Commander Naval Air Forces wants more F/A-18s

[talkitron]

As much as I avoid politics... Do you honestly think Congress will authorize significant increase to the base Defense budget just because Pres. Trump is now in the White House?

SecDef Carter tried to use Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) funds to mitigate the budget issues, but Congress limited the OCO fund usage.

The decrease in flight hours is due to Congress cutting depot/SLEP funds, and this could be somewhat reversed in less than 24 months, if Congress fully supported it. The Navy has requested additional funds in FY2018 for the F/A-18 depots, so this might be changing soon. At this point, the Navy needs both new F/A-18E/Fs and more depot funds.

I think there is a difference between the budget cuts in 2013, sequestration, and the situation now. The budget cuts in 2013 had long lasting consequences on military depot activity through, for example, skilled workers being laid off and then moving onto other jobs. The funds to hire new workers might be there now; it is just time consuming to ramp up given the previous disruptions.

There is no powerful coalition of opponents in Congress to an increase in the military budget. Democrats are opposed to paying for such an increase with cuts to non-military, domestic spending. Therefore, Democrats in the Senate might filibuster such a spending increase. A more likely scenario is that the government issues debt to pay for spending increases rather than cutting non-military, domestic spending.

[talkitron]

More on defense spending:

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/ ... nse-budget

[spazsinbad]

GOBsmacking news about Shornet carrier suitability for Indian Ski Jump carriers contained in this 'ShornetsIII' frIndia tale.

Boeing outlines India F/A-18 E/F offering
30 Aug 2017 Greg Waldron

"...In a video interview with Indian defence site Livefist, Dan Gillian, vice president, F/A-18 & EA-18 programmes at Boeing, said the Super Hornet is capable of operating from India's existing carriers, having determined this through simulations with the Indian Navy. "We think we can move around the deck, be fully operational, be very mission capable with a relevant weapons load out to give the navy what they need," Gillian told Livefist...."

Source: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... ng-440676/

Indian Navy Carrier Jet War Hots Up, Boeing Focuses Fire
28 Aug 2017 Shiv Aroor

"The Indian Navy’s multirole carrier borne fighter (MRCBF) contest just got a little hotter with Boeing today making it a point to amplify and detail the F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornet’s ‘full compatibility’ with India’s current and future aircraft carriers. The company asserted today that the aircraft requires ‘no modifications’ to operate ‘with meaningful weapons loadouts’ from the ski-jump of the INS Vikramaditya, Vikrant-class and follow on aircraft carriers, adding a dimension of intrigue and intensity to a contest that is widely being seen as a direct dogfight with the Dassault Rafale. We’ll go into the significance of today’s comments in a moment, but first, here’s a quick video where we catch up with Boeing’s Vice President on the Super Hornet programme, Dan Gillian.... [then lots of details prolly irrelevant]

...Boeing says it is looking forward to putting into action what it has done in detailed simulations since at least 2008. The last time anything close to this capability happened was when a legacy F-18 Hornet took off from a ski-jump in the eighties....

VIDEO: 28 August: "Is the Super Hornet ski-jump compatible, what loads, how does it compare with the Rafale, etc? OnThe Boeing Company F/A-18 pitch to the Indian Navy, our quick chat with Dan Gillian, VP on the Super Hornet programme + some of your questions answered. https://www.facebook.com/Livefist/video ... 796168905/

Source: https://www.livefistdefence.com/2017/08 ... -fire.html

[spazsinbad]

This 'Aviation FLAG Panel' video from TAILHOOK 2017 starting from minute 55 (use slider) has OBOGS info from the bigg'un:

https://livestream.com/wab/tailhook2017 ... /162523085 [answer ENDS at minute 60 for T-45C & Hornets]

[spazsinbad]

Another SAFETY video from HOOK17 will have OBOGalogs innit with the new OXYchief speakin'.

Safety Centre Briefing
https://livestream.com/wab/tailhook2017 ... /162480333

'2nd half' (starts 9min 30sec) of video will have 'CLUTCH' Joyner speaking about PEs along with another chap + questions.

Relevant questions about PEs stop at minute 36.

GRAPHIC: PE Investigation & Adjudication Process

[spazsinbad]

OhBoy it is difficult to get F-35Cs on deck in the near future: https://livestream.com/wab/tailhook2017 ... /162483994

[spazsinbad]

Block III Supa Horny from TAILHOOK 2017 video: https://livestream.com/wab/tailhook2017 ... /162483994

[SpudmanWP]

OhBoy it is difficult to get F-35Cs on deck in the near future:

It's a self-inflicted wound.

[sferrin]

OhBoy it is difficult to get F-35Cs on deck in the near future:

It's a self-inflicted wound.

I don't follow. With 77 aircraft there would be room for 10-15 more F-35s ondeck.

[SpudmanWP]

"Self-inflicted wound" means that the slow ramp up of F-35C procurement is entirely of the USN's making.

By 2025 they could have nearly a 50/50 mix if they wanted it, at least 33/66.

[spazsinbad]

A few of the briefings at HOOK'17 seemed to be using out of date slides with the briefers not being really on top of their brief. For example the USMC briefer did not include the extra F-35Bs for USMC in his short F-35 brief whilst admitting he was really a legacy Hornet guy so we can understand he was given old slides and talked briefly from them - unnerstan?

Meanwhile here is a NAN Summer 2017 Naval Aviation News story which contradicts what was prolly an old slide that we have all just commented upon. I dunno - the misinformation out there is astounding and I don't claim to know shite.

Navy Announces Plan for First Operational F-35C Squadron
31 Aug 2017 Andrea Watters

"The Navy plans to deploy its first operational F-35C squadron in 2021 with the aim of enabling future carrier strike groups (CSG) and numbered fleets to engage a wide range of rapidly evolving threats, according to the Navy’s F-35C Fleet Integration Plan released in July.

The future carrier air wing will include two squadrons of F-35Cs and two F/A-18E/F Super Hornet squadrons. The deployment plan is based on an asset allocation study of the most efficient and effective composition of strike fighters, according to Rear Adm. Roy J. Kelley, director, Joint Strike Fighter Fleet Integration Office....

...“To balance modernization and readiness, the Navy is committed to selecting the right procurement ramp for F-35C to balance strike-fighter inventory management with the cost and time required to field advanced capabilities,” Kelley said.

The Navy’s long-term objective is to form 20 F-35C squadrons by the early 2030s, two squadrons for each of its 10 carrier air wings. The strategy will call for the continued procurement of low-rate, initial-production aircraft and the implementation of the enhanced capabilities of Block 3F software....

...As technologies advance, the future air wing must adapt and increase its capacity to contribute to the sea control mission with both kinetic and non-kinetic operations. The F-35C will be the CSG’s first choice in such contested environments, providing a “day-one” strike capability.

While the day-one capability will allow the F-35C to perform at the “tip of the spear,” its interoperability within the carrier air wing and unique ability to support and augment already fielded legacy platforms will be essential to sustaining the Navy’s combat lethality, Kelley said.

In the near term, legacy aircraft will continue to make up a majority of the carrier air wing, but the information collected by F-35Cs will enhance the effectiveness and survivability of all sea, air and land platforms throughout the battle space. If the carrier air wings of tomorrow are to outpace the proliferation of rapidly evolving threats, F-35C capabilities must achieve high levels of interoperability with existing ships and aircraft within CSGs and the numbered fleets.

Follow-on modernization for the F-35C program will continue to advance F-35C’s capabilities—weapons integration, electronic warfare and real-time information sharing—to improve the aircraft’s lethality and survivability across all mission sets. The full integration of these capabilities within the CSG, combined with the F-35C’s ability to distribute this information across multiple platforms within the fleet, is the cornerstone of how the Navy of the future will fight and win, Kelley said."

Source: http://navalaviationnews.navylive.dodli ... -squadron/

[marauder2048]

A few of the briefings at HOOK'17 seemed to be using out of date slides with the briefers not being really on top of their brief.

I noticed that too.

For example, the CVW Composition for 1998 lists VAQ-5 as 5 x EA-18G.

Apparently, the Super Hornet can do tanking, strike, jamming and time-travel...

[blindpilot]

A few of the briefings at HOOK'17 seemed to be using out of date slides with the briefers not being really on top of their brief.

I noticed that too.
For example, the CVW Composition for 1998 lists VAQ-5 as 5 x EA-18G.
Apparently, the Super Hornet can do tanking, strike, jamming and time-travel...

Good catch,

... and the Super Hornet won WW II as well! Don't cha know! ... oooh ooh, ... except it's Boeing immediate predecessor, the mighty P-26 Peashooters helped shooting down those 2 Zeros in the Philippines in 1941! Boeing is definitely pulling out all the stops. They've brainwashed the Naval Power Point slide makers. "Here Ensign, I've gone ahead and made this pretty slide for you to use...."

Sheeze! If I had been that sloppy as an officer, I would have been long frozen at some Aleutian radar site. What has happened to the kids these days?

MHO,
BP

[SpudmanWP]

"Here Ensign, I've gone ahead and made this pretty slide for you to use...."

They learned it from Washington where lobbyists "help" Congressmen write the laws.

[sferrin]

Sheeze! If I had been that sloppy as an officer, I would have been long frozen at some Aleutian radar site. What has happened to the kids these days?

MHO,
BP

Today there are no losers or winners. Everybody gets a trophy.