Mission

http://www.rucker.army.mil/usaace/usaace.html "The U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence trains military, civilian, and international personnel in and leadership skills, integrates aviation warfighting doctrine and requirements determination across the DOTMLPF

DOTMLPF

DOTMLPF is an acronym used by the United States Department of Defense. DOTMLPF is defined in the The Joint Capabilities Integration Development System, or JCIDS Process. The JCIDS process provides a solution space that considers solutions involving any combination of doctrine, organization,...

, manages available resources, and sustains our commitment to the well-being of our Soldiers, civilians, retirees, and Families."

Command and Directorates

The 1st Aviation Brigade commands four distinctly different battalions, each with a unique mission – the 1st Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment; the 1st Battalion, 145th Aviation Regiment; 1st Battalion, 210th Aviation Regiment; and the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Training Battalion at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Along with its many command responsibilities, logistical support requirements, and administrative duties, the brigade’s primary mission is to train and develop future aviation warfighting leaders.

Including the lessons learned from deployed units, instructors and cadre write, review, and coordinate Army Aviation combined arms doctrine for aviation units below brigade level.

The course curriculum consists of a wide range of professional military education subjects, with emphasis on combined arms battlefield integration.

The tactical training is further reinforced with state-of-the-art simulation, allowing students to assume various command and staff positions at all command levels while fighting simulated battles throughout a wide spectrum of tactical scenarios.

Equally important is the initial entry training taught to entry level Aviation Branch Soldiers. IET teaches fundamental skills for Soldiers to perform their occupational specialties in an aviation unit.http://www.rucker.army.mil/pdf/InstallationGuide2009.pdf

UAS CoE

The UAS CoE, as the Army UAS Proponent’s principle Management Agency, provides intensive, centralized total capacity management and integration of all DOTMLPF considerations. The CoE coordinates with all Army institutional and operational organizations, Joint and other DoD agencies as required, to achieve a coherent and sustainable UAS strategy fostering the development of relevant and responsive concepts for current, emerging and future UAS interoperability with all manned and unmanned platforms.http://www.ausa.org/publications/armymagazine/archive/january2010/Documents/Carlile.pdf

The UAS CoE mission statement is to provide: “integration and coordination with all Army organizations, the joint services, and other Defense Department agencies to achieve the U.S. Army UAS strategy that includes concepts for current, emerging and future UAS interoperability with all manned and unmanned systems. ”The Army UAS CoE is claimed to be composed of dedicated professionals who bring a broad wealth of knowledge, skills and experiences in their respective areas of expertise.
http://www.rucker.army.mil/pdf/InstallationGuide2009.pdf

History

Fort Rucker

Although both Fort Rucker

Fort Rucker

Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence and...

 and Army Aviation

Army aviation

Army Aviation refers to aviation-related units of a nation's army, often described as an air corps. These units are generally separate from a nation's dedicated air force, and usually comprise helicopters and light support fixed-wing aircraft....

 trace their origins back to earlier eras, they came into being during the early months of World War II. The United States entered the war on 8 December 1941, following the surprise Japanese attack on Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Midway. On 15 December, Congress voted an appropriation of $10 billion for the defense of the United States and established a military service draft for men from 20 to 44 years of age.

The Origins of Fort Rucker

During World War II, America conducted a manpower mobilization unprecedented in its history in terms of total numbers; the United States put into uniform more than 16 million men (one-sixth of the total male population) and also approximately 333,000 women. This mobilization called for the creation of new training camps and military bases, including Camp Rucker.

Camp Rucker

The original name of the post was Ozark Triangular Division Camp, but before the camp was officially opened on 1 May 1942, the War Department named it Camp Rucker. The post was named in honor of Colonel Edmund W. Rucker, a Civil War Confederate officer, who was given the honorary title of “General,” and who became an industrial leader in Birmingham after the war. In September 1942, 1,259 additional acres south of Daleville were acquired for the construction of an airfield to support the training camp. It was known as Ozark Army Airfield until January 1959, when the name was changed to Cairns Army Airfield

Cairns Army Airfield

Cairns Army Airfield is a military airport forming a part of Fort Rucker, in Dale County, Alabama, USA. It is owned by the United States Army. The airfield is south of the town of Daleville, which sits between it and the main post.-History:...

. The first troops to train at Camp Rucker were those of the 81st (Wildcat) Infantry Division; the 81st Division left Rucker for action in the Pacific Theater in March 1943. Three other infantry divisions received training at Camp Rucker during World War II—the 35th, the 98th, and the 66th. The 66th (Panther) Division left for the European Theater in October 1944.
Camp Rucker was also used to train dozens of units of less than division size; these included tank, infantry replacement, and Women’s Army Corps units. During the latter part of World War II, several hundred German and a few Italian prisoners-of-war were housed in stockades near the railroad east of the warehouse area, on the southern edge of the post. Camp Rucker was inactive from March 1946 until August 1950, between WWII and the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. The principal Army unit operating at Rucker during the Korean War was the 47th Infantry Division, which trained replacement troops for combat in Korea. The post again became inactive in June 1954, after an armistice was signed. Camp Rucker reopened in August of that year, however, when the Army Aviation School began moving to Camp Rucker from Fort Sill, Okla.

The Origins of Army Aviation

Army Aviation traces its origins back to the American Civil War. Both Union and Confederate forces used helium-filled balloons to direct artillery fire, marking the beginning of U.S. military aeronautics and of aerial support of Army ground forces. The Army also used balloons during the Spanish American War and World War I, but airplanes replaced balloons for most military purposes during the latter conflict.

Army Aviation began in 1909 with the Army’s acquisition of its first heavier-than-air aircraft, an airplane built to Army specifications by the Wright brothers. During World War I, the Army’s aircraft strength grew from a few dozen to more than 11,000 planes, and the number of aviation personnel came to total more than 190,000. The Army Air Service was created
in May 1918. After World War I, General William Mitchell and other Air Service leaders spoke out forcefully in favor of an independent air force. Since they envisioned aviation as a separate striking force, capable of independent operations, they opposed its remaining an arm of the ground forces. Although Congress as well as most Army leaders rejected Mitchell’s argument, the Air Service did become a separate combat arm, equal in status to the infantry, cavalry, and artillery. In 1926, the name of the air arm was changed to Army Air Corps, and then, in June 1941, the Air Corps and other Army air elements were merged to form the Army Air Forces, co-equal with the Army Ground Forces and the Army Service Forces. During the 1930s, many Army Air Corps leaders became preoccupied with strategic air operations. Like Billy Mitchell before them, they advocated using air power independently of the Army ground forces to destroy enemy targets behind the lines of combat. This Air Corps emphasis on strategic operations disturbed some ground forces leaders, who believed their aerial support needs were being neglected. Aerial support was particularly vital for artillery fire adjustment. Partly because Air Corps fire support aircraft were not always available, the chief of field artillery and other artillery officers became interested in using light aircraft organic to the artillery units. The Army experimented with using small organic aircraft for artillery fire adjustment and other functions in maneuvers at Camp Beauregard

Camp Beauregard

For the American Civil War site, see Camp Beauregard Memorial in Water Valley.Camp Beauregard is a U.S. Army installation located northeast of Pineville, Louisiana, primarily in Rapides Parish, but also extending northward into Grant Parish. It is currently operated by the Louisiana National Guard...

, La., in August 1940. The tests were repeated on a larger scale in the Army maneuvers in Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and the Carolinas in 1941.
The Army’s “Grasshoppers,” as these light planes came to be called, proved to be much more effective than the larger Air Corps planes used for the same purposes.

Birth of Army Aviation (1942)

Following a final series of experiments with organic Army spotter aircraft conducted in 1942, the secretary of War ordered the establishment of organic air observation for field artillery—hence the birth of modern Army Aviation—on 6 June 1942. It was this new World War II-era phenomenon with its few small single-engine spotter planes, organic Army Aviation, that eventually evolved into today’s Army Aviation Branch. On the other hand, the organization that had been the Army Air Service and the Army Air Corps

United States Army Air Corps

The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...

 continued through World War II as the Army Air Forces and finally became the U.S. Air Force in 1947.

Organic Army Aviation first entered into combat in November 1942 on the coast of North Africa. During World War II, L-4 Grasshoppers and a few larger L-5 Sentinel

L-5 Sentinel

The Stinson L-5 Sentinel was a World War II era liaison aircraft used by all branches of the U.S. military and by the British Royal Air Force. Along with the Stinson L-1 Vigilant, the L-5 was the only other American liaison aircraft of WWII that was purpose-built for military use and had no...

s were used to adjust artillery fire, gather intelligence, support naval bombardment, direct bombing missions, and perform other functions. Most training of both pilots and mechanics was conducted by the Department of Air Training within the Field Artillery School at Post Field, Okla., although the Army Air Forces conducted some primary training of organic Army Aviation personnel. The Korean War provided new challenges and opportunities for Army Aviation. Organic Army Aviation had acquired its first helicopters, thirteen H-13 Sioux

H-13 Sioux

The H-13 Sioux was a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. Westland Aircraft manufactured the Sioux under license for the British military as the Sioux AH.1 and HT.2.-Development:...

, in 1947, shortly before the U.S. Air Force became independent of the Army. In Korea, the Army employed the O-1 Bird Dog and other improved fixed wing planes, but also helicopters. The Army used its H-13s primarily for medical evacuation, command and control, and transport of lightweight and valuable cargo. Because of the rugged terrain of the Korean peninsula, the value of helicopters came to be recognized by all the services; the demand for both helicopters and trained aviators consistently exceeded the supply. In 1951 the Army began organizing five helicopter transport companies and training warrant officer pilots. There was, however, an ongoing rivalry between the Army and the Air Force concerning responsibility and resources for the aerial support of ground forces. Because of this rivalry, and also because of the shortage of helicopters, only two Army transport companies were supplied with H-19 Chickasaw

H-19 Chickasaw

For other uses of "H19" see H19 .The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw, was a multi-purpose helicopter used by the United States Army and United States Air Force. It was also license-built by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwind in the United Kingdom...

 helicopters in time to participate in the Korean War. Transport helicopters nevertheless proved themselves by moving cargo and personnel during the final months of the war and then by participating in prisoner exchanges and other functions after the cessation of hostilities. During the Korean War, the Department of Air Training at Post Field expanded, and in early 1953, it became the Army Aviation School

Army Aviation School

An Army Aviation School is a military educational establishment responsible for the training and development of the personnel and equipment of the aviation element in those armies that have a separate aviation branch.- Tasks :...

. As a result of the expansion of both aviation and artillery training, Post Field became overcrowded, and the Army decided to move the Army Aviation School to a different post. When no satisfactory permanent Army post was found, a temporary post, Camp Rucker, Ala., was chosen.

The Army Aviation School began moving to Alabama in August 1954 and the first class began at Rucker in October.

Camp Rucker Named Fort Rucker (1955)

On 1 Feb. 1955, the Army Aviation Center was officially established at Rucker. In October of that year, the post was given permanent status with the name change from Camp Rucker to Fort Rucker. Before the mid 1950s, the Army Air Forces-U.S. Air Force had provided primary training for Army Aviation pilots and mechanics. In 1956, DOD gave the Army control over all of its own training. Gary and Wolters Air Force bases in Texas, where the Air Force had been conducting this training, were also transferred to the Army. Lacking adequate facilities at Fort Rucker, Army Aviation continued primary fixed-wing training at Camp Gary until 1959 and primary rotary-wing training at Fort Wolters until 1973. In 1956, the Army Aviation Center began assembling and testing weapons on helicopters. These tests, conducted while the Air Force still theoretically had exclusive responsibility for aerial fire support, led to the development of armament systems for Army helicopters. The first armed helicopter company was activated in Okinawa in 1962. It was deployed to Thailand and then to Vietnam, where it flew escort for lift helicopters. The Department of Defense did not abolish mission restrictions on the Army’s rotary-wing aircraft, thereby technically authorizing the Army to arm helicopters until 1966. The “Howze Board,” or “Tactical Mobility Requirements Board,” was established in 1962 to develop and test the concept of air mobility. After test exercises, war games, and concentrated study and analysis, the Howze Board recommended that the Army commit itself to organic air mobility – later known as air assault. The Howze Board recommended the extensive use of helicopters to transport infantry troops, artillery, and supplies, as well as to provide local aerial fire support. These recommendations were tested by the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) from 1963 to 1965. In 1965, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) was organized and sent to Vietnam, where it repeatedly demonstrated the validity of the airmobile concept in actual combat.

“America’s Helicopter War” Began in Vietnam (1961)

Both Army Aviation and the helicopter came of age during the conflict in Southeast Asia. From the arrival in Vietnam of the first Army helicopter units in December 1961, until the completion of the disengagement processes in 1973, Vietnam was America’s “Helicopter War.”
The most widely used helicopter, the UH-1 Iroquois

UH-1 Iroquois

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois is a military helicopter powered by a single, turboshaft engine, with a two-bladed main rotor and tail rotor. The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and first flew...

, or Huey, began to arrive in Vietnam in significant numbers in 1964. Before the end of the conflict, more than 5,000 of these versatile aircraft were introduced into Southeast Asia. They were used for medical evacuation, command and control, air assault; personnel and materiel transport; and gunships. The AH-1 Cobra arrived in 1967 to partially replace the Huey in its gun ship capacity. Other important helicopters in Vietnam included the CH-47 Chinook, the OH-6 Cayuse, the OH-58 Kiowa, and the CH-54 Tarhe. Although the concept of air mobility had been developed with a mid-intensity European conflict in mind, Army Aviation and the helicopter had proven themselves during the low intensity conflict in Southeast Asia. Afterwards, the Army turned its major attention back to the threat of a mid or high intensity conflict in Europe, and doubts reemerged about the value of helicopters in that sort of arena. Some military leaders believed that the helicopter could not survive and perform an essential role in a heavy combat environment. To gain general acceptance and ensure further success, Army Aviation continued to develop new doctrine, tactics, aircraft, equipment, and organizational structure. New or radically modified aircraft were adopted from the late 1970s into the mid-1980s. These included the UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache

AH-64 Apache

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...

, D-model of the CH-47 Chinook

CH-47 Chinook

The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its top speed of 170 knots is faster than contemporary utility and attack helicopters of the 1960s...

, and OH-58D version of the Kiowa.
The creation, implementation, and consolidation of the Army Aviation Branch dominated the 1980s. Prominent aviators, as well as other Army leaders, had debated the establishment of Aviation as a separate branch since the time of the Korean War. The opposition to a separate aviation branch had resulted in part from Army attitudes regarding the Army Air Corps and the U.S. Air Force. In Army circles, both of these aviation organizations were believed to have been unreliable in performing their mission of supporting the ground forces—even after having been given resources to do so. Since Army Aviation had demonstrated its commitment to the support of the ground battle in Vietnam, however, opposition to a separate aviation branch began to wane. Also, Army Aviation had grown in size and technological sophistication. This growth caused increasingly complex problems in training, procurement, doctrine development, proponent responsibility, and personnel management. Many non-aviators as well as aviators became convinced that these problems could be solved more effectively by the creation of an aviation branch.

Birth of Army Aviation Branch (April 1983)

Both Department of the Army and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command conducted extensive studies of the separate-branch question during the 1970s through 1982. In March 1983, the Chief of Staff of the Army recommended forming a separate aviation branch. The Secretary of the Army approved that recommendation on 12 April 1983– the date celebrated as the Branch’s birthday. Aviation Officer Basic and Advanced Courses began at Fort Rucker in 1984, and a gradual consolidation of aviation-related activities followed. In 1986, the U.S. Army Air Traffic Control Activity became part of the branch. In the following year, a Noncommissioned Officers Academy was established at Fort Rucker. In 1988, the Army Aviation Logistics School, which had been dependent on the Transportation Center at Fort Eustis, was incorporated into the Aviation Branch.

Also in 1988, the Army Aviation Modernization Plan was given final approval and implemented. The modernization plan called for a gradual reduction in the number of Army aircraft as older models were replaced by modern ones. Aircraft that appeared during the late 1980s and early 1990s included the armed OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and the new TH-67 Creek training helicopter.
Army Aviation’s role of providing the indispensable vertical dimension to the modern battlefield has become universally recognized. For example, during operations in Grenada, Panama, and the Persian Gulf region, Army Aviation played major and decisive roles. One of the very first blows of Operation Desert Storm was struck by Army Aviation. Apache helicopters destroyed key Iraqi early warning radar sites and thus opened the air corridors to Baghdad for the bombing campaign that preceded the ground war. Then during the 100 hours of ground combat, Army helicopters dominated nighttime operations.

The decreased military budgets following the end of the Cold War forced both the Army and Army Aviation to downsize. Army Aviation’s response was to develop the “Aviation Restructure Initiative,” a plan to decrease the size of the force while continuing to provide a capable, ready force. By the late 1990s, continuing deficiencies and unintended results of the ARI led to a series of aviation plans as key pieces of the Army-wide modernization and transformation. In 2003, the Aviation Branch assumed overall responsibility for unmanned aerial vehicles within the Army. Operations since Desert Storm showed the versatility and flexibility of Army Aviation. Examples were uses of AH-64 Apaches in peacekeeping operations in the Balkans as a deterrent to mobs threatening fellow citizens or paramilitary groups trying to remove weapons from agreed cantonments. The beginning of the Global War on Terrorism in 2001 drew Army Aviation again into ongoing combat. Events in Afghanistan and Iraq have reaffirmed the qualities that caused the creation of Organic Army Aviation in 1942. These qualities included the responsiveness to the needs of the ground commander and commitment to the Soldier in the ground fight. At the same time, Army Aviation– including Army Special Operations Aviation – has played vital and ever-expanding roles across the spectrum of Joint and Combined operations.

External links

• Official USAACE Website
• Fort Rucker, Alabama Website