Thanks for the article Grand Logistics...
via the Grey Lynx.com
If you think about it, the one hole in US naval aviation is the lack of thought given to the armed helo in the attack mission.
Correction.
The anti-ship mission.
That's extremely unfortunate and extremely hard to understand. The S-3 once had this mission set and with its retirement I assume that its been passed to F-18's. That makes sense if you can successfully keep all ships at 150 or more miles away from your task force but that's an impossibility in any area in which we might operate in the future. The straits of Hormuz are crowded and the same can be said of shipping lanes in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
A properly armed MH-60 should be as successful in this role as the British Lynx's were. We have comparable weapons...the Hell Fire acting as a Sea Skua surrogate. And the Harpoon acting as an Exocet clone.
We have the capability but not the will. Time to get it done.
via the Grey Lynx.com
Some twenty-seven Lynx from No. 815 Squadron ‘went south’ where they operated in the ASW, ASV, VERTical-REPlenishment (VERTREP) and Special Operations insertion role. Many of the Lynx were hastily fitted with Sea Skua missiles, even though the missiles had not completed their full acceptance trials within the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was not only the Sea Skua’s use which was hasty, many of the HAS Mk 2s heading south with the Task Force were not uniformly equipped - not all had Sea Skua, while Electronic-Counter Measures (ECM), thermal imagers and MAD were only carried by a handful of aircraft. Many Lynx were fitted with door-mounted GPMGs for Close-Air-Support (CAS) operations and, though unofficial, the installation proved popular with crews.Impressive...and a war record I was unaware of.
One of the most celebrated actions involved two Lynx from HMS Brilliant, which attacked the Argentine submarine Santa Fe on the 25th April 1982, during Operation Corporate. One launched a Mk 46 torpedo, expecting the vessel to submerge, which it didn’t. The sub was then unable lo submerge due to the circling torpedo beneath it; the Lynx attacked with their 7.62mm machine-guns eventually putting the submarine out of action.Further action on the night of the 3rd May 1982 saw HMS Coventry’s Lynx ripple fire two Sea Skuas at the enemy patrol boat, Alferez Sorbal. Two direct hits were scored from a range of 13km. In the confusion of the attack the vessel was struck again by a further two Sea Skuas from a Lynx attached to HMS Glasgow. On May 23rd the Argentine supply ship Rio Caracana received two direct hits courtesy of a Lynx from HMS Antelope. The Sea Skua was gaining itself an impressive reputation, leaving a succession of enemy vessels burning and sinking following Lynx attacks. By the end of the Falklands Conflict Lynx HAS Mk 2s of the RN had an impressive combat record, with one example even having a lucky escape when attacked by a pair of Argentine Daggers. Three Lynx were lost when the ships Ardent, Atlantic Conveyer and Coventry were sunk. A further example lost its nose when an unexploded bomb bounced off the side of HMS Broadsword - however no Lynx were shot down or lost in flying accidents despite the atrocious weather conditions encountered in the region.
If you think about it, the one hole in US naval aviation is the lack of thought given to the armed helo in the attack mission.
Correction.
The anti-ship mission.
That's extremely unfortunate and extremely hard to understand. The S-3 once had this mission set and with its retirement I assume that its been passed to F-18's. That makes sense if you can successfully keep all ships at 150 or more miles away from your task force but that's an impossibility in any area in which we might operate in the future. The straits of Hormuz are crowded and the same can be said of shipping lanes in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
A properly armed MH-60 should be as successful in this role as the British Lynx's were. We have comparable weapons...the Hell Fire acting as a Sea Skua surrogate. And the Harpoon acting as an Exocet clone.
We have the capability but not the will. Time to get it done.