Army Aviation becomes an essential arm: From the Howze Board to the modular force, 1962--2004

The author contends that Army Aviation evolved from an auxiliary in the early 1960s into an essential support branch providing firepower and mobility for the U.S. Army by 2004 as a result of a combination of internal cultural and external strategic factors. This study will examine the interrelated organizational, doctrinal, and technological evolution of U.S. Army Aviation within the context of U.S. national strategy, from its infancy in the early 1960s to its role in the war on terrorism by 2004: Thanks to the conceptual impetus propounded by the 1962 Howze Board, Army Aviation transcended its minor ancillary role in World War II with small fixed-wing aircraft and became a vital element of the U.S. Army in Vietnam. In the latter conflict, Army Aviation used rotary-wing helicopters to provide the mobility and firepower of cavalry despite significant inter-service misunderstandings. After Vietnam, the promise of technologically-complex attack helicopters fostered the creation of Army Aviation as a separate branch in 1983. Internal Army policies, inter-service doctrinal challenges, and inter-branch competition for limited funding resulted in Army Aviation not realizing its full potential in the Persian Gulf War, its estrangement from the other combat arms, and its 1999 failure as Task Force Hawk in Kosovo. During combat in Afghanistan and Iraq following September 2001, Army Aviation once again has contributed vital combat capabilities and has been reshaped as part of the Army's Modular Force Initiative to continue providing essential support to the Army's other combat branches.