Conclusion
When I started working on this book in 1997, I had little doubt that I could justify good reasons for America to continue its support for carrier aviation. If I’ve done nothing else in this book, those reasons should be readily apparent by now. However, at the same time, I went into this book with a real concern about the ability of the U.S. Navy to address the many leadership and material problems that have plagued the service since the end of the Cold War. As it turned out, I need not have been so worried. The U.S. Navy is a resilient institution, which has endured trial, scandal, and other ills many times, and continued to prosper. So too, with the Navy of our times. The simple fact is that as a nation whose trade is primarily maritime based, we need the oceans the way that humans need oxygen. This country was founded on a strong maritime tradition, and will likely be that way for the rest of our existence. Therefore, the question is not whether we need naval forces, but what form and numbers those units will represent. Within our current concept of naval operations, that means that aircraft carriers and their embarked air wings are here to stay.
In fact, after the disastrous years following Desert Storm and the Cold War, naval aviation seems on the verge of a new golden age, with new carriers, aircraft, and weapons on the way, and strong leadership to guide it. Best of all though, the U.S. Navy seems to be moving away from the self-imposed tyranny that has marked the development and use of carrier airpower since the end of World War II. Far from the dreaded expectations, the new “joint” method of packaging and deploying U.S. armed forces (as a result of the Goldwater-Nichols reform bill) has actually allowed carrier admirals greater latitude in the use of their flattops. Jay Johnson’s innovative use of his carriers during the 1994 Haiti operation would have been unthinkable just five years earlier. Even today, there are many naval aviation leaders who consider his actions heresy. Those voices though, are growing more silent with every new JTFEX and training exercise. Joint warfare is here to stay, and nothing will ensure a strong future for carriers and their aircraft more than regional commanders and joint task force commanders who want a carrier battle group as part of their complement of units.
From this is coming new and innovative roles and missions for aircraft carriers and their supporting battle amphibious groups. One of these is the use of “adaptive” air wing organizations, which would allow changing the mix and types of aircraft embarked for a particular mission. Haiti back in 1994 was just a point of departure for what might be possible in the future. Using aircraft, UAVs, and UCAVs from other services as well their own will allow the Navy greater participation in future military operations, and expand the range of possible supporting missions. It also raises the possibility of utilizing the big-deck flattops in disaster relief and humanitarian aide missions, which have become a hallmark of post-Cold War military operations. Ironically, these expanded missions will also help justify future construction of new carriers, since their inherent value and flexibility will become more apparent and valuable to a wider base of users. The idea of Army generals helping to support new warship construction may seem outlandish, but is already happening on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon.
It is with this knowledge that I want to take one last look ahead at what the new century may bring for naval aviators. For starters, there will finally be a new set of carrier designs. The CVX program is committed to transitioning from the existing Nimitz-class (CVN-68) ships to a new design that will be oriented toward the power projection missions of the new millennium. Though the program is undergoing a restructuring at the moment, plan on seeing a series of two or three transitional designs while the new design features are ironed out. By that time, around 2020, the future of warship design should be much clearer, given the political/world situation a generation from now. There also is the real possibility of technical breakthroughs that may effect new designs, particularly if low-temperature superconductors or high output fuel cells finally become a reality.
There also will be new aircraft, some so wondrous that I cannot even describe them. JSF and the F/A-18EF Super Hornet I have already shown to you. However, the new generation of Uninhabited Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) is likely to appear sooner than later, given the rapidly escalating costs of manned aircraft. The performance of those aircraft are likely to be unimaginable by today’s standards, with maneuvering capabilities more like that of air-to-air missiles than 20th-century manned aircraft. The fighter pilots of tomorrow may not even need to be flight qualified. Flown from consoles aboard ships or transport aircraft, they will be able to fly missions that today’s manned aircraft would not even be considered for. Best of all, a lost aircraft will just be money, and not human lives. Before you call this science fiction, it is useful to remember that the Navy ran maneuvering trials between an F-4 Phantom and an unmanned Firebee drone in the early 1970s, and the drone consistently won!
These, though, are matters for another generation of Americans, some of whom have not even been born yet. Today the issue is finding the money to make the transition to these wondrous new ships, aircraft, and weapons, and this is the real challenge. Since the end of the Cold War, both we and our allies have downsized the armed forces to the point where their credibility is now coming into question. For the Navy, this means that the dozen carrier and amphibious groups that are being retained are the absolute minimum if we are to maintain the current rotation policies. It also has meant that the personnel are now at the breaking point, as Admiral Johnson indicated in his interview. U.S. military personnel have been exiting the services in growing numbers for the booming civilian job market. Long deployments and eroding salaries are a formula for disaster, and must be dealt with if our forces are to remain strong and credible. The answer of course is more money, and that is going to require leadership. Leadership from an elected administration and Congress, which currently is more interested in political squabbling than national security issues. It also will take military leaders willing to put their own careers on the line to tell the truth to those civilian leaders, even if they do not want to hear. Fine men like Jay Johnson and Chuck Krulak are leading this fight, but cannot do it themselves. All of us must accept the fact that the current economic boom, which has been powering the 1990s, has been accomplished in a time of virtually no military threats to America or its Allies. To assume that this happy set of circumstances will continue is folly, given the eruption of nationalism since the end of the Cold War. The threats are out there, and I have no doubt that they will find us without difficulty. Let us hope that our sea services continue to have the necessary support to protect us all from them. We’re going to need it.
Glossary
A-12 General Dynamics/McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger, a 1990’s Navy program for a stealthy carrier strike aircraft, canceled due to cost overruns and program mismanagement.
AAA Antiaircraft artillery also called “triple-A” or “flak” (from the German “fliegerabwehrkanone” or air defense gun).
AAQ-13/14 LANTIRN Low Altitude Navigation Targeting Infrared for Night. A pair of sensor pods mounted on the F-15E and certain F-16C/D aircraft. The AAQ-13 Navigation Pod combines a Forward Looking Infrared sensor and a terrain-following radar. The AAQ-14 Targeting Pod combines a Forward Looking Infrared and Laser Target Designator. Entire system is built by Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) and tightly integrated with the aircraft’s flight control and weapons delivery software. A version of the AAQ-14 targeting pod with an internal GPS/ INS system is used aboard the F-14 Tomcat.
ACC Air Combat Command. Major command of the USAF formed in 1992 by the merger of Strategic Air Command (bombers and tankers) and Tactical Air Command (fighters).
ACES II Standard U.S. ejection seat built by Boeing, based on an original design by the Weber Corporation. ACES is a “zero-zero” seat, which means that it can save the crew person’s life (at the risk of some injury) down to zero airspeed and zero altitude, as long as the aircraft is not inverted. Humorously known as the “hostage delivery system.”
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ACM Air Combat Maneuvering, the art of getting into position to shoot the other guy, preferably from behind, before he can shoot you. A vital but expensive part of advanced flight training for fighter pilots, ACM is most effective on an instrumented radar range with “playback” facilities for debriefing.
Aegis Advanced automated tracking and missile fire-control system on modem U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers. Key components are the SPY-1 phased-array radar and the SM-2 missile. Named for the shield of Zeus in Greek mythology.
AEW Airborne Early Warning. Specifically used to describe aircraft like the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye and Boeing E-3 Sentry, but also used generically to describe similar types used by other Air Forces.
AFB Air Force Base.
Afterburner Device that injects fuel into the exhaust nozzle of a jet engine, boosting thrust at the cost of greater fuel consumption. Called “Reheat” by the British.
AGM-62 Walleye AGM-62 television-guided glide bomb with 2,000-1b warhead. Maximum range of about 20 miles, depending on speed and altitude of launch aircraft. Used in Vietnam War; obsolescent but still in stock.
AGM-65 Maverick Family of air-to-surface missiles, produced since 1971 by Hughes and Raytheon with a variety of guidance and warhead configurations. Range about 14 nm. Navy versions carried by S-3, P-3, F/A-18, and other aircraft use imaging infrared guidance.
AGM-84 Harpoon/SLAM AGM-84, turbojet powered antiship missile, up to 120 miles range with 488-lb/220-kg explosive warhead. AGM-84E version (“SLAM”) uses Maverick IIR seeker and GPS-aided guidance.
AGM-154 JSOW Joint Standoff Weapon. Low-cost 1,000-pound glide bomb with 25-mile range, using INS/GPS guidance. Carries 145 BLU-97 bomblets. A version carrying a 1,000-pound unitary warhead is under development.
AH-1W “Cobra” attack helicopter found in Marine light-attack squadrons. Nicknamed “Whiskey Cobra” or “Snake.”
AIM-9 Sidewinder Heat-seeking missile family, used by the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, and many export customers. A letter, such as AIM-9M or-9X, designates variants.
AIM-120 AMRAAM AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM). First modern air-to-air missile to use programmable microprocessors with active radar homing (missile has its own radar transmitter, allowing “fire and forget” tactics). Currently carried by Navy and Marine F/A-18’s.
ARG Amphibious Ready Group.
ATO Air Tasking Order. A planning document that lists every aircraft sortie and target for a given day’s operations. Preparation of the ATO requires careful “deconfliction” to ensure the safety of friendly aircraft. During Desert Storm the ATO ran to thousands of pages each day.
Avionics General term for all the electronic systems on an aircraft, including radar, communications, flight control, navigation, identification, and fire-control computers. A “data bus” or high-speed digital network increasingly interconnects components of an avionics system.
BDA Bomb Damage Assessment. The controversial art of determining from fuzzy imagery and contradictory intelligence whether or not a particular target has been destroyed or rendered inoperative.
BVR Beyond visual range; usually used in reference to radar guided air-to-air missiles. “Visual range” depends on the weather, how recently the windscreen was cleaned and polished, and the pilot’s visual acuity, but against a fighter-sized target rarely exceeds 10 miles (16 km).
C-130 Hercules Lockheed medium transport aircraft. Four Allison T56 turboprops. Over 2,000 of these classic aircraft have been built since 1955, and it is still in production.
C3I Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence; the components and targets of information warfare. Pronounced “C-three-I.”
Call Sign (1). An identifying name and number assigned to an aircraft for a particular mission. Aircraft in the same flight will usually have consecutive numbers. (2). A nickname given to an aviator by his/her squadron mates and retained throughout his/her flying career, often humorous.
Canopy Transparent bubble that covers the cockpit of an aircraft. Usually made of Plexiglas, or polycarbonate, sometimes with a microscopically thin layer of radar-absorbing material or gold. Easily scratched or abraded by sand or hail. Ejection seats have a means of explosively jettisoning or fracturing the canopy to reduce the chance of injury during ejection.
CAP Combat Air Patrol, a basic fighter tactic that involves cruising economically at high or medium altitude over a designated area searching for enemy aircraft.
CBU Cluster Bomb Unit. An aircraft munition that is fused to explode at low altitude, scattering large numbers of “submunitions” over a target area. Submunitions can be explosive grenades, delayed-action mines, antitank warheads, or other specialized devices.
CENTAF Air Force component of U.S. Central Command, including units deployed to bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other states in the Gulf region. The commander of CENTAF is an Air Force It. general, who typically also commands Ninth Air Force based at Shaw AFB, SC.
CENTCOM United States Central Command, a unified (joint service) command with an area of responsibility in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Headquartered at McDill AFB, FL, and generally commanded by an Army four-star general. CENTCOM normally commands no major combat units, but in a crisis situation it would rapidly be reinforced by units of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, the U.S. Marine Corps, and allied forces.
Chaff Bundles of thin strips of aluminum foil or metallized plastic film that are ejected from an aircraft to confuse hostile radar. A chaff cloud creates a temporary “smoke screen” that makes it difficult for radar to pick out real targets. The effectiveness of chaff depends on matching the length of the chaff strips to the wavelength of the radar.
Chine A sharp-edged projection running along the fuselage of an aircraft, often as an extension of the leading-edge wing root. Particularly prominent on the F/A-18 Homet.
CinC Commander in Chief. Used to designated the senior officer, typically a four-star general or admiral in charge of a major command, such as CINCPAC (Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command).
CIWS Mk. 15 “Close-in Weapons System.” Pronounced “Sea-Whiz.” The Phalanx automatic gun and radar system, as installed on Navy ships of many classes.
CONOPS Concept of Operations. The commander’s guidance to subordinate units on the conduct of a campaign.
CSAR Combat Search and Rescue. Recovery of downed air crew evading captures in an enemy-held area. Typically a helicopter mission supported by fixed-wing aircraft.
CTAPS Contingency Tactical Air Control System Automated Planning System. A transportable network of computer workstations, linking various databases required for the generation of an Air Tasking Order.
CVW Carrier Air Wing; a force of Navy aircraft organized for operation from an aircraft carrier, Typically includes one fighter squadron, two attack squadrons, and small units of helicopters, antisubmarine, electronic warfare, and early warning radar planes.
DoD Department of Defense. U.S. Government branch created in 1947, responsible for the four armed services and numerous agencies, program offices, and joint projects.
Drag The force that resists the motion of a vehicle through a gaseous or liquid medium. The opposite force is lift.
E-2C Hawkeye U.S. Navy carrier-based twin-turboprop airborne early warning aircraft built by Northrop Grumman. Entered service in 1964. Also operated by France, Israel, Egypt, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan.
E-8 JSTARS Joint Surveillance and Targeting Attack Radar System. An Army/Air Force program to deploy about 20 Boeing E-8C aircraft equipped with powerful side-looking synthetic-aperture radars to detect moving ground targets at long range.
E/O Electro-optical. A general term for sensors that use video, infrared, or laser technology for assisting navigation or locating, tracking, or designating targets.
ECM Electronic Countermeasures. Any use of the electromagnetic spectrum to confuse, degrade, or defeat hostile radars, sensors, or radio communications. The term ECCM (electronic
counter-countermeasures) is used to describe active or passive defensive measures against enemy ECM, such as frequency-hopping or spread-spectrum waveforms.
ELINT Electronic Intelligence. Interception and analysis of radar, radio, and other electromagnetic emissions in order to determine enemy location, numbers, and capabilities.
ESM Electronic Security Measures. Usually refers to systems that monitor the electromagnetic spectrum to detect, localize, and warn of potential threats.
Exocet French-built antiship missile, widely exported in air-launched (AM-39), ship-launched (MM-38/40), and submarine-launched (SM-39) versions. Two AM-39 Exocets fired by an Iraqi aircraft damaged the U.S. Navy frigate Stark (FFG-31) in the Persian Gulf on May 17, 1987.
F/A-18 Hornet Boeing “Hornet” carrier-capable fighter-bomber, operated by Navy and Marine squadrons, and the Air Forces of Canada, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and Finland. Improved F/A-18E/F model under development.
FADEC Full Authority Digital Engine Control, a computer that monitors jet-engine performance and pilot-throttle inputs and regulates fuel supply for maximum efficiency.
Flameout Unintended loss of combustion inside a jet engine, due to a disruption of airflow. This can be extremely serious if the flight crew is unable to restart the affected engine.
Flap A hinged control surface, usually on the trailing edge of a wing, commonly used to increase lift during takeoff and drag during landing.
Flare (1). A pyrotechnic device ejected by an aircraft as a countermeasure to heat-seeking missiles. (2). A pitch-up maneuver to bleed off energy performed during landing, just before touching down.
FLIR Forward Looking Infrared: an electro-optical device similar to a television camera that “sees” in the infrared spectrum rather than visible light. FLIRs display an image based on minute temperature variations, so that hot engine exhaust ducts, for example, appear as bright spots.