CCDC’S ROAD MAP TO MODERNIZING THE ARMY: FUTURE VERTICAL LIFT
W
hen Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry dropped from UH-1 Huey helicopters into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965, they became part of what is
considered the first large-scale helicopter assault and the first large-unit engagement of the Vietnam War. Tough immedi- ately surrounded by thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers, American forces were able to combine air assault with the more traditional heavy artillery support to keep from being over- run. Hundreds of American Soldiers died during the battle that followed, but the air support was one key reason they were able to inflict a much heavier toll on the North Vietnamese army.
Helicopters were indispens- able during the Vietnam War because of their ability to take off and land vertically and to hover in a country covered in dense jungle. Tey were used to transport Soldiers and supplies to the war zone, conduct
reconnaissance
missions, strike targets and evacuate injured Soldiers for treatment. Many years later, Army aviation continued to play an important role in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the varied desert and moun- tainous terrain presented problems including limited maneuverability and brown- out conditions.
efficient. Tis campaign continues to scrutinize our integrated technology development, how we manage our talent and other resources and how we communicate this to our partners and the American public.
Emerging requirements for Future Vertical Lift include the ability to fly farther and faster, to carry heavier payloads, be easier and less expensive to sustain, to team with unmanned systems and perform certain optionally piloted missions.
Helicopters remain critical to Army operations, but some of the vertical-lift platforms in current use are more than 50 years old. To achieve the perfor- mance that next-generation aircraft will require, we are working on many critical areas, including lethality, survivability, lighter and stronger airframes and rotors, and advanced manned and unmanned teaming.
ONE TEAM, ONE PLAN Before moving into the U.S. Army Futures Command and becom- ing Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) launched an across-the-board campaign plan to gain greater visibility of our operations and become more effective and
56 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2019
As part of that campaign, we reorganized our portfolio and management structures to mirror the Army’s modernization priorities, naming a lead center for each modernization priority. While the CCDC Aviation & Missile Center leads science and technology (S&T) for Future Vertical Lift—the Army’s third modernization priority—our eight major and three international centers and laboratories work together to interface with both the requirements community and the cross-functional teams developed as part of the Futures Command. Tis synergy enables our labs to produce a unified position and focus on the most critical technologies required for future vertical lift.
CCDC supports the Future Vertical Lift team at multi- ple levels, such as with a dedicated S&T representative who provides aviation expertise, access to our labs to exchange technology, war-gaming exer- cises for collaboration and problem solving, subject matter experts and program develop- ment support.
Te command also brings the expertise of and relationships with its extensive network of
domestic and international academic and industry partners, the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and the Program Exec- utive Office (PEO) for Aviation to develop and demonstrate new technologies for future vertical lift that will provide increased range, protection, lethality, agility and mission flexibility.
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE FIGHT We are developing and demonstrating several technologies for future vertical lift to inform concepts of operation and retain air power in multidomain operations, which will require command- ers to fight with joint forces across multiple spheres to defeat adversaries.
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