Vinson strike group departed San Diego<\/a> Aug. 2 for a deployment that will likely bring them through the Pacific and into the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThough in some ways the deployment will be routine, with the strike group exercising with allies and partners and providing presence in tense areas of the world, the redesigned air wing coupled with the new CMV-22B Osprey logistics airplane is sure to provide the fleet and naval aviation leaders with plenty of lessons learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rear Adm. Dan Martin, the commander of the Vinson strike group, told Defense News in an Aug. 4 interview his strike group is bringing some of the newest F\/A-18E-F Super Hornets in the inventory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve increased the numbers of aircraft: we\u2019re going to sail with seven EA-18G Growlers [compared to the usual five], 10 F-35s, we\u2019re going to sail with five E-2D Hawkeyes [compared to the usual four],\u201d he said from a call aboard flagship Carl Vinson. \u201cWe\u2019re bringing more capability, we\u2019re bringing more quantity, and we figured out just through training and analyzation of our tactics and techniques and procedures that this is the right amount: this is the right amount of air crew, the right amount of airframes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, he said, the strike group went through its final pre-deployment training and certification event with a massive destroyer squadron of eight ships. Only six deployed from San Diego with the carrier, and some will peel off along the way for homeport changes to Japan or will proceed straight to the Middle East ahead of the carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the certification exercise with the advanced carrier air wing and the plussed-up destroyer squadron let the strike group conduct complex operations Martin said were tougher than anything he\u2019d expect to see against a real-world adversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Air Wing Fallon advanced training this spring at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev., the air wing had time to take a first crack at learning how to maximize the new configuration, commander Capt. Tommy Locke told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we found as we went through Air Wing Fallon was the syllabus there allowed us to find ways to go after the entire kill chain of the adversary, which is unique, not something we had been able to do in the past,\u201d he said in an Aug. 3 interview. \u201cWe were able to highlight our strengths, but also find some ways we could improve [tactics, techniques and procedures] across the air wing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, assigned to the \u201cBlack Eagles\u201d of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, launches from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), July 12, 2021. Vinson is currently underway conducting routine maritime operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet. Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Isaiah Williams\/US Navy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHe said the new air wing proved it could bring not just greater lethality to the carrier strike group, but also greater survivability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur EA-18G Growlers are kind of our cornerstone non-kinetic airborne electronic attack for the air wing. We get a couple extra ones with the air wing, which gives us a little more capacity to be able to spread that capability across,\u201d Locke said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That extra electronic warfare capacity from the two additional Growlers in the air wing, combined with the additional E-2D for greater in-air command and control and the new stealth and advanced sensing from the F-35C, he said, keeps the whole strike group safe by \u201cgetting ahead of the threat\u2019s ability to gain information on us early on\u201d by finding and destroying enemy sensors, networks and shooters before they can see the strike group coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou really get a formidable force to go after\u201d threats in open waters and in the littoral environment, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the air wing had its best opportunity to develop and mature these tactics for high-end operations during Air Wing Fallon \u2013 held at a sophisticated training range \u2013 Locke said the deployment would present new learning opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the air wing can practice some tactics in smaller controlled areas the strike group can set up during the deployment. Second, the air wing can work with allies who also bought the F-35, integrating at the coalition level and sharing best practices. And third, he said, the air wing can learn how to contribute to other warfare commanders in the strike group and leverage their assets. Locke said the air wing didn\u2019t get to train with the strike group\u2019s destroyer squadron or information warfare commander until the final certification exercise, meaning there\u2019s plenty more work to be done to integrate and maximize each other\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\nArleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Stockdale (DDG 106) steams in formation with other ships and aircraft from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, including Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), July 11, 2021. CSG 1 units are underway conducting routine operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet. IS1 Alexander Fraser\/US Navy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCapt. P. Scott Miller, Vinson\u2019s commanding officer, said in a separate Aug. 4 interview the new F-35C maneuvers around the carrier and in its local air space naturally \u2013 but he said the ship has had to work hard to support the larger overall air wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With 67 planes in the air wing and three CMV-22s coming and going from their shore-based hubs, the ship needed to clear out more space on the deck and in the hangar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe give a lot of attention to the F-35,\u201d he said, but \u201cthe behind-the-scenes increase in the number of EA-18G Growlers, two more of those, and one more E-2 has really been what\u2019s filled up the inside and the topside of the ship. And to prepare for that, we\u2019ve paid particular attention to what other support equipment we have on board, and we\u2019ve slimmed down or leaned down the things that we would have on board that are a bit for crew comfort. If you were on an aircraft carrier five, seven years ago, you\u2019d see a lot of treadmills and exercise equipment kind of littering the edges of the space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose are all gone now; we\u2019re to mission-essential items only as we learn how to operate with this higher operational density,\u201d Miller continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ship also has to support the CMV-22B for the first time, which replaces the aging C-2A Greyhound as the carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft that brings people, parts and mail from the shore to the strike group at sea. The C-2A was already aging and in need of eventual replacement, but the V-22 variant was picked because of its ability to carry the large F-35 engine \u2013 something the C-2 or an updated derivative of it couldn\u2019t do. The F-35 and the V-22 are coupled together in the naval services, with the F-35 unable to deploy on carriers or amphibious ships without the V-22 nearby to fly on a replacement engine if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miller said the Navy as a whole knows how to operate the V-22 due to the Marine Corps\u2019 extensive use of the aircraft, but incorporating the tiltrotor aircraft \u2013 which sometimes flies like a plane and sometimes flies like a helicopter \u2013 into the carrier landing pattern has been an adjustment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a fixed-wing airplane, so it doesn\u2019t land with the normal aircraft in the normal way that the C-2 did,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce it gets within very close range of the aircraft carrier, it operates a little bit more like a helicopter, in its vertical landings and [short takeoffs].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo instead of landing with the fixed wing, it lands with a rotary wing,\u201d Miller added. \u201cWe\u2019re learning how to operate that, we think we\u2019ve pretty much figured that out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSailors assigned to the \u201cArgonauts\u201d of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 load an F-35C Lightning II power module onto a CMV-22B Osprey assigned to the \u201cTitans\u201d of Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30 on the flight deck of Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jeffrey Kempton\/US Navy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDespite working through a few kinks in incorporating the tiltrotor into flight deck operations, Miller said the V-22 opens up a lot of possibilities for the carrier strike group. For example, the C-2 is limited to daylight operations, whereas the V-22 is certified to operate at night. While the carrier isn\u2019t using the V-22 to send passengers to and from the carrier at night, it has been using the tiltrotor to bring supplies at night, which \u201chas been a huge addition for us in our ability to continue doing the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leading up to the deployment, Miller said, the carrier\u2019s flight deck crew and aviation maintenance crew had to work through a range of scenarios with the V-22: What if the aircraft experienced a malfunction and came in for an emergency landing? How would the crew tow the much-larger V-22 around the flight deck and down to the hangar bay? Can the ship\u2019s aviation mechanics fix a range of potential casualties the V-22 could experience that would keep it from flying off the carrier and back to its hub ashore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if the V-22 is operating as a logistics aircraft in the carrier strike group rather than a warfighting aircraft, Miller said its inclusion in the carrier strike group is making everyone safer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would say as an air wing, to include the carrier onboard delivery, we were able to more confidently operate tactically and safely at a further distance from land than I\u2019ve seen in my career,\u201d said Miller, a career pilot. \u201cIf we get to choose where we want to operate from, that gives us a significant tactical advantage in whatever environment we might find ourselves in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that, while the carrier wants to operate farther from enemy shores and outside the range of enemy missiles, the carrier strike group can only operate in areas where it can sustain itself. The longer legs on the V-22 \u201callow us to operate at those ranges that I hadn\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn F-35C Lighting II from the \u201cArgonauts\u201d Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 sits on the flight deck on Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). MC3 Erin Zorich\/US Navy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThough the strike group leadership declined to discuss future operational plans, they said their first mission, after recertifying the air wing, will be participating in the global Large Scale Exercise the Navy is hosting for two weeks<\/a>, using live, virtual and constructive (LVC) participants to simulate a global warfighting effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMartin, the carrier strike group commander, said that, after recently going through a high-end certification exercise, \u201cwe\u2019re feeling like we\u2019re bringing a good game to the exercise\u201d and have a lot to contribute to the live portion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re ready to help this exercise refine how we synchronize maritime operations across multiple fleets in support of the joint force, and we\u2019re excited to participate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The air wing the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is hauling around includes the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter and a beefed-up complement of EA-18G Growlers and E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes for an \u201cair wing of the future\u201d that leaders think can defeat high-end adversaries before they even spot the U.S. Navy coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":76266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":88,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,116,15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3379],"class_list":["post-136372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FQWZKVNENZFS7M2XXPXXUA3CYM","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2021\/08\/10\/carl-vinson-strike-group-using-first-deployment-with-f-35c-beefed-up-air-wing-to-hone-advanced-operations\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n
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