Army Teams Apaches, Shadows and Gray Eagles to Deploy in New Heavy Cav Squadron

An AH-64 Apache gunship flies over an RQ-7 Shadow
on its launch catapult. Army photo

3-6 Heavy Cav 
(Photo: Defense Department)

Aviation Unit that Teams Apaches, Drones Gets Ready to Deploy | Military.com
The 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division became the first Apache helicopter unit to make this conversion and add Shadow drones to its capabilities.
The 500-soldier unit has undergone a series of major training exercises since November 2014 as it prepares for a nine-month deployment to Kuwait.
The Heavy Cav Squadron, as it is now nicknamed, will leave for the Middle East in late July and early August. They will train with and conduct security operations with America's Middle East allies and partner nations when they deploy, squadron commander Lt. Col. R.J. Garcia said. They will bring their drones with them.

First unit fields Apache-Shadow combo | Article | The United States Army
"What's the big deal about a unit owning both assets?" asked a reporter at the roundtable.

Lt. Col. RJ Garcia, commander of 3-6, said, "It's an improved capability that supports Soldiers on the ground as they execute the various missions that we assign them. Nothing is stove-piped now. We now have the ability to share across multiple levels."

Until now, aviators, working with Soldiers on the ground, have been using manned-unmanned teaming, "but doing it with friction points because they were never in the same unit," Garcia said.

For instance, a Shadow unit in a brigade combat team might be in the same forward operating base somewhere and they'd go over to the aviators and say "we'll connect you to our Shadows. Let's do this," and they'd make it so, he said.

"They've been building this synergy themselves, but for different commanders," Garcia said. However, "sometimes that tasking wouldn't support them working together" and operating through two chains of command.

This formal arrangement removes these "friction points," he said.

LiveLeak.com - UAVs set to step into CAB role

“The Kiowa Scout’s going away, and it did an invaluable mission, so how do we cover the gap that it creates when you remove it from the inventory,” Unmanned Aerial Systems Chief Lt. Col. Glenn Lapoint, with the Army’s office of operations, plans and policy, told Army Times. “Shadow is part of that solution set.”
Under the proposal, each combat aviation brigade would receive 12 Shadows alongside nine MQ-1 Gray Eagles. The Shadows would become part of an Apache reconnaissance squadron. Each ground combat brigade gets one platoon that includes four Shadows for a total of 12. To fulfill the scouting role, the attack reconnaissance squadron would have four Shadows per troop, working alongside Apaches.
The Army had been studying a “full-spectum CAB” concept in Afghanistan last year with 12 Gray Eagles and two platoons of four Shadows each. That “proof-of-concept” full-spectrum CAB, the 101st, was characterized by its upgraded Apache and Kiowa helicopters, capable of manned-unmanned teaming with Shadows and Gray Eagles.
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=83f_1388630800#ZMQIOew0y6R8sirB.99

First of 10 Apache units converts, adds 12 Shadow UASs
"The armed reconnaissance mission is going to be performed by AH-64s teamed with unmanned systems, specifically the Shadow UAS," he said. "The capability you get when you team an Apache with UAS gives you that scout and reconnaissance capability."
Two more units — 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington — are scheduled to be converted this fiscal year, he said. Plans call for all 10 units to be converted by fiscal 2019.

"The bottom line is that this capability exists to enable maneuver, enhanced speed, enhanced mobility, and, ultimately, support overmatch of our adversaries," Lindsay said. "What we want, and what the AH-64 brings with the Shadow is an unfair fight. We always want that."
When the conversions are completed, each division's combat aviation brigade will have an attack helicopter battalion, which has 24 Apaches, and an attack reconnaissance squadron with 24 Apaches and 12 Shadows, he said.
In addition, the attack battalions will be aligned with the MQ-1C Gray Eagle company that's assigned to each division.
"What we provide through aviation restructure is an integrated and structured framework for maximizing training, employment and sustainment for all CAB assets as part of manned-unmanned teaming," Lindsay said.

Previously

spendergast: Army aviation to ditch single engine helos, add UAVs to scout order of battle