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HAL-5 Story
Reinstitution of Naval Air Superiority
Four years after the disestablishment of HAL-3, the Navy determined that it still had a need for the Navy Gunship, establishing two new Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadrons in the Naval Reserves as part of the newly formed Commander, Helicopter Wing Reserve (COMHELWINGRES) in 1976. Helicopter Attack Squadron (Light) FIVE, or HAL-5, nicknamed the “Blue Hawks”, was established at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, CA on 1 March 1977.
Given the mission of providing support to the Naval Special Warfare Command in support of Navy SEALs, EOD, and Navy Special Boat Units, flying the HH-1K Iroquois, the Navy once again had gunships to support its special warfare operations.
The HH-1K, possessing the same firepower as the UH-1B aircraft used by the HAL-3 Sea Wolves, had greater lift capability and allowed the aircraft to carry a higher payload. Outfitted with the M-21 weapons subsystem, it included two co-pilot controlled GAU-2B/A miniguns, two pilot-controlled rocket launchers, with a total of fourteen 2.75” Folding Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR), and two crew operated M60 light machineguns. The aircraft was also equipped with a crew-controlled rescue hoist, although its primary mission did not include Combat Search and Rescue and the crews did include Rescue Swimmers.
With the proliferation and modernization of weapons technology in the four years since Vietnam, HAL-5 aircraft and crews deployed new countermeasures and tactics to defeat the changing combat threat environment, introducing Night Vision Goggles (NVG) and a flight profile called Nap-of-the-earth (NOE), the aircrews learned to avoid detection by enemy forces and minimize the threat of hand-held infra-red seeking missile systems.
The squadron, consisting of eight HH-1K Iroquois helicopters, 40 flight crewmen, and 150 maintenance and support personnel, operated from a home base at NAS Point Mugu, California in support of the Commander of the Naval Special Warfare Group at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, CA and made multiple deployments to countries such as Egypt and South Korea.
In 1983, a proposal was made to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) to combine the mission of the Naval Special Warfare Support mission of HAL-5 and HAL-4 with the Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) Mission of Helicopter Combat Support Squadron NINE (HC-9), nicknamed the "Protectors". Two new squadrons, replacing three in the US Navy Reserve, with new aircraft significantly more capable of surviving in high-threat environments and able to operate from a wider variety of Navy ships. In conjunction with the US Coast Guard, the Navy undertook the development of the new CSAR helicopter, designated HH-60H Rescue Hawk in the USN and HH-60J in the USCG.
On 20 October 1988 HAL-5 was re-designated Helicopter Combat Support Special Squadron FIVE (HCS-5), nicknamed the "Firehawks" operating the new HH-60H Seahawk helicopters.