary capability for use against suitable
soft-skin/light targets. Looking ahead
to the mid/long term, we will explore
possibilities of a Small Guided Muni-
tion (SGM) that is both scalable and
tailorable. The SGM could potentially
provide both a drop glide and forward
firing munition with modular seeker
(guidance) and programmable warhead
sections adding selectable options for
Army Aviation to employ from both
manned attack/reconnaissance rotary-
wing helicopters and unmanned plat-
forms. Current JCIDS efforts include
the recently updated JAGM Capability
Development Document (CDD), the
Special Focus u TRADOC Capability Manager Updates
A team of 1-229 ARB AH-64Es conducts training
at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), WA.
If you don’t like change,
you’ll like irrelevance
even less.
– General Eric K. Shinseki, former
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Working to Get
Requirements Right
By COL Jeffrey W. White
U.S.ARMYPHOTOBYCW3JOSEPHC.WANKELMAN,1-229THARB
TRADOC Capability Manager for
Reconnaissance & Attack (TCM-RA)

2. ARMY AVIATION Magazine 43 February 29, 2016
initial drafting of the JAGM Capabil-
ity Production Document (CPD), and
revising/updating the 2005 Advanced
Precision Kill Weapon System (APK-
WS) Operational Requirements Docu-
ment (ORD) to ensure we capture all
current required weapons/munitions
capabilities, contingent on senior lead-
er approval of this strategy.
Attack
Shifting to the attack LOE, the
AH-64E Version 6 (v6) is the final
set of capability insertions completing
E-model production. Material devel-
opers and industry partners are sched-
uled to field the AH-64E v6 to the
operational force beginning in FY19.
This latest attack helicopter variant
adds critical capabilities identified as
threshold requirements in the AH-
64E v6 Capability Production Docu-
ment (CPD). Capabilities include sen-
sor, mission command, weapon, and
aircraft performance enhancements.
The AH-64E v6 leverages technology
improvements, addresses obsolescence
issues in older AH-64D/E versions,
and enables Army Aviation to conduct
doctrinal attack, reconnaissance, move-
ment to contact, and security missions
across the full spectrum of military
operations. Additionally, AH-64E v6
equipped units enhance the ability to
execute Joint Combined Arms Opera-
tions, supporting commanders across
multiple domains (land, air, and sea).
Consistent with strategic guidance,
doctrine, and the Aviation Restructur-
ing Initiative (ARI), the AH-64E v6
delivers capabilities to perform across
multiple domains while mitigating
the armed reconnaissance gap created
as the Army divests all OH-58D Ki-
owa Warriors. Teamed with UAS, the
AH-64E v6 will greatly improve the
ability resident in each Attack/Recon-
naissance Battalion (ARB) and Heavy-
Attack Reconnaissance Squadron (H-
ARS) to conduct Manned-Unmanned
Teaming (MUM-T). The AH-64E v6
will be capable of leveraging Army and
Joint assets to acquire, positively iden-
tify (PID), and facilitate clearance of
fires to execute missions either autono-
mously (on-board sensors and weap-
ons) or employ MUM-T (integrated
maneuver with UAS) – further increas-
ing the ability to develop the situation,
gain/maintain enemy contact, while
enhancing survivability, fires, and mis-
sion command. These capabilities are
essential to maintain an asymmetric
advantage over increasingly more capa-
ble threats by maintaining overmatch
and functioning as part of the Army
Operating Concept (AOC). The AH-
64E will continue to be an essential
part of Army Aviation, providing core
attack and reconnaissance capabilities
through the long-term.
Reconnaissance
Finally as part of the Recon LOE,
we continue to support the divestiture
of all OH-58 variants while exploring
options to mitigate the validated aerial
reconnaissance and security gap. OH-
58 A/C/D divestiture will continue
through FY19 as we work to synchro-
nize fielding of AH-64E and MQ-1C
as part of each ARB along with AH-
64E and RQ-7B Shadows resident in
each H-ARS as described in FM 3-04.
We remain partnered with Future Verti-
cal Lift (FVL) stakeholders to validate
and prioritize necessary armed recon-
naissance rotary-wing attributes. These
attributes will guide various efforts –
including modeling, simulation, and
Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) studies –
as we develop/update necessary require-
ments documents to accurately describe
required capabilities for both material
and non-material solutions.
TCM-RA,in concert with members
of the Aviation Enterprise, focuses ef-
forts on getting the attack/reconnais-
sance and supporting system require-
ments right. This is a collaborative
process involving stakeholders in the
operational force, institutional Army,
material developers, and industry part-
ners alike. Our methodology involves
linking strategic guidance and doctrine
to developing operationally relevant
requirements while considering ad-
ditional factors such as continuously
changing threat, budgetary, and op-
erational environment conditions. This
process is complicated but essential to
deliver the right weapon/munition, at-
tack, and reconnaissance capabilities
now and in the future. By doing so,
Army Aviation will remain an enabler
of unified land operations, capable of
conducting effective AGO, adding to
the legacy of our Branch by continuing
to provide crucial aviation support to
those in need.
COL Jeffrey W. White is the U.S. Army
Training and Doctrine Command Ca-
pability Manager for Reconnaissance
and Attack, with the U.S. Army Aviation
Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, AL.
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