Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson recently asserted that “America is a maritime nation, and our prosperity is tied to our ability to operate freely in the maritime environment. Today’s strategic environment is increasingly globalized and increasingly competitive.”1 Thus, the enduring role of the U.S. Navy takes on even greater importance, complicated by emerging threats from a diverse range of potential competitors and adversaries to include near-peer competitors exerting greater maritime influence. To maintain superiority in the maritime domain, the Navy must act with a sense of urgency. This effort requires prioritization and focus—both in how we evolve our operating concepts and how we affordably deliver emerging technologies.
Naval aviation is aggressively pursuing a more powerful integrated warfighting capability, linking sensors and weapons-delivery capabilities across platforms—including unmanned systems—to improve effects in all maritime-mission areas. The Helicopter Maritime Strike (HSM) community is exceptionally suited to contribute to and accelerate this evolution across the Navy, primarily because of its sustained focus on sea control and a 30-year tradition of integrating maritime warfighting systems. SH-60B and MH-60R Seahawk helicopters and crews have been effectively linking sensors and weapon systems effects among platforms since the first Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) Mk III detachment deployed in 1985. To best maximize the capabilities the MH-60R brings to the fight, it is necessary to better understand the HSM community within this transformational context. Steady leadership, innovation, and thoughtful investment in the future will ensure the Navy maintains its ability to freely maneuver and conduct operations from the sea and the HSM community has a prominent role.
An Evolving System of Systems
The Navy’s last SH-60B helicopters were retired from active service in Fiscal Year 2016, the same year the service procured its final 29 programmed MH-60Rs.2 The Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light (HSL)/HSM community’s complex transition delivered a significantly more capable multimission weapon system in the MH-60R, expanded community employment from both Carrier Air Wing and traditional detachment-structured expeditionary squadrons, and introduced sea-based manned-unmanned operational teaming. These milestones present an opportunity to reflect on the community’s historic successes, while also considering how its capabilities should be adapted for the future. Although new technologies clearly enhance capability, the HSM community’s evolutionary success was a result of its ability to adapt to naval aviation leadership’s new, visionary concept of employment.
The first Navy helicopter squadrons were commissioned in 1948, and the establishment of Helicopter Antisubmarine (HS) squadrons introduced rotary-wing aircraft to deployed ships in the 1950s. The HSL community was born when SH-2D Sea Sprite helicopters began operating from cruisers, destroyers, and frigates in the 1970s. This was one of the first true multimission tactical aircraft in the naval aviation arsenal, outfitted with myriad sensors capable of supporting both antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and surface warfare (SUW) missions.
The SH-60B—also referred to as the “Bravo”—was introduced in 1984. The new multimission aircraft and three combatant-ship classes were designed on the premise that the helicopter would extend ships’ sensor and weapons-delivery ranges as an on-board capability. This design concept became the highly successful LAMPS MK III ship-air team.
The helicopter’s advanced avionics and mission systems greatly improved the ASW, SUW, and electronic warfare (EW) capabilities of the host ship and the strike groups in which they sailed. Arguably, the most critical element of this integrated ship–air warfighting system was the super-high-frequency encrypted data link used to exchange information between the ship and helicopter.
With today’s emphasis on integrated warfighting among multimission platforms, any HSL background Seahawk pilot or aircrewman will tell you that the community has been conducting over-the-horizon missions across the entire kill chain in ASW, SUW, and EW roles for more than 30 years. “Launch LAMPS” extends the sensor coverage both passively (electronic support) and actively (radar), links targeting information back to the ship, attains a positive identification of a target, supports the shooting platform or engages autonomously, and then conducts the battle-damage assessment.
A Capability Defined
Rear Admiral Mark Darrah, Program Executive Officer for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Systems, defines All Domain Offensive Surface Warfare Capability as “integrated fires, leveraging all domains, the ability to utilize air-launched capabilities, surface-launched capabilities and subsurface-launched capabilities that are tied together with an all domain [information network].”3 Creation of this capability, or “tactical cloud,” is formally evolving to serve as the rallying point for an offensive antisurface network, which will be complementary to the Naval Integrated Fire Control–Counter Air (NIFC-CA) network. A foundation for the tactical cloud initially was developed and deployed with the introduction of the HSL/HSM community ship-air team.
Fleet introduction of the MH-60R—also referred to as the “Romeo”—in 2006 brought significant operational and tactical enhancements to warfare commanders. The aircraft’s upgraded sensors and weapons-delivery capabilities support the platform’s contributions across the kill chain in multiple mission areas—especially in its role as the sole air ASW platform in the Carrier Strike Group. While the airborne low-frequency dipping sonar (ALFS) and automatic radar periscope-detection and discrimination (ARPDD) mode of its multifunction radar are the most recognized capabilities of the MH-60R, the system’s greatest contribution in the maritime domain is its ability to fuse and share time-sensitive information from multiple sensors and systems.4 Data fusion and information sharing, facilitated by Link 16 and a wideband (either Ku band or C band) encrypted link system, enable aircrews to exchange near-real-time data and imagery with other aircraft, surface combatants, and aircraft carriers.
At an Air Force Association event in March, Rear Admiral Michael Manazir, then the Navy’s Director of Air Warfare (OPNAV N98), discussed his vision for the development of a “kill web” in which aircraft and ship systems will be fully integrated into a combat network that aims to reduce traditional combat decision-making time lines.5 As the Navy’s Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Systems (OPNAV N9), he reiterated the importance of networks and capabilities over platforms in pursuit of the kill web.6 It is worth noting that the MH-60R’s system of linked sensors currently feeds such an integrated network, although admittedly on a smaller scale than likely envisioned and with extensive capability that has not yet been fully realized. This capability should remain a focal point for future MH-60R improvements and remain central during development and procurement of the follow-on MH-XX.
An increased focus on NIFC-CA integration is also warranted. Captain Tom Druggan, Aegis Program Manager in the Program Executive Office for Integrated Weapon Systems, also envisions a kill web of integrated sensors, platforms, and systems coordinated within the NIFC-CA system.7 Current and future naval aircraft integration into the network includes the E-2D, EA-18G, F/A-18E/F, and the F-35B/C, but other platforms should be considered. Integrated rotary-wing platforms are well suited to contribute to layered sensor integration and can also provide persistent sensing capacity when fixed-wing aircraft are either out of range or not flying.
In the May Proceedings, Commander Guy Snodgrass cites the MH-60R as a platform “optimized for detection” to serve as the “hunter” while another platform serves as the “killer.” The MH-60R routinely performs this function with other air-wing and surface-ship assets and, as Snodgrass suggests, would be an ideal platform to perform additional functions such as in-flight weapon updates to a strike fighter-launched antiship weapon.8 Now is the time to get as serious about improving the integration of sea control capabilities as we are in the counter-air realm, focusing on development of the cross-platform/cross-domain web necessary to maintain superiority required for both an effective Naval Integrated Framework-Counter Undersea (NIF-CU) network and the antisurface tactical cloud.
Focus on Sea Control and Maneuver
Since the community’s establishment, HSL and HSM squadrons have been key to establishing and maintaining sea control. Naval Doctrine Publication 1, Naval Warfare, states that sea control “requires control of the surface, subsurface, and airspace and relies upon naval forces’ maintaining superior capabilities and capacities in all sea control operations.”9 It also notes that sea-control operations “involve locating, identifying, and dealing with a variety of contacts.” The capabilities provided by the HSM community are particularly suited to support all phases of the sea-control mission, to include providing the necessary maneuver space for and direct support to power projection. The tactical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) information disseminated by helicopter crews significantly contributes to the establishment of an accurate recognized maritime picture, which is an imperative for effective sea control.
Vice Admiral Thomas Rowden, Rear Admiral Peter Gumataotao, and Rear Admiral Peter Fanta introduced the “distributed lethality” surface warfare operating concept in the January 2015 issue of Proceedings. Their article defines that term as “the condition gained by increasing the offensive power of individual components of the surface force . . . and then employing them in dispersed offensive formations known as ‘hunter-killer SAGs [surface action groups].’”
The HSL/HSM community has been increasing the offensive power of the surface force since its inception almost 50 years ago and will continue to be an integral component of hunter-killer SAGs well into the future. The surface community has signaled its clear shift from a defensive mind-set focused on the projection of power ashore to an offensive maritime approach that relies on ASW and SUW expertise to maintain sea control. As MH-60 and MH-XX aircraft capabilities evolve, the Navy should leverage the historical ship-air relationship and actively seek innovative ways for embarked helicopters to enhance surface-force lethality.
Looking forward, MH-60Rs could feed a “Blue–Green” web, potentially flying from a distributed SAG that joins with an amphibious ready group to increase aggregate force lethality. The MH-60R can operate in any maritime battle force, including carrier strike groups, surface action groups, and amphibious expeditionary strike groups. The weapon system is capable of autonomously finding a potential target, fixing its position, providing targeting information to other platforms, engaging surface and subsurface targets, and assessing the attack. Helicopter antisurface lethality will be improved by weapons such as the Joint Air Ground Missile and could be further enhanced by reinstating a long-range fire-and-forget missile capability, similar to the Penguin missile previously employed from the SH-60B.
Electromagnetic Spectrum Maneuver Warfare
The HSL to HSM transition may appear to be complete with the SH-60B sundown, but incredible evolutionary potential remains. As the CNO noted in “A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority,” a constrained budget environment will continue to shape the security environment into the immediate future.10 This fiscal reality requires the Navy to take initiative and innovate by maximizing the attributes of the assets we currently possess.
Electromagnetic spectrum (ES) maneuver warfare capability is one of the HSM community’s most-overlooked and least-developed capabilities. The MH-60R’s advanced ALQ-210 electronic support measures (ESM) system allows for passive detection, identification, and location of a wide range of emitters. This highly accurate and capable system mitigates the inherent speed and altitude limitations of its rotary-wing host platform through effective integration with shipboard SLQ-32 systems. The ALQ-210 has the potential to be especially useful when integrated with other sensors such as the ALQ-218 ESM system found on the EA-18G and P-8A, as well as SLQ-32 and Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program electronic-warfare systems.
This capability should be further developed, as MH-60R detachments routinely provide the “eyes and ears” of the strike group outside of carrier cyclic flight operations. Carrier-based fixed-wing electronic support will undoubtedly be a high-demand and low-density resource during a high-end maritime engagement against a near-peer competitor, increasing the opportunity (and demand) for rotary-wing-based electronic support. Current system limitations prevent electronic support data from being linked between MH-60R helicopters and carriers in the same manner as ES data is shared with surface combatants. Expanding this capability will facilitate better coordination between airborne MH-60R aircraft and the information operations warfare commander, who is responsible to the strike group commander for EW and the coordination of electronic support. In addition, the HSM community should continue to develop realistic live, virtual, and constructive electronic support training to better prepare aircrews for future roles in electromagnetic spectrum maneuver warfare.
Teaming Manned and Unmanned Systems
HSM-35 was established in May 2013 as the Navy’s first composite operational expeditionary squadron, flying both manned MH-60R helicopters and unmanned MQ-8B aircraft. The revolutionary nature of this squadron’s establishment was recognized in the Naval Aviation Vision 2014–2025, which defined its initial mission “to train and develop manned and unmanned standards of operation.”11 The squadron subsequently deployed multiple detachments in the USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), providing forward-deployed capability to the Pacific theater for over a year. The CNO clearly articulated his intent to “rapidly integrate unmanned aerial vehicles into our future air wing” during his posture statement to the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense in March.12 Lessons learned from almost 16,000 hours of experience in the HSM and helicopter sea combat (HSC) communities should be leveraged as unmanned systems are increasingly integrated into naval operations.
Human-machine collaboration enables humans to make decisions while benefiting from the advantages of unmanned technology.13 Examples include reduced risk to aircrew in high-threat environments, the ability to increase ISR ranges with a single aircrew operating multiple unmanned systems simultaneously, longer dwell times, and the ability to share more information with decision makers and warfighters across the operational environment. The U.S. Army has made significant progress in teaming Apache helicopters with unmanned systems, and the case has been made for the U.S. Navy to follow suit.14 The Army characterizes the manned-unmanned relationship in terms of “Levels of Interoperability,” which range anywhere from indirect sharing of payload data to full control of the unmanned system, to include its sensors and weapon systems.15
Sensor interoperability is not a new concept to the Navy, as shipboard operators have been able to take control of SH-60B and MH-60R sensors for years. This includes the ability to view and actually control the helicopter’s radar, ESM system, and sonobuoy processors. Such collaboration helps reduce task saturation and allows more people to analyze and take action on the data being streamed.
A strong ship-based airborne area ASW capability easily could be established by teaming manned MH-60R or MH-XX helicopters with highly capable unmanned systems. These could either be rotary- or fixed-wing, carrying ASW payloads that include digital magnetic anomaly detectors, radar, electronic support measures, sonobuoys, and even deployable unmanned undersea vehicles. Imagine a manned helicopter, with two pilots and an enlisted sensor operator on board, in control of multiple unmanned systems and their associated search sensors. It is not difficult to visualize a time when such a family of systems could be configured to deploy mini unmanned underwater vehicles designed to carry out human-directed underwater searches. Collaboration could eventually be expanded to include MQ-4C Triton, facilitating a seamless transition from long-range theater ASW to shorter range area and local ASW. Naval aviation has an exceptional opportunity to take advantage of HSM-35’s preliminary development of manned-unmanned integration. Manned helicopters should be teamed with unmanned systems capable of providing persistent search capability across the surface, subsurface, and electromagnetic domains.
Implications of Innovative Change
The current carrier air wing construct that includes both HSM and HSC squadrons was established in 2009 when the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) strike group deployed with HSM-71 and HSC-8. This concept was lauded as a “truly revolutionary way of doing business” in the April 2010 Proceedings.16 The move brought the community’s capabilities and exceptional aircrew and technicians to a more visible and prominent stage—the aircraft carrier.
Bringing HSM squadrons to the carrier under the operational control of the strike warfare commander consolidated all strike-group aviation assets, where the embarked HSM squadron commanding officer serves as a valuable interface among the Strike Warfare Commander, Sea Combat Commander, Air Warfare Commander, and aircraft carrier commanding officer. HSM detachments fly in support of the Sea Combat Commander tasking from accompanying cruisers and destroyers, the Air Warfare Commander relies on airborne MH-60R helicopters for visual identification and intercept of low slow flyers, and the carrier CO employs the MH-60R and accompanying MH-60S for ship self-defense, particularly during restricted water transits.
The presence of these HSM sea-control experts at the nexus of the combined warfare commander structure has improved strike-group performance across numerous mission areas and afforded significant seasoning for HSM community officers to ascend to greater warfighting-commander competencies and opportunities. HSM commanding officers have a comprehensive understanding of the CWC concept and its functions. As we shift our focus from the overland strike missions of the past 20 years and begin to renew focus on sea control and maritime freedom of maneuver in contested waters, we expect to see HSM background officers selected for Carrier Air Wing command.
The HSM community is proud of its heritage, successful evolution, current contribution, and future potential. As naval aviation continues to evolve to meet future challenges, the HSM community should be looked at as a model for successful transformation with capabilities remarkably suited for the current and future operating environments. The community is serving as a critical component to a reemerging focus on maritime superiority that includes effective sea control, maneuver, and defense of the carrier strike group. A renewed emphasis on future rotary-wing contributions in integrated warfare, electromagnetic maneuver warfare, improved lethality, and unmanned systems will contribute greatly to maintaining our maritime superiority advantage.
1. ADM John Richardson, USN, “What Is our Navy’s Role? What Does our Future Hold?,” U.S. Navy, 16 May 2016, http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/05/16/what-is-our-navys-role-what-does-our-future-hold/.
2. SECNAV Information Paper, “FY2017 Department of the Navy President’s Budget Summary,” 9 February 2016, www.secnav.navy.mil/fmc/fmb/Documents/17pres/DON_PB_OVERVIEW.pdf.
3. Sam LaGrone, Megan Eckstein, “Navy Set to Deploy New Lethal Anti-Surface Cloud Later this Year,” USNI News, 17 May 2016, https://news.usni.org/2016/05/17/navy-set-to-deploy-new-lethal-anti-surface-tactical-cloud-later-this-year.
4. CDR Matt Schnappauf, USN, “Strike Group Integration,” The Tailhook Association, The Hook, (Summer 2015), 38.
5. Otto Kreisher, Seapower Magazine Online, 22 March 2016, www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20160322-manazir.html.
6. Megan Eckstein, “Manazir: Networked Systems are the Future of 5th-Generation Warfare Training,” USNI News, 18 May 2016, https://news.usni.org/2016/05/18/manazir-networked-systems-are-future-of-5th-generation-warfare-training.
7. Megan Eckstein, “MDA Seeking Directed Energy Coalition Solutions to Missile Threat; Navy Pursuing Larger Sensor Network,” USNI News, 14 March 2016, https://news.usni.org/2016/03/14/mda-seeking-directed-energy-coalition-solutions-to-missile-threat-navy-pursuing-larger-sensor-network.
8. CDR Guy M. Snodgrass, USN, “U.S. Naval Aviation and Weapons Development in Review,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, vol. 142, no. 5 (May 2016), 84–89.
9. Naval Doctrine Publication 1, Naval Warfare (March 2010), 28.
10. ADM John Richardson, USN, A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority, Version 1.0, January 2016, www.navy.mil/cno/docs/cno_stg.pdf.
11. Naval Aviation Enterprise, Naval Aviation Vision 2014–2025, 2014, 10.
12. ADM John Richardson, USN, “Statement Before the House Subcommittee on Defense, Committee on Appropriations on the Fiscal Year 2017 U.S. Navy Budget,” 1 March 2016, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP02/20160301/104529/HHRG-114-AP02-Wstate-RichardsonA-20160301.pdf.
13. Sydney J. Freedman, Jr., “Centaur Army: Bob Work, Robotics, & the Third Offset Strategy,” Breaking Defense, 9 November 2015, http://breakingdefense.com/2015/11/centaur-army-bob-work-robotics-the-third-offset-strategy/.
14. CDR Matt Schnappauf, USN, “It’s Time to Push Rotary Manned-Unmanned Teaming,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, vol. 142, no. 5 (May 2016), 148.
15. Beth Stevenson, “U.S. Army Establishes First Manned-Unmanned Unit,” Flight Global, 24 March 2015, www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-army-establishes-first-manned-unmanned-unit-410504/.
16. CDR Jeff Dodge, USN, CDR Michael Ruth, USN, CAPT George Galdorisi, USN (Ret.), CAPT Donald Williamson, USN (Ret.), “Adapting Helo Missions for the Future,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, vol. 136, no. 4 (April 2010), 79–81.