When Virtual Presence Equals Actual Absence

Recent events in the Persian Gulf revalidated the need for redundant, robust and credible combat capability. The Navy's significant investments since the Gulf War are now paying huge dividends for the National Command Authority by providing a variety of effective options, all of which were available during the recent crisis.

The enhanced capability of Naval Aviation became increasingly important due to host nation restriction on regional land-based air forces. The most recent crisis clearly revalidated the concept of visible force--what Teddy Roosevelt deemed the "big stick of diplomacy." Once again, our battle force's "up and ready" warfighting capability and its ability to go where needed, unencumbered by political constraints, proved key to achieving a diplomatic solution.

Smaller But More Effective Forces

Though the three battle groups assembled in January were only half the number of those present in Desert Storm, their capabilities were vastly improved. Lessons learned from the Gulf War, coupled with the shift toward littoral warfare and advances in technology, have resulted in tremendous dividends. Our strike sortie-generation rate has increased by 40 percent since 1991 due to increased reliability and maintainability of our strike-fighters. We can now generate the number of sorties with three carriers that we could only do previously with five--but that is only part of the story.

New weapons are increasing our warfighting effectiveness and giving us new capabilities. During the Gulf War, the Navy did not have a "bunker-busting" capability--the ability to take out hardened targets. The GBU-24 laser-guided bomb, currently being updated with an autonomous inertial guidance/global positioning guidance system (INS/GPS), now gives us the ability to hit strengthened and deeply buried targets.

The Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) also made its operational debut in the recent crisis. The initial version of JSOW is an INS/GPS stand-off glide weapon capable of attacking area targets with cluster munitions. Planned for later versions are sensor fused anti-armor submunitions and a unitary warhead. JSOW gives the ability to independently target several aim points with one strike-fighter.

The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) will be a major improvement to our general purpose bombs. This new weapon will give us "through-the-weather" flexibility with an INS/GPS guidance system and eventually a low-cost Automatic Target Acquisition (ATA) seeker.

The Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM), which made a stunning debut in the Gulf War, will be replaced by SLAM Expanded Response Plus. SLAM-ER+ is a substantial improvement over its predecessor by featuring improvements in mission planning, range, warhead effectiveness and ATA (complemented by man-in-the-loop data link capability). With the addition of AIM-9X and its helmet-mounted cueing system in FY 2002, we will achieve another substantial increase in capability.

Carrier Forces in Transition

Our carrier air wings have evolved since the Gulf War. One of the lessons we learned from Desert Storm was that with the passing of our open-ocean orientation against the former Soviet threat, we had to improve our multi-mission flexibility. It was also apparent that we needed to improve our "tooth-to-tail" ratio with regard to strike versus support aircraft. While the tremendous single-mission capability of our A-6s and our F-14s played significant roles against the Soviet threat, their single-mission capability was not as effective when confronting varying regional threats. These aircraft also represented a significant liability due to their age and design.

We have invested heavily since 1991 in making multi-mission precision strike fighters the backbone of our air wings. F-14s Tomcats with LANTIRN pods and F/A-18s with Nighthawk pods now provide an unprecedented level of air-to-ground precision effectiveness as well as unbeatable air-to-air supremacy. These warfighting capabilities complement each other tremendously. With the arrival of the F/A-18E/F, the air wings' range, survivability and striking power will only get better.

The recent USS Nimitz (CVN-68) surge exercise proved our ability to launch and recover more than 200 strike sorties per day continuously for four days. This is possible due to the rapid turn-around capability of the F/A-18 and the ability to use F-14s in the strike role. When combined with new families of weapons, we are also realizing significant increases in the kill capability of each of those sorties. All of these factors show battle group commanders that the strike mission may be mounted sooner and sustained longer throughout any level or type of campaign. If the mission is accomplished sooner, fewer aircraft and aircrews are exposed to the threat.

All of this increases the value of Naval Aviation to our commanders. The recent crisis in the Gulf clearly demonstrates our national leadership's reliance and faith in the effectiveness of these investments.

Tomahawk Missiles Are a Force Multiplier

In addition to Naval Aviation, much has changed to enhance the warfighting capability in the rest of the battle group/battle force. With the introduction of the Arleigh Burke-class of destroyers, escort ships of the force have almost doubled the vertical launch system tubes in a battle group. Despite the fact there were three fewer battle groups in the Gulf recently, there were more Tomahawks on scene than in Desert Storm. Many of the tubes on surface ships and submarines are filled with the new Tomahawk Block III with its GPS navigation system. Block III provides greatly improved range, an improved warhead and improved time-on-target control. Along with the new Tomahawks came a new Afloat Planning System on board the carriers. This highly flexible system enables commanders to plan missions in a matter of hours rather than days. With these new capabilities, Tomahawks are accepted by all levels of command as highly useful complements to the tools available to our battle groups and battle forces. When added to the steadily improving lethality of our carrier air wings, our national, joint and service commanders have increasingly viable options to respond to crises world-wide. A Tomahawk-equipped force relieves pressure on our limited number of carriers by filling the niche in missions where friendly losses cannot be tolerated. However, only the carrier air wing can deliver sustained, high-volume attacks from the sea.

The Battle Group Is the Force of Choice

The combination of weapons available to our battle group/force commanders (TLAM, SLAM-ER+, the JSOW family, JDAM, laser-guided bombs and numerous other "level-of-effort" weapons) provide never-before achievable options. No longer will our aviators be forced by the limited capabilities of their weapons to go "downtown" over or near their targets to complete their missions. The balanced approach of today's battle group--its ability to dominate and influence a battle anywhere in the world's littoral--will continue to make the Navy our nation's force of choice to quarterback joint forces.

The Navy has again demonstrated why "actual presence" is what counts the most.

RADM J. Michael "Carlos" Johnson, a native of Berkeley Springs, W. Va., was designated a Naval Aviator in 1970 and "winged" by his father, a World War II F6F Hellcat driver. Following A-7 training in Lemoore, Calif., he flew with the VA-37 Bulls embarked in USS Saratoga (CV-60). RADM Johnson made 11 deployments, including an 11-month combat tour in which he flew more than 120 missions over North Vietnam. He later served with VA-37 and VA-81, and commanded VA/VFA-86 and Carrier Air Wing Eight embarked in Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). He has accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours and 1,300 arrested landings on 11 carriers.

Shore assignments include Deputy, Combined Force Air Component Commander for Operations Deny Flight and Provide Promise, and Navy Operational Intelligence Center providing direct support to joint forces in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College.

RADM Johnson's decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (two awards), Distinguished Flying Cross (two awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Air Medal (2 individual/12 strike flight awards), and the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V" (three awards). He and his family live in Fairfax Station, Va.

Return to The Hook page