ANA
BLUE STRIPE
#9
30 March 2009
Back in October Blue Stripe 7
reported a current and growing aircraft shortfall in
Naval Aviation. Since then, if anything, things have
gotten worse, exacerbated by ongoing attacks in the
Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.
The president unveiled his 2010
budget to the public back in February but that was only
a broad outline of proposed spending. The Department
of Defense is now refining those top lines into
specific programs. There is a tight veil of secrecy
surrounding this exercise and no one outside the
lifelines really knows what’s going on within the
Pentagon, but there has been enough information to know
that there is cause for concern.
With heavy emphasis on ground
forces the Navy and the air force will be called upon
to be the bill payers. For example, even though the
National Strategy calls for an aircraft carrier force
of eleven, and the Congress has mandated twelve,
there’s high probability that the Navy will be unable
to afford more than ten. If the Navy is forced to give
up a carrier there will go with it at least one air
wing’s worth of aircraft, a battle group’s worth of
helicopters and a commensurate number of patrol and
logistics aircraft. While this will be bad for the
Navy, the real problem is what it will take away from
the Nation. As a current example, even today aircraft
carriers and their air wings are supporting Central
Command by flying 46 percent of the reconnaissance and
close air support sorties in Iraq and Afghanistan, 75
percent of electronic attack missions in Iraq and 100
percent in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, because of this and
other combatant commander requirements all aircraft are
being over-utilized. At the current rate, given no
further procurement, the Navy will be as many as 150,
perhaps as many as 200, strike fighters short of what’s
needed within five years, and that’s with the most
optimistic projection of JSF production. At the same
time the procurement of the E2D Hawkeye has been placed
in jeopardy and with it the fleet’s best anti-ship
missile defense system. Add to that the fact that
because the air force has failed to include any
tactical electronic warfare aircraft in its plans
demands for Growlers outside Navy needs can be most
certainly anticipated, further exacerbating shortfalls
on the carrier decks. If the decks don’t get filled,
then why not lay up a carrier or two, and all the ships
and helicopters that go with it in the battle group as
well? After all, what’s a carrier without an air
wing?
Even now, carrier air wings are
transferring strike fighters from deck to deck to
ensure deployments with a full inventory. This in
itself sends operating costs up and wears out what
strike fighters we do have that much faster. If the
new Hawkeye is similarly delayed the same problem will
be manifested. What’s so sad is that solutions are at
hand.
Each of the Block II F/A-18E/F
Super Hornet, Growler E2D programs are under cost, with
production lines open and capable of early delivery.
It’s only that for whatever reasons certain minds are
made up. It will take more than Navy analysis and
pleas to change those minds. It will take the sum total
of the voices of concerned citizens from around the
country in support of the Navy to make the situation
known to bureaucrats, the Administration and
legislators of both parties.
Only one thing remains certain in
these uncertain times, U.S. Navy carrier based aviation
provides a relevant, capable and unconstrained force
for the combatant commanders around the globe. They
must be protected, preserved, and promoted. Now is the
time to turn on our transmitters and get this message
to the highest levels in the Pentagon and on the
Hill!
I encourage each of you to offer
your support – both publicly and privately – for
acqusition of these necessary aircraft. Our Naval
Aviation warfighters need our full support to achieve a
solution to this crisis and will greatly appreciate
your individual and collective efforts. In the end,
it’s the Nation that will benefit.
Robert F. Dunn
Acting Chairman and President
