 |
| An
MV-22 Osprey maneuvers on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS
George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) during test operations. George H.W. Bush is in
the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications. |
The above pic while "artistic" illustrates perfectly the Navy's carrier problem.
They have more carriers than aircraft.
Check out that flight deck. One MV-22 and maybe a couple of Sea Hawks...pathetic. It will piss the Admiral's off but the Navy really only has one of two options to keep the current number of carriers and be considered serious.
The first option is to establish a partnership with the US Marine Corps and deploy an enhanced SPMAGTF (aviation centric...AMOS should love that) with the idea of embarking maybe two Battalion Landing Teams to act as regional reinforcement for CENTCOM.
They would bring along extra MV-22's, CH-53E's, AH-1Z's and UH-1Y's....along with a beefed up AV-8B force.
This should be a more than credible spear against small boat attacks, provide an enhanced TRAP option in the event of planes going down etc...
The second option would be to team up with SOCOM...get the 160th on board and maybe a company or two of Rangers along with some Special Forces Detachments and give them the super mothership that they've been begging for.
I like option one best but hey....that's just me.
Either way, the Navy has a carrier problem and unless they start sending ships to sea with full compliments (I'm talking upwards of 90 aircraft) then the carrier force is in danger of serious cutbacks.
UPDATE:
It just occurred to me that I just endorsed a proposal that I shot down weeks ago. Let me clarify. Marine Corps detachments aboard aircraft carriers with "full" compliments of their aircraft is a waste of Marine Corps personnel. Designating an aircraft carrier and having it switch to being a super LHD is different. It becomes a Marine Corps centric vessel instead of having Marines along as dead weight.
