Decline of the U.S. Navy carrier air wing

Unlike the steak above, the U.S. Navy carrier air wing roadmap lacks substance.

Below is an interesting CNAS read about things going south for the U.S. Navy carrier air wing.

As an aside, it also states that the Navy is beginning to worry about "excessive strain" on the Super Hornet when used as a tanker.

As we have noted here before, 33-40 percent of all Super Hornet missions off of the carrier, are tanker hops.

And, that neither the Super Hornet or the F-35C can take on emerging threats. Although the Super Hornet offers more options for stand-off weapons. The Super Hornet can also do a wider variety of lower-threat missions. It is reliable and has a lower cost of purchase and ownership compared to the F-35 in any form.

One of a few quibbles in the CNAS report:

"Later aircraft designs, including the B-2 bomber, the A-12 Avenger II, the F-22, and the F-35, pursued all-aspect stealth designs that sought to wrap radar energy around the aircraft and thus minimize the amount of energy available to return."

Disagree. Here is why. We haven't seen much proof (post JSF JORD lock down claims from marketing pukes are not fact) that the F-35 or JSF program pursued "all-aspect-stealth design's". A weak bow-tie for the F-35 (with good nose-on in a narrow aspect) or even a Pac-man profile are more likely.

The F-35 is not broadband all-aspect-stealth like a tail-less bat-wing. The F-35 doesn't have the performance of an F-22 to keep it out of trouble in adverse-to-stealth events.

(click image to make larger)

The above graphic is important because the F-22, when flying at extreme altitude and speed, can rapidly change course so as to kill the no-escape-zone (NEZ) firing solution of enemy long-range missile shots. The F-35 is built to a weak, battlefield interdiction threat requirement. Not credible close-air-support. Not deep-strike. Deal with it.

So, it can be observed that CNAS needs to do some homework on low-observable aircraft. Just as important will be F-35C maintenance expectations for a full-cruise.

Will the Navy be able to come up with a fully tested UCAS-N which does what its supporters claim? Well, carrier aviation is difficult. It is possible, but we have to see real results. At this point, operational evaluations (OPEVAL) for both the UCAS-N and F-35C are wild cards. Little things, like trapping with an asymmetric stores configuration and by-the-by.

To date, neither the F-35B nor F-35C have done combat relevant flight exercises against real hard threat simulations from off land or off ship with all the trimmings.



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