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| Press Release Number: EPX200304083 | 08-Apr-03 |
VX-1 basking in latest Iraq achievements |
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| By BILL SWANSON NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD-When Capt. Tom Mehringer took the reins of the "Pioneer's" buckboard from Capt. Glen Ives at Friday's change-of-command ceremony at Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1, both men had much to talk about, though the usual procedure of "briefing the new guy" wasn't one of them. For the first time in its history, the executive officer of VX-1 - Mehringer - "fleeted up" to assume command of the unit, though this practice is common in some programs and squadrons but not others. Instead, Mehringer and Ives reflected on three recent events in Operation Iraqi Freedom that have their roots firmly planted in VX-1's garden. First, an S-3B Viking on March 25 fired the first missile in combat in that airframe's 30-year history, destroying a target on the Tigris River near Basra. The first part of that accomplishment that reflects on VX-1 is that the missile used was an AGM-65E Maverick, a laser-guided missile and its associated systems that received operational testing on the S-3B at VX-1. For most of its life the Viking has been a Jack-of-all-trades - tanker; anti-submarine warfare platform; high-tech electronic support, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft - but had never been tasked for an overland strike before, nor had it ever fired a missile in combat. An additional aspect was how that missile came to be fired in the first place. In a bit of role reversal, the Iraqi naval target had been "painted" by an F/A-18C Hornet, working with the Viking. Normally, it would have been a Viking in one of its electronic surveillance roles that might have painted the target, sending the data to the Hornet to do the actual shooting. It was VX-1, working with the fleet, that developed the tactics and procedures that let the F/A-18 perform the laser illumination, feeding that data to the Viking, which "pulled the trigger." Both the Hornet and the Viking in question were deployed with Carrier Air Wing 2 aboard USS Constellation (CV 64) in the Northern Arabian Gulf. The second item Mehringer and Ives may chalk off their "to do" list occurred March 21 when a Navy P-3C Orion teamed with an Air Force AC-130 Hercules "gunship" to sink an Iraqi fast-attack patrol boat near several offshore oil platforms off the Al Faw Peninsula. The crew of the P-3C originally spotted the patrol boat and became suspicious that it might be going to set fire to or destroy the oil rigs. The Orion monitored the patrol boat with "real-time" video downlinks using advanced imagery systems and nighttime infrared capabilities, and relayed the data to the AC-130 gunship which had been dispatched by the 4th Special Operations Squadron. The "Herc" then took out the patrol boat with its Vulcan and Bofors cannons. The P-3C was engaged in a "non-traditional" role at the time - it's "usual" line of work is antisubmarine warfare - but its spread into other avenues of performance were operationally tested at VX-1. VX-1 also completed operational evaluation of the MH-60S or "Sierra" model of the Seahawk, the all-purpose workhorse helicopter deployed aboard the five aircraft carriers in the Iraqi theater. VX-1 believes that operation testing and evaluation of that chopper has been "their baby," too. "It doesn't surprise me that our people are standing tall, because that's the standard of the people here" at VX-1, Ives said recently. "I'm very, very impressed with the people here." Ives described his tour as "an eye-opening experience." "When I came here I had always been an 'operator' [an operational squadron or unit commander]," Ives said. "This was my first acquisitions job." He said he had always been on "the tip of the spear" before; here, he makes sure the spear works as advertised. "This is such a complex squadron," Mehringer said recently, pointing out that it encompasses several generations and iterations of rotary-wing aircraft such as the H-60 family, fixed-wing aircraft such as the P-3 in its variety of roles, and jets such as the all-purpose S-3B, among many others. In addition, "we're an operational squadron, so we have to be more fleet-representative" than developmental test squadrons, Mehringer said. "We're kind of the circuit breaker between the acquisition side of the house and the fleet [to determine] if it operates like it's supposed to and if it's maintainable like it's supposed to be. If it doesn't, the circuit breaker pops." In addition to having the XO "fleet up" to the CO's slot, Mehringer said, future commands of VX-1 will rotate between the helo community and the P-3 community. The overall tour will be three years, the first half as executive officer and the second half as CO. He described the new system of promoting from XO to CO as "a much more thoughtful" way of leading the squadron. "Normally an XO can't wait to take over a squadron, but its been such a pleasure" working for Ives that Mehringer said he hasn't felt that way at all. VX-1's enlisted leadership believes the same thing; the chiefs recently removed their anchor pins and put them on what's called an "anchor board," and presented it to Ives - a rare token of esteem in the Navy. NAWCAD must share in that sentiment; Ives is now vice commander of NAWCAD, a position its commander, Rear Adm. Tim Heely has been holding open for the last two months since the retirement of Capt. J.B. Hollyer. "Right now it is important to have a P-3 guy [in command of VX-1]" Mehringer said, "because the Navy is in the process of selecting the MMA," the multi-mission aircraft successor to the P-3. Boeing has proposed using a variant of its 737-700 model, while Lockheed Martin has proposed a P-3 follow-on. The Navy will down-select these two proposals to one model in about a year, Mehringer said. In the meantime, Ives handed a couple of interesting projects to Mehringer. On March 31, VX-1 received delivery of an MH-60R model Seahawk fresh from the factory at Owego, N.Y. Earlier models of the "Romeo" have been undergoing developmental testing at Pax River by HX-21 for some time. On May 12, VX-1 will begin a two-and-a-half month operational testing and evaluation. And later this year the Pioneers will get their hands on the Marine Corps' newest tanker, the KC-130J, which has also undergone developmental testing here for the last few years. "The MH-60 is making a difference in dependability and reliability," Ives said. "Pilots are safer on that aircraft." Its predecessor, the venerable CH-46, is 35 years old. Mehringer's new executive officer is Capt. Steve Smith, a helicopter ASW pilot who came from Aviation Training Systems PMA-205. Smith served his command tour as CO of the "Saberhawks" of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Light 47, now homeported at NAS North Island in San Diego. HSL-47 is arguably the Navy's top ASW helo outfit, having won five consecutive and 11 out of 15 semi-annual "Wolfhunt" ASW competitions. -USN- |
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