Special Ops Aviation Unit Hones Tactics in Desert
Maj. Quinn Meyers
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Tom Schneider
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) paved the way in night-vision flying nearly four decades ago, but as with any organization, versatility and growth is the metric by which relevance is judged. The concept of “owning the night†carried Army aviation through countless global conflicts and provided a significant advantage over enemies. Near-peer adversaries now possess comparable night-vision technology, narrowing the advantage provided by zero-illumination tactics.
With this in mind, the 160th is developing new advancements in technology, tactics, techniques and procedures that will once again establish dominance over America’s adversaries. The regiment’s innate desire to innovate has led it to introduce a cutting-edge rotary-wing training pipeline known as Special Operations Aviation-Advanced Tactics Training (SOA-ATT).
The regiment, which is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but most often operates out of Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, continues to innovate new tactics and explore new technologies in an effort to “own the spectrum.†“Spectrum†means the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum of weapons systems, mission equipment, sensors and communications. As U.S. adversaries invest in capabilities to counter America’s technological dominance and, in some cases, develop weapons systems that overmatch existing defenses, the 160th is evolving through organizational changes, technological and tactical development and, most importantly, training.
https://www.ausa.org/articles/special-ops-aviation-unit-hones-tactics-desert
