Air assault in the Arctic

The CH-147F Chinook has participated in its share of cold weather training since the fleet of 15 heavy-lift helicopters was first re-introduced to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 2013. But nothing quite like Arctic Warrior 2021. 

Over two weeks in mid-February, two Chinooks and a 40-person detachment from 450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron (THS) at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ontario, got a bracing test of extreme winter training as temperatures in Alaska hovered around -30 C (-22 F) and plummeted to -54 (-65 F) on at least one occasion.

LCol Rob Tyler, the squadron’s commanding officer, admitted some surprise when the unit was invited by the 1^st Battalion of the 52^nd Aviation Regiment (1-52) to participate in the exercise and provide “tips and hints” on winter operations. The general support aviation battalion, after all, is based at Fort Wainwright in Alaska and operates year-round in the sub-Arctic climate.

Like much of the United States military, however, the aviation battalion’s focus over the past two decades has been primarily on missions in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa. The Arctic was not a prominent area of operations.

Recent years have seen a greater emphasis on training soldiers and Marines for cold weather warfare, but Arctic Warrior 21 was a first-of-its kind exercise for the Army to deploy and operate at scale in Arctic conditions. And faced with steep alpine terrain, deep snow, and few roads, air support was critical to maneuver.

“Arctic Warrior is the start of an annual exercise that trains us to be ready to deploy, fight, and win decisively against any adversary, anytime and anywhere, in a joint, multi-domain, high-intensity conflict — while simultaneously deterring others and maintaining [our] ability to conduct irregular warfare in the coldest part of the year,” MGen Pete Andrysiak, commanding general of U.S. Army Alaska, which led the exercise, said in a statement.

In a scenario against a peer adversary, the exercise served as a test for the combat readiness of the 4^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25^th Division, and supporting units under extreme winter conditions across the Donnelly and Richardson training areas. Air operations included resupply missions, air mobile operations and air assaults, including an airborne paratroop jump from two C-17s.

For the 450 Squadron detachment, a significant portion of its 40 hours of flying consisted of “bread and butter” resupply and transport missions for ground forces, including moving the Army’s toboggans for the first time. But the exercise also involved three air mobile insertions of the opposition force, helping them position for attacks on the 4-25th, and two air assaults with the 1-52^nd and the 1-25^th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, which operates the AH-64 Apache.

In the first, 450 Squadron supported the 1-52^nd as it led an assault of five Chinooks and six UH-60 Black Hawks, including a command and control and a medevac variant. In the second, 450 Squadron’s CH-147F Chinooks led an assault of 14 aircraft.

While air operations planning processes are similar in both aviation communities, terminology and briefing products vary enough that both services were able to learn from each other, Tyler told Skies. Though the tweaks were minor, ensuring a common language and procedures amongst the aircrews was critical to the success of the air assaults. “We learned a few things from them, they learned a few things from us,” he said.

Important for the Canadians was adapting to the more formal planning and briefing process. “These really big missions need a more formalized and structured planning cycle so that everything gets checked off,” said Tyler. “We follow a similar process and can be just as formal as they are, but we don’t get the opportunity to do it as much. This [exercise] forced us to use their formalized process and do the same thing using our own process.”

“An exercise like Arctic Warrior allows us to assess our interoperability, proficiency, and share experiences,” stated Canadian BGen Louis Lapointe, the deputy commanding general-operations for U.S. Army Alaska, and, until recently, the commander of 4^th Canadian Division Support Group in Petawawa. “The skillset our Arctic units are developing are not exclusive to Alaska; they allow us to thrive in any environment where the ruggedness of the climate could affect our operational readiness.”

Though Arctic Warrior was billed as a validation exercise for the infantry brigade’s Arctic capabilities, Tyler saw it as a test and evaluation of what’s required to successfully conduct and survive in an unforgiving environment. “[The exercise] was designed as a chance to get back out there, to start learning those lessons again and what it takes to conduct operations in the snow, in the cold,” he observed.

During the first week, for instance, the 1-52^nd did cold weather trials on a line of Chinooks, Black Hawks, and Apaches in the training area. “What does it take to warm them up and start them? That was a big part of their exercise,” Tyler noted. 

Some activities were a “refresher” for 450 Squadron; others were a new experience. Warming procedures for a Chinook sitting for 24 hours at -30 C required some “tips” from the Americans. Air assaults on the scale of Arctic Warrior in winter conditions, however, were “a first for us,” he admitted. 

The detachment also tested a new Headquarters Shelter System, acquired in 2019 as part of a Canadian Army-led project to replace the aging Tent Expandable Modular System. The two tents went up smoothly in about three hours and became “the jewel of the exercise” for planning and briefing. “It came to the point where the U.S. came to us . . . to do most of the aviation planning.”

Despite the frigid temperatures, the two CH-147F Chinooks performed well. “We found little snags here and there, but we dealt with them and carried on,” said Tyler. “The technicians did an outstanding job keeping the aircraft serviceable and doing a lot of that in the cold.”

Operating conditions may have been harsh, but the detachment was able to stay in a hotel on base. “We weren’t quite ready to go up there with all the assets we would need to live in the field,” he said.  COVID-19 protocols, however, had to be observed throughout the exercise to keep members safe. They included two tests and a quarantine period before departing; a 10-day isolation once the unit arrived in Alaska; and disciplined “cohorting” for the remainder of the exercise. “We spent a lot of time working that through,” Tyler noted. 

The invitation to participate in Arctic Warrior came directly from the 1-52^nd following a training exercise in January 2020 at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana, where the 1-52^nd was the lead aviation battalion, and 450 Squadron was supporting the 3^rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment. 

“That created a relationship between the battalion and us” that was part of the handover when Tyler assumed command of 450 Squadron in August. Arctic Warrior helped reinforce it.

“The biggest takeaway for us was integration and that relationship,” said Tyler. “We share the continent, we share the Arctic, and to be able to prove we can go up there and integrate into an American task force was really key. I think that’s something we can leverage and hopefully do again next year . . . maybe in a bigger element with the Canadian Army.”

For now, 450 Squadron is preparing to support the Army on Maple Resolve, the largest confirmation exercise of the Army’s battle groups and subunits for global deployment. Cold temperatures and snow are not uncommon features of the training area in Wainwright, Alberta, in late May, but it won’t be anything like -54 C.