The crew of a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in a mid-air collision over the Potomac River last night were training for what is known as a continuity of government mission. In the event of a major attack or other especially serious crisis, Army helicopters would be among the assets tasked with spiriting senior U.S. officials and lawmakers safely out of Washington, D.C. at a moment’s notice so that critical aspects of the country’s government continue to function.
Readers can get up to speed on the tragic accident near Reagan National Airport in TWZ’s previous reporting here.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this. We, first and foremost, from the Defense Department, want to pass our condolences to the 64 souls and their families [onboard American Airlines Flight 5342] that were affected by this. … and certainly the three service members, the three soldiers, a young captain, a staff sergeant, and a CW2 – Chief Warrant Officer,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said a press conference at the White House today. The Army personnel were “on a routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for continuity of government mission.”
“The Army unit involved was Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, at Fort Belvoir,” Hegseth also said in an earlier recorded statement. “It was an annual proficiency training flight. … It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles.”
The 12th Aviation Battalion, part of what is formally designated The Army Aviation Brigade (TAAB) at Fort Belvoir’s Davison Army Airfield, is best known for providing VIP airlift across the National Capitol Region (NCR) that surrounds Washington, D.C. The battalion has a fleet of specially configured VH-60 helicopters with modified main cabins and distinctive black-and-gold paint jobs, and that are commonly referred to as “gold tops,” to support that mission.
The 12th also has standard green-painted UH-60s, as well as UH-72 Lakota light utility helicopters, that are on call to provide a variety of additional airlift capacity, including in support of civilian agencies, as required. The battalion is notably on call to shuttle around the Army’s unique 911th Engineer Company (Technical Rescue), the service’s premier urban search and rescue unit. The 911th, then known as the Military District of Washington (MDW) Engineer Company, came to particular prominence for its part in the response to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon.
Lastly, the 12th Aviation Battalion has its continuity of government mission, which is not a secret, but is also not well known or often publicized. There are continuity of government plans across the whole of the U.S. government to help ensure that key authorities can continue to perform their duties even in the worst of scenarios, as you can read more about here.
“12th Aviation [Battalion] obviously has a special mission set in the National Capital Region,” Jonathan Koziol, a subject matter expert and retired Army aviator now working for the Aviation Directorate Chief of Staff within the Department of the Army’s top headquarters at the Pentagon, told TWZ and other reporters during a press call today.
“Part of it is VIP flights for our senior leaders throughout the service to get them to and from certain areas,” Koziol continued. “But partly, some of their mission is to support the Department of Defense if something really bad happens in this area and we need to move our senior leaders.”
In the event of a major attack, or warning of an imminent one, as well as natural disasters and other similarly severe crises, the 12th Aviation Battalion’s helicopters could be tasked with flying senior U.S. officials and lawmakers from locations like the Pentagon, Capitol Building, and White House to more secure sites in the region. These include Camp David, Mount Weather, and Raven Rock. Many continuity of government sites remain classified.
The flights could come at any time, including in the dead of night, and, depending on the circumstances, might face a host of other complex environmental factors and other challenging conditions. Power outages could put additional emphasis on the need to use night vision goggles, which impose limits on situational awareness. Attacks involving nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons would prompt the need to wear other bulky protective gear. In the outright rush to evacuate key personnel, the airspace would be filled with large numbers of aircraft, as highlighted by large COG exercises the 12th Aviation Battalion regularly conducts involving dozens of its helicopters.
Army helicopters would not be alone in performing these flights if continuity of government plans were put into motion. The U.S. Air Force’s 1st Helicopter Squadron with its UH-1N Huey helicopters at Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington has a continuity of government mission, as well. Publicly available air traffic control audio recordings indicate that two Air Force UH-1Ns were also in the air when the mid-air collision occurred last night. Whether or not they were training together with the Army UH-60 at the time is unknown.
Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), headquartered further to the south at Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico in Virginia, would also receive continuity of government taskings in a crisis. HMX-1’s “White Top” fleet of VH-3Ds, VH-60Ns, and now VH-92s are primarily used as “Marine One” helicopters to move the president, their family, and their closest advisors around at home and abroad. The unit also has a “green top” fleet, the bulk of which currently consists of MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors, to provide additional VIP and other airlift support. HMX-1 usually has some of its aircraft staged at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is situated in close proximity to the National Mall. They would be among the fastest to respond in a crisis, primarily to pluck the president, vice president, and key aides to safety.
Back in 2019, Bloomberg also reported that Army UH-60 helicopters had a new classified mission around Washington, D.C., but what exactly that entailed remains unknown. Whether or not that mission has changed since then, or is even still ongoing, is not known, either.
Law enforcement and other civilian agencies are part of continuity of government planning, too. Organizations with helicopters, such as the U.S. Park Police, as well as police forces in the states surrounding the capital, would support airlift operations, as well.
For pilots and other aircrew assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, it is especially important “to be able to understand the environment, the air traffic, the route, and ensure the safe travel of our senior leaders throughout our government,” Koziol, the subject matter expert at the Army’s headquarters at the Pentagon, stressed. “And that’s part of their training here, and they’re really good at it. These are our top pilots doing this mission in the National Capital Region.”
In the past, TWZ has highlighted the importance of helicopter training sorties, including ones conducted at extremely low levels, and other military training in and around real urban environments. The nuances found in actual cities, as well as along the way to and from objectives within them, cannot be directly replicated at dedicated training sites. At the same time, these kinds of training missions demand significant safety precautions and other coordination with relevant authorities.
The airspace around Washington, D.C., which is the most densely defended and heavily monitored in the United States, not to mention very busy, presents additional unique challenges. There are complex helicopter routes, as well as various rules and regulations, all of which have to be adhered to very closely, and that are important to train around. This is especially so in the general area where the collision occurred last night, as you can read more about here.
How Army training procedures, as well as other policies, rules, and regulations, might change in the wake of the collision last night remains to be seen. Any changes will have to be balanced against the real needs of military aviation units like the 12th Aviation Battalion to be prepared to perform its unique continuity of government mission, as well as their other duties, around the nation’s capital.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com