By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
It might not be possible to overstate the growing significance of US military multi-domain operations in the Pacific in light of the evolving threat environment, given that areas such as the South China Sea and Philippine coastal and island areas would greatly need sea-air-land operational combat capability to protect itself from any kind of Chinese aggression or incursion.
These kinds of sea-air-land “island hopping” contingencies are likely figuring prominently in the minds of Pentagon planners because, while multi-domain Army-Navy operations in the Pacific have long been an emphasis for the Pentagon, the need is clearly taking on more urgency in light of China’s continued harassment of Philippine vessels and provocations in the South China Sea. These kinds of strategic dynamics and threat contingencies are certain to provide the rationale and the conceptual foundation for current Army-Navy multi-domain operations in the Pacific wherein an Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands on the flight deck of the US Navy’s America-class USS Tripoli Amphibious Assault Ship. Sure enough, the Navy published a photo of the large CH-47 Chinook workhorse combat cargo helicopter descending onto the deck of the amphib, an indication that indeed command and control, concepts of operation and networking are evolving more fully with joint Army-Navy maritime warfare operations.
This kind of synergy makes tactical sense given the island-heavy coastal and littoral regions of the South China Sea, Southern Japan and the Philippines. A combat engagement of any kind in these areas would undoubtedly rely upon an operational need to effectively merge air-surface-ground combat coordination between land and sea warfare environments. Cargo, weapons and supplies might need to travel in a large and heavy capacity from an amphib such as the USS Tripoli to the shore to support and reinforce fast-arriving ground units looking to secure a beachhead from which to fire weapons and state offensive and defensive operations. Ammunition, fuel, soldiers, marines and key weapons systems such as ground-fired rockets and artillery would need to transport from ship-to-shore to “hold” and defend island areas in the South China Sea or along the Philippine coastline.
It makes sense that the Navy would choose to land a Chinook on the USS Tripoli, as that ship is one of the Navy’s aviation-centric first-two America-class amphibs which do not have a well deck in order to creator more hangar and deck space for sea-air operations. While the third US Navy America-class amphib features the return of the well-deck, the first two are optimized to operate the stealthy 5th-generation F-35B, Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and various helicopters. The concept is to leverage the emerging advantages afforded by the arrival of the F-35B in the last decade and optimize the impact of the high-speed Osprey tiltrotor which can travel 450miles across the ocean delivering Marines, ammunition and weapons in support of any ship-to-shore operation.
The photo of the Chinook landing on the USS Tripoli also suggests that Army-Navy networking and joint command and control is improving as well, given that platforms such as Navy ships and Army helicopters can operate with different interfaces, transport layer communications technologies, navigational systems and IP protocol computing standards. The Chinook, for instance, has in recent years been upgraded with a Rockwell-Collins Common Avionics Architecture System featuring advanced avionics, navigation technology and computing engineered to enable new levels of sensing, connectivity and in-flight information intelligence information sharing. Part of the enhancements include greater computer automation, symbology and technology enabling maneuver operations in a degraded visual environment wherein standard visibility is compromised. The joint Army-cargo helicopter-to-Navy-amphibious assault ship operation would suggest that indeed Army sensing and communications built into the CAAS for the Chinook are able to coordinate command and control operations with a big-deck Navy amphibious assault ship. This is precisely the kinds of operations which would be critically necessary in a coastal, island-hopping kind of Pacific maritime warfare scenario.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
(Photo Credit) …….. A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter assigned to the Hillclimbers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, takes off from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7) in the Pacific Ocean, July 27, 2024. Tripoli is an America-class amphibious assault ship homeported in San Diego. The ship is currently underway conducting routine operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Malcolm Kelley)
