Page:Airmobility 1961-1971.pdf/122

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
106
AIRMOBILITY


The Chief of Staff, United States Army, and the Chief of Staff, United States Air Force, have reached an understanding on the control and employment of certain types of fixed and rotary wing aircraft and are individually and jointly agreed as follows:

A. The Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, agrees to relinquish all claims for CV-2 and CV-7 aircraft and for future fixed wing aircraft designed for tactical airlift. These assets now in the Army inventory will be transferred to the Air Force (Chief of Staff, Army, and Chief of Staff, Air Force, agree that this does not apply to administrative mission support fixed wing aircraft.)
B. The Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, agrees—
(1) To relinquish all claims for helicopters and follow-on rotary wing aircraft which are designed and operated for intra-theater movement, fire support, supply and resupply of Army forces and those Air Force control elements assigned to DASC and subordinate thereto. (Chief of Staff, Army, and Chief of Staff, Air Force, agree that this does not include rotary wing aircraft employed by Air Force SAW or SAR forces and rotary wing administrative mission support aircraft.) (Chief of Staff, Army, and Chief of Staff, Air Force, agree that the Army and Air Force jointly will continue to develop VTOL aircraft. Dependent upon evolution of this type aircraft, methods of employment and control will be matters for continuing joint consideration by the Army and Air Force.)
(2) That, in cases of operational need, the CV-2, CV-7, and C-123 type aircraft performing supply, resupply, or troop-lift functions in the field army area, may be attached to the subordinate tactical echelons of the field army (corps, division, or subordinate commander), as determined by the appropriate joint/unified commander. (Note: Authority for attachment is established by subsection 6, Sec. 2 of JCS Pub 2, Unified Action Armed Forces (UNAAF).)
(3) To retain the CV-2 and CV-7 in the Air Force structure and to consult with the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, prior to changing the force level of, or replacing, these aircraft.
(4) To consult with the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army in order to arrive at takeoff, landing, and load carrying characteristics on follow-on fixed wing aircraft to meet the needs of the Army for supply, resupply, and troop movement functions.
C. The Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, and the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, jointly agree—
(1) To revise all service doctrinal statements, manuals, and other material in variance with the substance and spirit of this agreement.
(2) That the necessary actions resulting from this agreement be completed by 1 January 1967.

You will note that the agreement was far broader than the Caribou problem alone and essentially established without doubt the Army's claim to the helicopter and especially to the armed helicopter. Furthermore, you will note that the future developments of VTOL aircraft were left for future negotiations. Sometimes forgotten, this document established a precedent for attaching Air Force units to ground commanders.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.