Combat aviation brigades (CABs) were introduced during the transformation of the United States Army to a modular force. There were three types of combat aviation brigades.
Heavy Combat Aviation Brigade Organizational Table
Heavy combat aviation brigades
Headquarters Company
Two x attack reconnaissance battalions (ARB) (each with 24 Boeing AH-64 Apache)
Starting in 2010, the Army began to replace the medium and light CABs with multipurpose brigades, called "full spectrum CABs". The ultimate goal is eight full spectrum CABs and four heavy CABs in active service, and respectively six and two CABs in the Army National Guard. Four brigades must be deployment-ready on a permanent basis.
The Army stated that they need the CAB to be modular designed to enable task organization and optimize aviation capability for specific mission of specified duration. Full spectrum CAB will standardize the CAB design across the branch to deliver maximum aviation capability in the most timely and flexible manner. The Army also said that the new CAB design is doctrinally sound which delivers the combat, combat support, and combat service support to "enable steady state" operations required in an era of persistent conflict, and this new CAB will be constructed to deliver combat power while maximizing efficiencies in training, maintenance and support across the Army.[2][3]
Full spectrum combat aviation brigades design includes:
Headquarters and headquarters company (HHC)
Attack reconnaissance squadron (ARS) (three troops with 7 OH-58D Kiowa Warrior each, and a UAS company with two platoons with 4 AAI RQ-7B Shadow UAV each)
Assault helicopter battalion (AHB) (three companies with 10 UH-60 Black Hawk each, and a pathfinder company)
General support aviation battalion (GSAB) (a command aviation company or CAC with 4 UH-60 Black Hawk and 4 EH-60 equipped with AN/ASC-38 Army Airborne Command and Control System [A2C2S], a heavy helicopter company (HvyHC) with three platoons with 4 CH-47 Chinook each, an air ambulance medical company (AAMC) with five forward support MEDEVAC platoons (FSMP) with 3 HH-60M each equipped with MEDEVAC mission equipment, and an air traffic services (ATS) company consisting of a two tactical tower control teams, a mobile tower team, an airspace control flight following team and a local surveillance and ground controlled approach (GCA) radar team)
With the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters in 2017 the army concentrated all AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the active CABs, which now are all Heavy. As of 2018 each CAB fields:
1x Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC)
1x Air Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (ACRS) (24 × AH-64E Apache and 12 × RQ-7 Shadow)
12th Combat Aviation Brigade – based in Germany – reduced organic strength to 1x Attack Battalion and 1-214th, a TDA organization that provides lift, assault, and VIP movement support.
The Army National Guard (ARNG) fields eight combat aviation brigades within its eight divisions as well as one theater aviation command which oversees two additional aviation brigades. The Army Reserve fields one theater aviation command which oversees two brigades (one USAR and one ARNG). The Army National Guard brigade is different from the Army's full spectrum combat aviation brigade as it replaces the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior of attack reconnaissance squadron with the Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota and organized into support and security battalion (S&S BN).
Thus all ARNG aviation brigades consist of
1x attack reconnaissance battalion (24 AH-64 Apache),
1x security and support battalion (24 UH-72 Lakota),
1x assault helicopter battalion (30 UH-60 Black Hawk),
1x general support aviation battalion (8 UH-60, 12 CH-47 Chinook and 15 HH-60M),
1x UAV company (12 MQ-1C Gray Eagle),
and 1x aviation support battalion.
