In 2014, I got to lift a British Chinook in
Afghanistan. It took some rounds doing a
tactical operation and it lost its fl ight control
systems, so they had to make an emergency
landing in Marjah
When the ight phase begins, the
process works in reverse. Students
initially y missions solely within their
own platform community, then move
on to a common phase (again, jets with
jets, rotors with rotors), culminating
in a generic ight phase in which all
communities come together for a
series of three nal exercises during the
last week of the course.
The scenarios that students in the
H-53 curriculum participate in run the
full gamut of mission sets that marine
Super Stallion crews train for. These
include transporting artillery batteries
and mortar teams for live- re raids,
humanitarian assistance/disaster
relief operations, fast-rope training for
marine infantry, sling-load operations
with tactical vehicles, defensive air-
to-air engagements with adversary
F-5s, and a long-range raid mission.
In the latter, six ‘Echoes’ rely on aerial
refueling and digital interoperability to
get a raid force on the ground, secure
a high-value target, and return to base
during a night operation that spans the
width of Arizona.
The long-range raid is a solid example
of the types of integrated missions
WTI students participate in, with
F/A-18s providing escort and close
air support, EA-6B Prowlers giving
electronic warfare back-up, army
unmanned aerial systems supplying
target area surveillance, and KC-130Js
providing aerial and ground-based
refueling, mission command support,
and serving as a recovery vehicle
for transporting a high-value target
back to Yuma.Still a workhorse
Though the CH-53K is scheduled
to enter active service in 2019 with
HMH-366, the present marine aviation
plan has the ‘Echo’ continuing to serve
through 2029, remaining a deployable
asset to the very end. As such,
MAWTS-1 will continue to produce
pilot and crew chief WTIs to ensure
that the HMH community remain s at
the cutting edge of heavy-lift tactics,
techniques, and procedures.
With the CH-53E reset e ectively
zeroing out all 146 of the corps’ ‘Echoes’,
those squadrons will have the ‘up’
aircraft needed to apply those TTPs in
real-world missions – especially those
for which the ‘Echo’ is perhaps the only
tool within the Department of Defense
for the job.Inside the spacious, yet noisy and
businesslike, cabin of the Super
Stallion. USMC/Cpl Joseph PradoWith transition to the CH-53K
scheduled to begin next year,
the sunset of the ‘Echo’ is on
the horizon, though this is
expected to take about 10
years to complete.MAWTS-1 CH-53E^3528-35 MAWTS-1 C.indd 35 31/05/2018 15:26