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Integrating the AH-64 helicopter into the MAGTF battlespace
I the summer of 2006 U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters began flying combat missions in support of Marines and soldiers in the I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) (I MEF (Fwd)) battlespace of Ar Ramadi, Iraq. The incorporation of these aircraft into the Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF) area of operations (AO) has required significant modifications to aircraft control procedures and has introduced a novel integration and deconfliction dynamic for both Marine aircrew and terminal controllers. This article does not address why Apaches are flying in support of maneuver forces in Marine Corps batdespace; instead it addresses the modifications to existing procedures that have been developed to safely incorporate them into the fight.
The introduction of Apaches presented three distinct challenges to aerial planners and controllers that range in scope from procedural to terminal control. First, it required a change in communications procedures so that the aircraft could be incorporated into the Marine air command and control system (MACCS). second, new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) were developed in order to ensure adequate deconfliction with Marine Corps aircraft. Third, it required a major change in Marine Corps terminal attack control procedures.
Integration Into MACCS
The MACCS utilizes the full spectrum of aircraft control, which ranges from positive1 to procedural.2 All Marine aircrew are thoroughly familiar with these techniques. Army aircrew, however, train and fight using Army airspace command and control (A^sup 2^C^sup 2^), which in the Iraqi theater is centered around positive control utilizing active Sentinel radar systems coupled with the Army's theater air integration system. The two systems, MACCS and A2C2, are not seamlessly compatible, and incorporating the Apaches into MEF battlespace required some significant modifications to Marine Corps procedures.
In Iraq the MAGTF utilizes doctrinal procedural control of aircraft between the airfield and the terminal controller. The direct air support center (DASC) performs the function of procedural control. The DASC is responsible for providing aircrew routing instructions from their point of origin to the terminal controller and deconflicting aircraft by time, space, and altitude as they transit from point to point. The crux of procedural control is that the directions given to the aircrew are just that-a set of instructions that follow guidance promulgated...