Advantage Navy! Congressional Move on F/A-XX Will Increase Range for Aircraft Carriers (From CBS Radio “Eye on the World”)

John Batchelor and Gordon Chang initiated the discussion on why aircraft carriers need a plane with more range.  The Navy’s stealthy new F/A-XX just got a boost from Congress, along with direction to report back in 45 days on the acquisition plan for this stealthy strike fighter.  The F/A-XX, along with the new MQ-25 Stingray drone, will significantly increase the range of carrier air wings and the operational maneuver space for aircraft carriers at sea.  All that seriously complicates China’s targeting.  Highlights below, and full segment at this link.

Rebecca Grant: For naval flight operations from aircraft carriers, range is the number one tactical planning factor.  We know aircraft carriers are a top response option.  President Trump loves to use those aircraft carriers.  We’ve got the USS Gerald R. Ford, our newest carrier, still down in the Caribbean and the USS Abraham Lincoln a Nimitz-class carrier on its way from Indo-Pacom over to the Middle East.  

Rebecca Grant: The issue is, what’s the range of those carriers?  While the F/A-18 Super Hornet has been a super platform for naval aviation, and they also have the stealthy F-35 but the Navy needs a new fighter and attack plane.  They call it F/A-XX.  Boeing has a prototype, Northrop Grumman has a prototype and the Navy is ready to award this new plane, which will be very stealthy and have about 25% more range.  That gives enormous tactical options.  It also allows the aircraft carrier itself to stand back a little bit, and maneuver in the battlespace, so this is a very exciting move and fortunately Congress has stepped in.  The Pentagon had really slowed down on the Navy F/A-XX carrier plane, but now the Pentagon has got new orders from Congress, and about $897 million to get going on F/A-XX. 

Gordon Chang: Rebecca, right behind you there is a picture of a carrier.  Which one is it?

Rebecca Grant: Behind me is the USS Randolph.  She is an Essex-class carrier from World War II, but painted here as she appeared in the 1950s, with her angled deck added.  Of course, now all our carriers have an angled deck, which makes flight operations and launch and recovery at the same time easier.

Gordon Chang: The Navy is experimenting with drones.  Do drones have a longer range than a manned plane?

Rebecca Grant: Drones can have a longer range, but range always comes down to weight and to the amount of fuel that you carry.  The Navy’s most exciting new drone is actually a carrier-based drone called Stingray, which will join the fleet in 2026.  It actually carries air refueling capability, and several thousand pounds of gas so this Stingray can fly along with manned strike fighters off the carrier deck, and offload fuel to them right at the edge of the battlespace. I think it’s also got some sensor and surveillance packages on board so that the carrier continues to watch everything going on in that battle space. 

John Batchelor:  Rebecca, I’m looking at the Pacific, I’m looking at the boasting of the People’s Republic of China with their carrier killer missiles fired from the mainland.  Range would be a critical factor there.  Does the additional 25% move the carriers back enough so that evading the presumed Chinese barrage is more likely?

Rebecca Grant Yes, that makes it much harder for the Chinese. The carrier, because it’s nuclear powered, can steam at about 35 knots.  That means it can cover several hundred square miles of ocean at any one point in time.  That’s a problem for the Chinese, because they have to calculate the time of flight; if they can even track and target that carrier, which is very difficult to do especially with our ability to do some space based interference in Chinese targeting, then they have to have enough time for that missile to fly out, and in the 10 or 20 or 30 minutes when that Chinese missile is getting ready to go, and heading for its target, the carrier has moved from its previous location.

The role of the carrier is actually to strike.  It’s an offensive platform, to hit Chinese targets: ships, bases, anything they might need to hit in the event of war.  Having that 25% extra range F/A-XX will bring, plus its stealth, gives you so many more tactical options.

John Batchelor: I’m glad you remind me that the carrier is an offensive weapon.  That describes perfectly the battles of the Second World War.  Your flight going out was going to hit the enemy, but you knew that there was a returning flight that had a very good chance of damaging you badly.  So ,what you’re saying is that going forward, carriers have the capability of avoiding that strike, or cutting it down to one or two missiles

Rebecca Grant: Absolutely.  China does not have an unlimited supply of missiles.  They have to make decisions about targeting, too, and one of the most difficult targets for them to hit is a carrier that can maneuver.  Their chances of even hitting a carrier are very, very remote and then the carriers are built to withstand an enormous amount of blast. 

John Batchelor: Rebecca, your measure right now of the carrier fleet: there are 11 of them, I believe, three at sea at any one time maybe four, I lose count.  Are they confident they could avoid a preemptive strike by China?

Rebecca Grant: Carrier skippers are very confident.  We have 11 carriers in law; it’s not really enough, but they’re doing a good job. We’ve also seen carriers from our allies the UK and Italy participate in operations in the Pacific.

John Batchelor: Advantage Navy!