At a training range in South Korea last February, soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, perform maintenance on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. In June the U.S. Army will form a new aviation brigade that mixes nearly all the basic helicopter types into a single unit, called a Multi-Functional Aviation Brigade, or MFAB. (Daniel J. Love / U.S. Army)
PYONGTAEK, South Korea — Army helicopter crews will gain new chances to train with helicopter units outside their own aircraft specialty once the Army forms a new kind of aviation unit in South Korea next month, Army aviators said.
The new unit, called a Multi-Functional Aviation Brigade (MFAB), is being set up Armywide and combines the service’s AH-64D Apaches, UH-60 Black Hawks, and CH-47 cargo helicopters — into a single unit.
Officials say it will help battle commanders manage their aircraft forces, but it’s also expected to increase the opportunities for aircrews specialized in one aircraft type to train closely with their counterparts and become familiar with Black Hawks, Apaches and Chinooks.
Such integrated training does occur, Army pilots said, but more often aircrews train with fellow pilots flying the same helicopter.
“With the MFAB all of the pilots and crews will have a greater understanding of how to employ their specific system with the other aviation systems in the Army,” said Col. Richard H. Parker, 8th U.S. Army’s chief of force development and plans, in Seoul.
“The training is greater, the understanding of the other aviation platforms is greater,” he said.
“The training that we have done on a day-to-day basis, multi-aircraft, has been much more limited than it will become as we…become brother and sister units to Chinooks and other aviation elements,” said Maj. Brian Almquist, commander of the 377th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), at Camp Humphreys.
“The first time we trained with Apaches, the first time we had a gunship escort, the first time we worked with medevac hand-in-hand, for me, was actually in combat,” said veteran Chinook pilot Chief Warrant Officer Rusel Hays, of 2nd Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment at Camp Humphreys. He served in combat in the Gulf War, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
“But now, as a multifunction aviation brigade, we have all of those assets available at the unit level,” said Hays. He said he could now do training with gunships and medevac units and be able to enter a combat theater without a long train-up period.
“We avoid the long train-up period because we now have the opportunity to train for the combat mission internally within the same unit.”
