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FORT NOVOSEL, Ala. — More than 200 U.S. Army Aviation leaders from across all Army components gathered at the home of Army aviation to discuss warfighting issues facing the branch, Jan. 23-25, 2024.
With a theme of “Transforming Aviation Warfighting, Strengthening the Sacred Trust”, the 2024 Aviation Senior Leader Forum’s three days of guest speaker and breakout sessions focused on current and future operations, training and leader development.
Event host Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, the U.S. Army Aviation Branch chief, welcomed attendees and provided a branch update.
“Welcome, everybody, to the Aviation Senior Leader Forum, the only branch forum mandated in regulation,” he said, referencing Army Regulation 95-1.
He lauded the former branch leaders in the crowd and encouraged current leaders to seize the opportunity to learn from them.
“I wouldn’t be here today without a lot of these folks over here, and neither would a lot of the people sitting in the front row,” McCurry said.
“The dialogue is more important than what’s on the slides. The challenges we face in Army aviation every day out there in your [combat aviation brigades] and formations have been seen before, we have been here before. These warfighters over here, these warriors — some say gray beards — they have been there and had to fight their way through friction, and so your job is to be a sponge and glean from these warfighters everything.”
He also lauded the vital role of the branch’s enlisted corps as he recognized Command Sgt. Maj. Stephen H. Helton, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth command sergeant major.
“We’re a pretty tight family in Army aviation. We all know none of us would be here without our enlisted Soldiers. Back in (the early 1990s), 1st Lt. McCurry and Pfc. Helton were in the same platoon. And for the last few years we have been the beneficiaries of his leadership at the Combined Arms Center as the command sergeant major. I want to make sure we recognize him, as a branch.”
McCurry explained his own responsibilities as a leader as three functions: Fort Novosel senior commander, force modernization proponent for aviation and senior trainer for Army aviation.
In Army aviation, “nothing’s really changed in what we do, we have the same set of core competencies,” which he condensed into the categories of see/sense, strike, move and extend.
“We increase the lethality and survivability of the combined arms team,” McCurry said.
In the future fight, first contact should be made with unmanned systems, he said.
“When the explosion of (unmanned aircraft systems) happened in the COIN fight, when many of us were battalion commanders, it was really about seeing, it was about persistence, it was about watching one IED engagement zone or one building looking for a high value target. Today with the explosion of unmanned systems, we’re using them in every function,” he said.
The branch is looking at future changes to medical evacuation, including extended casualty care and buddy care on the battlefield, and potentially employing UAS for blood transport.
The branch is also looking at aviation’s role in providing robust capabilities to extend the Army’s ability to command and control its forces.
“Let us never be mistaken (to think) that army aviation exists for itself,” McCurry said, explaining that the branch’s sole purpose is to support the Soldier on the ground.
McCurry also discussed the data solicited last year in the wake of aviation mishaps.
“Many of you that had meetings scheduled with me saw those cancelled on the last day of [the aviation association forum] last year because I was with Gen. McConville and we were working a plan on the aviation standdown as we looked at the series of accidents we had,” McCurry said.
“We collected data … all of you held standdowns … and you fed comments up. We tallied every comment, how many times certain things came up. We took all that collected data that bubbled up from the CABs and briefed the vice who is now our chief. We had every division and corps commander on the net,” he said.
“We identified with division and corps commanders the follow-on actions for the enterprise to take in the near, mid and far-term to get after increasing safety,” as he explained the data chart.
“For CAB commanders, the outcome was more engagement and ownership by your division commanders. They are engaged, they are reading what’s coming out, their DCG’s are getting the action items to follow up, so that’s a positive. We have to keep that momentum going,” he said.
He emphasized that the branch will not compromise on standards and called upon leaders to continue to focus on the fundamentals and understanding and managing risk, as the branch transforms to support the joint force in large-scale combat operations of the future.
Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy A. George, who joined the forum through video conference, called for readiness at every echelon.
“As a leader, I have been dealing with, or being supported by aviation formations my entire career. I’m always proud of our aviation branch. I think it’s one of the strongest aspects of our Army, it always has been,” George said.
“There’s so many things that we can learn from aviation. I always use maintenance as a perfect example of that … a formation that is disciplined and knows how to get after that, so appreciate all of your leadership,” he said.
He described the volatile current world situation that people can readily see on the news daily.
“What’s different about where we’re at right now is just all the regional conflicts that we have going on around the world, in eastern Europe, in the Middle East, what’s happening out in the Pacific, and everywhere else,” and how quickly those could flare up into global conflict, he explained.
George described four focus areas for the force, including warfighting, delivering ready combat formations, continuous transformation and strengthening the Army profession.
“I want to make sure your formations understand that one of the things that you are going to be laser focused on is how you can make your formation more lethal, and your teams more cohesive,” he said.
George said he prefers the word transformation rather than modernization, because it indicates changes with people and tactics, techniques and procedures that have to change just as much as materiel, he explained.
He also said it’s critical that formations maintain discipline and standards that have been the “hallmark of effective units on the battlefield since the beginning of time.”
Gen. Gary Brito, who commands the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, also joined the event virtually. He emphasized support to Army-level imperatives, including warfighting, delivering combat ready formations and continuous Army transformation.
Brito said the onus is on leaders to help eradicate harmful behaviors and strengthen the profession.
“In everything you do as a leader, help us continue to keep our Army strong,” he said. “We as leaders own this — to reinforce the commitment, the competence, the candor, the character, the whole bit that makes our Army strong.”
He called for leaders to put everything they can into quality training.
“All echelons, all systems, all staffs, must work towards being adaptive, innovative, lethal in this new [multidomain operations/large-scale combat operations] environment,” he said.
What TRADOC owes the Army is trained and ready Soldiers and leaders who are brilliant at the basics, educated on the threat, who fight as a team, are resilient and adaptive and trusted by America, he explained.
“I’m very comfortable with the leaders that are represented in the room to make this happen, regardless of the patch that you have on,” Brito said. “We are all professionals. We all have responsibility … to build that bench before us and help our chief and the secretary of the Army with their priorities in the future.”
Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, National Guard Bureau chief, who had just returned from a trip to Poland, joined to provide an update.
“The Guard has got to look exactly like the Army,” Hokanson said. “For those outside the military that may not be familiar I constantly have to remind them that the reason the National Guard exists is to fight and win our nation’s wars. That is our sole mission. But because we are manned, trained and equipped to fight wars, we can do just about anything else. You see this in aviation literally every day.”
To make sure Guard aviation is on par and in the same modernization process as the active Army, every unit needs to directly support a division or corps, Hokanson explained.
The lineup of speaker sessions included updates from the Aviation Branch command sergeant major and chief warrant officer, as well as various members of the aviation enterprise such as the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, the director of Army Aviation – Army G-3/5/7, Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team/Army Futures Command and Program Executive Office-Aviation.
The event also provided updates from U.S. Army North, the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, Human Resources Command and Army Reserve Aviation Command, as well as the Directorate of Evaluation and Standardization and Directorate of Training and Doctrine at the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence.
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FORT KNOX, Ky. — Bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, Army.
The only military-related background Capt. Chelsea Michta had prior to becoming the first officer to receive an active-duty direct commission in the Army’s Military Intelligence Corps was that her father worked for the Department of Defense.
Now, she is the officer in charge at the Army Europe Open Source Center – what Michta said is the largest open-source intelligence shop in Europe.
“It’s incredibly meaningful to work with a team who is providing commanders with information that is having a real-world impact on the battlefield,” Michta said. “It’s also humbling to be continuously learning.”
Michta, however, is no stranger to learning. Her achievement becoming the first Army MI direct commission officer is far from her only noteworthy feat. Adorned with extraordinary accomplishments, Michta’s path to the Army was not only unconventional, but shows why her selection was obvious.
“Boy, did she have all of the unique skills that no other lieutenant coming through the regular channels would have,” said Col. Christina Bembenek, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade commander in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Michta’s background and reputation preceded her. After all, how often does a University of Cambridge Ph.D. graduate who speaks English, German, Polish and Spanish commission in the Army? To Bembenek, Michta’s passion for service rivaled that of her passion for academics.
“When she came here, her desire to learn how to be an officer and how to be in the Army was impressive,” Bembenek said. “Her extensive research ability, combined with her knowledge of the languages and region — I could not have had a better officer fall into our brigade.”
Prior to putting on a uniform, much of Michta’s life was devoted to education. While in high school, her father, then professor at a liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee, accepted a position with the defense department in Germany. Although she lived in Warsaw as a child, this move provided Michta her first real exposure to Europe and living abroad.
Following her graduation from Munich International School, she went on to earn a bachelor’s in European history from Amherst College and then attended Cambridge for her master’s. There, she was one of just a few graduate students selected by the university to receive a full tuition scholarship to pursue her doctorate.
There was just one issue.
“I knew from the outset that I didn’t want to pursue a traditional civilian academic career,” Michta said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my Ph.D. and explored a number of options during grad school to try and figure that out.”
It was while writing her dissertation that an unexpected set of circumstances ultimately opened Michta’s eyes to the possibility of choosing the Army as a career. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she had to return to Germany where her father was serving as the dean of the George C. Marshall Center. With the facility’s classroom the only available workspace outside her home, she spent the days of lockdown with Soldiers attending the Foreign Area Officers’ program there.
“It was honestly that experience of being around a lot of Army officers and talking with them about their experiences in the Army that first sparked my interest in uniformed service,” Michta said.
According to Michta, prior to speaking with FAO Soldiers, who were from various different branches and backgrounds, she admittedly had a fairly simplistic view of the Army. It was through her many conversations that she became both enlightened and inspired.
“I was struck by how diverse their experiences had been and the responsibility that was entrusted to them so early in their career, and by their sense of shared values and purpose,” Michta said. “It was the first time I considered pursuing a career in the military myself, but I just didn’t know what that would look like for me.”
As she began taking steps to see what options were available, Michta discovered the Army was expanding its direct commission opportunities to new specialties. With her combined education, cultural exposure and language capabilities, a panel of senior intelligence officers reviewed her civilian credentials and written statement outlining her desire to serve, and selected Michta to be the first person to direct commission into the MI Corps.
Now, two years after first arriving at Fort Moore, Georgia, Michta is leading her team in Wiesbaden and has her sights set on attending the Captain’s Career Course later this year.
“My short-term goal is to be a company commander and really step into a leadership role,” Michta said. “I want to take what I’ve learned leading my team here in Wiesbaden and apply that to a larger group of men and women and be the best leader that I can be.”
For Michta, the Army was never in the forefront of her mind as a potential career, especially as she traversed the world of academia. She said many people would likely be as surprised as she was that their own personal skillset has that perfect place within the Army’s many avenues.
“I think it’s important to get the word out about what the Army can offer,” Michta said. “If more people were aware of the sheer variety of experiences that a person can have, the shared sense of purpose, and the professional developmental opportunities the Army can offer, I think a lot more people would seriously consider it.
“Don’t write something off just because you’re not familiar with it or you have preconceived notions of what this profession entails. There’s always more to it than you think.”
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The 805th Combat Training Squadron, also known as the Shadow Operations Center – Nellis, executed their annual Capstone event by experimenting with and developing tactics, techniques, and procedures for integrated two-way kill-chain automation between the operational and tactical command and control including battle management levels, to create competitive advantages for the United States and its allies and partners at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
As the United States Air Force’s lead Advanced Battle Management System Battle Lab, the ShOC-N (a.k.a. the Rhinos) experiments and assesses emerging concepts, applications, and technologies, as well as develops TTPs for the Multi-Domain Operations Center of the future. During the five-day Capstone event, the Battle Lab executed a constructive large-force employment, using data generated organically within the ShOC-N’s modeling & simulation environment, to improve dynamic targeting kill-chain automation through software integration and associated TTP development.
“During the Capstone event in 2022, the ShOC-N proved it was possible to quantify, observe, and measure command and control; the idea of measuring C2 has been overlooked in the past because of the misconception that ‘C2 is an art’. Human judgment will continue to play a critical role, but we’re proving C2 decision making is far more science than art,” said Col. Jonathan Zall, Department of the Air Force ABMS Cross Functional Team. “The Rhinos are taking the lead to correct the oversights of the past. They’re developing and conducting crucial scientific C2 experiments.”
Zall continued, discussing the 2023 Capstone event. “The ShOC is an incredibly professional class act, disciplined ensuring the data is credible, not just if they like the toys, but how the tools perform, and they are measuring those things. That is why I am genuinely impressed with the Rhinos, with everyone coming in and all the TDY support and everything that has been achieved.”
This year’s event featured independent but related experiments influenced by Indo-Pacific Command tactics that were identified and selected by the Command, Control, and Communications Battle Management, or C3BM, Operational Response Team, DAF, Air Combat Command, and Pacific Air Forces. Experiments included:
1 Dynamic Targeting Kill Chain Automation
2 Connect the Five Eyes, or FVEY, Battle Labs, also known as the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network, or CFBLNet, to the ShOC-N
3 Transformational Modeling for Battle Management, or TM-BM
4 Digital Battle Management Node, also known as Tactical Operations Center – Light, and Mobile Solutions
“The ShOC-N doubled the number of experiments this year and primarily focused on the scientific rigor needed for data collection and analysis in order to provide data-driven insights for new prototypes or processes,” said Lt. Col. John Ohlund, 805th CTS/ShOC-N commander.
The Dynamic Targeting Kill Chain Automation experiments utilized tools focused on increasing the speed, scale and accuracy of the find, fix, track, target and engage, or F2T2E, process for PACAF’s experiment while also supporting ACC’s NEXUS integration efforts.
The ShOC-N modeled and replicated PACAF’s current operational- to tactical-level systems and processes, allowing for the secure experimentation of two new dynamic targeting kill-chain automation technologies.
The ShOC-N hosted personnel from across the DAF, industry, and coalition partners for the experiment. Data collection and analytics measured speed, scale, and accuracy during the experiments.
The ABMS CFT’s experiment objectives focused on procuring data through connecting FVEY Battle Labs/CFBLNet, TM-BM, and data capture and debrief tools.
Japan Self-Defense Forces, German and French Armed Forces, along with FVEY New Zealand Defence Forces, and United States Air Force Weapons School students participated in the TM-BM artificial intelligence-enabled technology experiment known as “Match Effectors,” or the decision to appropriately pair effectors with targets while taking into consideration many factors. The experiment observed two groups of participants one using one operating system’s software and a control group using a different operating system’s software to compare the effect of human-machine-team decision speed, quality, and human confidence in HMT solutions.
The United Kingdom and Canada were the first coalition partners to integrate into the ABMS Battle Lab, allowing them to connect and participate in the TM-BM experiment. The ShOC-N is currently working with Australia and New Zealand to connect their Battle Labs. The two FVEY Battle Labs used the CFBLNet enclaves to establish a releasable, or REL, environment allowing the exchange of mission-related files, simulation data, and voice/chat/data link messages, providing the initial validation for the United Kingdom and Canada to host future combined C2 experiments.
“This new capability provides our coalition partners access to the Battle Lab as if they’re physically on the operations floor, allowing our partners to fully participate in CJADC2 [Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control] and ABMS exercises and experiments,” said Jeffery Compoc, 805th CTS/ShOC-N chief technical officer.
During the final ABMS CFT experiment, the simultaneous effectiveness of four data capture and debrief tools that support C2 were assessed. The experiment compared the type of data collected, quality of measurements, and display between the four applications.
“Watching the TM-BM and dynamic targeting experiments was like holding a prism into the light to reveal distinct decision categories, like the prism reveals the distinct colors of the rainbow,” said Zall. “We [ABMS CFT] eventually wanted to get to experiments where we combined different decisions, but there were concerns the more decisions we put together that each little decision might be lost in the chaos, but now we know that we can do these combined decision experiments because the Rhinos just did it and they’ve been doing it all week. Since the Rhinos are so methodical with collecting data, we can use it like it was our own experiment. All we have to do is apply the model and pull the insights from the data.”
Throughout the Capstone event, the TOC-L, now known as the TOC-enabled Control Reporting Center, or CRC, team executed tactical C2 primarily from the TOC kit in a tent outside the ShOC-N. The TOC family of systems provides a tailorable Battle Management C2 center that scales up or down based on the Component Commander’s needs. The TOC kit is a mobile ground based tactical BMC2 capability used to conduct BM functions within a CRC or Air Support Operations Center. The ShOC’s dynamic targeting and M&S cells sent data to the TOC enabled CRC for use within the common operational picture display and target prosecution. The experiment analyzed the operational speed of data exchange utilizing experimental software and traditional crews executing the target process.
The ShOC-N deployed Wi-Fi on the combat operations floor for the first time, allowing mobile solutions for C2 warriors. The Rhinos, in partnership with the C3BM ORT office utilized ORT’s Mobile Solution tablets employing Commercial Solutions for Classified, or CfSC, infrastructure during the Capstone event.
“The mobile solutions experiment allowed operators to move freely on the operations floor and maintain communications and situational awareness of the operations, while the ShOC-N analyzed battle-management data, instrumentation network metrics, and experimentation on the influence for the kill-chain execution,” said Compoc.
“The partnership between the C3BM Operational Response Team’s Mobile Solutions/CfSC prototype and the 2023 ShOC-N Capstone event provided battle management operators with a hands-on experience of what mobile C2 could look like in an ACE CONOP [Agile Combat Employment concept of operations] environment,” said Capt. Shane Toner, DAF C3BM ORT program manager. “C3BM collected user feedback of the operator experience while replicating the battle management functions of operator workstations on the ShOC-N operations floor that will influence CSfC capability and End User Device form factors for the future DAF Battle Network.”
Toner continued, the use of CSfC End User Devices can reshape thinking around operations floor physical layouts, the ability to collaborate and generate teaming environments, and the DAF’s ability to conduct mobile C2 in a wireless fashion. ShOC-N Capstone provided a key venue for the development of C3BM ORT’s plans for the Mobile Solutions prototype and the team looks forward to supporting the ShOC-N in 2024.
“What we are seeing here [at the ShOC-N] is 90% ingenuity and grit and 10% resourcing, so one of my messages back to my bosses and anyone who will listen is, now just imagine what these folks could do with more resources? And you can trust them to be good stewards of resourcing because they have already proved it,” said Zall.
The ShOC-N’s mission is to provide an environment for the DAF to make rapid acquisition decisions, provide data-driven requirements, and distribute warfighter feedback to the industry to drive information advantage and decision superiority against current DOD pacing challenges.
“The ShOC team is excited for 2024 and the continued experimentation with the Secretary of the Air Force’s Operational Imperative team for ABMS and CJADC2. Our goal is more experiments, potentially smaller and more frequent, and culminating in an annual Capstone,” said Ohlund.
Deb Henley
505th Command and Control Wing
Public Affairs
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