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“High priority”

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will get the

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for the UH-60 Black Hawk at about the same time as elite active-duty formations,

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promised this week. That would modernize at least some Guard units ahead of the majority of the regular Army. It’s a dramatic turnaround from three years ago, when Army leaders and the Guard community were

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over

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.

“As far the

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, we see that being fielded initially to have those units that have forced- or early-entry type missions, like the 101st Airborne Division, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the 82nd Airborne Division,”

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told the

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here, naming three of the Army’s most elite and storied formations. “We also see them being fielded to the National Guard in units with a high priority early on as we go forward.”

Not Just FLRAA

It’s not just FLRAA that’ll go to the Guard, McConville told reporters after his remarks to the conference. The Army’s working on lots of

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and

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for future

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, he said, and “we’re going to put some of these new capabilities into the Guard up front, which is a little different than we have done in the past.”

There’s already a vigorous program to modernize Guard aviation, the assistant director of the Army Guard told the conference. All the Guard’s

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have been upgraded to the CH-47F Block I standard,

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said. The Guard’s UH-60L “Lima” Black Hawks will be upgraded to the UH-60V “Victor” model, which has come under some criticism but which Davis said is actually “better than the [regular Army’s UH-60M] ‘Mikes’ in a lot of ways.” And the Guard will begin replacing its AH-64D Apaches with the latest

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model in 2022, with all four Guard Apache battalions upgraded by the end of 2026.

But those are all new models of old aircraft that entered service in the Cold War. FLRAA, by contrast, will be an all-new design — not even a conventional helicopter, but either a

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or a

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— developed under the Future Vertical Lift program. What about giving the Guard early access to the Army’s other new FVL aircraft, the

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(FARA)?

“We’ll take a look at that,” McConville said.

Why different answers on different aircraft? McConville didn’t say. The simplest explanation is that the Guard already has plenty of UH-60 Black Hawks, which is the aircraft FLRAA would replace in assault, transport, cargo, and

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. The Guard doesn’t currently have scout helicopter units, which is where FARA would go.

Strictly speaking, the regular Army doesn’t have any scout helicopters either. Both active and Guard units retired their aging OH-58D Kiowa Warriors years ago without buying a new recon aircraft to replace it. But the regular Army does have scout units, called Heavy Attack Reconnaissance Squadrons, which try to fill the recon role with

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— many of which were taken from the Guard as part of the bitterly controversial

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.

Since the heavily armed and armored Apache was never designed to be a scout, it’s not a particularly good one, which is why the Army’s made developing a new thoroughbred scout its top aviation priority. That’s FARA, the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft, which

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. (That potentially frees the gunships to go back to the Guard, though I haven’t heard anyone in the Army say they will).

Since the Guard doesn’t have any HAR squadrons, it’s unlikely to get FARA — unless the Army decides the Guard now needs recon units. That’s entirely possible as part of an ongoing top-to-bottom look at

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for future multi-domain operations. The Army’s senior futurist, Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, has publicly said some active units will need to move into the reserve component and some Reserve and Guard units will move into the active force.

...

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McConville & The Guard

It’s McConville’s statements on the subject that carry the most weight, however, because he isn’t just a four-star general. (Check out his

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). He’s a skilled pilot himself, experienced in multiple types of helicopter, including the AH-64 Apache gunship. He’s a former commander of the 101st, which he led in battle in Afghanistan. And now he is both the service’s Vice-Chief of Staff and President Trump’s nominee to replace

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as Chief of Staff.

Gen. Milley himself replaced an Army chief,

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, widely distrusted by Guard advocates, who by contrast greeted Milley’s appointment with

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. Naming his vice-chief to replace him as chief — something that

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— is a big vote for continuity on active-Guard relations, modernization strategy, and other matters.

It’s also a nomination the Senate will almost certainly confirm given McConville’s military record and his avoidance of charged political issues.

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is also well-disposed to funding new equipment for the National Guard, which has a hometown presence in every state and powerful advocacy groups.

“What Gen. McConville said — we’re nodding our heads, saying ‘okay, that sounds pretty good,'” said John Goheen, spokesman for the influential

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. “It is a helpful sign, a hopeful sign.”

That said, “we haven’t even picked the aircraft yet,” Goheen noted, let alone started building it. “We’re talking about many years and many budgets before this becomes reality — and the Guard, this association, are certainly willing to work with the Army, to tell the story of need… on the Hill and to the American public.”

Why does the National Guard need cutting-edge aircraft? Because, in stark contrast to Cold War stereotypes of “weekend warriors,” ever since 9/11, Guard units have routinely deployed abroad to active or potential war zones.

Just recently, “we’ve had a unit in

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, with the second best tank; we’ve had Apache units in

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, with the second best Apache,” Goheen said. “In great power competition, you can’t do that.” It’s one thing to fight the Taliban with less than optimal equipment, something very different is needed to deter Russia or China.

Gen. McConville’s words are “a sign that the Army is thinking that … the Guard needs to get the nation’s most advanced and lethal equipment, because these Guard units are going to be fighting at approximately the same time as active component units, [or] not far behind,” Goheen said. “Now we

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together on making this happen — knowing full well … lots of things can go wrong.”

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Remember the US right now is repleate with Reapers. So yeah they have some time.

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Jura said:

March 18

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The Corps’ future high-tech MUX drone program is not dead ― here’s where it’s at

at pocket money:

"But the MUX isn’t dead ― it got funding, just not a lot. The Marine Corps only requested $21.6 million for it in its fiscal year 2020 budget submission, according to Capt. Christopher Harrison, a Marine spokesman."

etc.

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Jura said:

my point 9 minutes ago
was you were reaching
Today at 4:59 PM
with "The Marines MUX program in the next few years calls for a system that with a few mods fit the Army missions."

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

Not really a reach. The program is active just not ready yet.
Same for a army UAS. For the near term were okay.

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Brumby said:

I believe there are a couple of different drivers between the US Army and USN UAV program which had shaped certain distinct development emphasis and their differences are likely to narrow in the future due to convergence of threat assessment by the Pentagon.

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Brumby said:

I believe there are a couple of different drivers between the US Army and USN UAV program which had shaped certain distinct development emphasis and their differences are likely to narrow in the future due to convergence of threat assessment by the Pentagon.

In recent history, the USN's emphasis had been to build up a kill web through the CEC program. This approach is partially driven by the recognition that delivery of capabilities is not platform based but tasked based. For example, when the USN settled for the sizing of the AMDR, it was clear that the sensitivity of dB15 was insufficient to meet certain future threats but Flight III unfortunately could only handle a 14-foot variant of the AMDR. This deficiency is meant to be addressed through off board data through the CEC network. As such, we should expect to see platform developments that are supportive of the ISR demand of the kill web. It would be interesting to note how "MUX" or any variant that would fit into this equation. I also expect that MQ-25 while initially fulfilling a taker role will grow into some form of ...

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Jura said:

until now I thought a tanker aircraft couldn't be a surveillance aircraft but
Navy, Industry Looking for Design ‘Sweet Spot’ for MQ-25A Stingray
source:

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

One of the reasons I pointed to MUX is that the current systems are runway based. That's fine for Coin but if the Army has to start moving that means SVTOL. The MUX being naval based favors that the Marines basically demanding that.

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