Carrier Strike Group Deployment Cancelled

The official statement from the DoD on delaying the Carrier Strike Group deployment to the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility reads:

Statement from Pentagon Press Secretary George Little on U.S. Carrier Strike Group Presence in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility

“The secretary of defense has delayed the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), Norfolk, Va., and the USS Gettysburg (CG-64), Mayport, Fla., which were scheduled to depart later this week for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility.

“Facing budget uncertainty -- including a continuing resolution and the looming potential for across-the-board sequestration cuts -- the U.S. Navy made this request to the secretary and he approved. This prudent decision enables the U.S. Navy to maintain these ships to deploy on short notice in the event they are needed to respond to national security contingencies.

“The United States will continue to maintain a robust military presence in the CENTCOM region, including the current carrier presence and a mix of other assets, to fulfill enduring commitments to our partners. The U.S. military continues to stand ready to respond to any contingency and to confront any threat in the region.”

By: Brant

China Tests DF-21D Missile on "Aircraft Carrier"

An interesting article about a Chinese "test" of the DF-21D Missile and its mocked-up target.

Taiwan-based Want China Times has published suggestive evidence that China has tested its Dong Feng 21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), also known as the “Carrier Killer” to fans.

This missile will keep the “dog” out of China’s “backyard.”

According to the January 23 article, “PLA ‘sinks’ US carrier in DF-21D missile test in Gobi,” the “People’s Liberation Army has successfully sunk a US aircraft carrier, according to a satellite photo provided by Google Earth, reports our sister paper Want Daily — though the strike was a war game, the carrier a mock-up platform and the ‘sinking’ occurred on dry land in a remote part of western China.”

“A satellite image reveals two large craters on a 200-meter-long white platform in the Gobi desert used to simulate the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. The photo was first posted on SAORBATS, an internet forum based in Argentina. Military analysts believed the craters would have been created by China’s DF-21D anti-ship missile.”

“While claiming that the missile has the capability to hit aircraft carriers 2,000 kilometers away, the nationalistic Chinese tabloid Global Times stated that the weapon was only designed for self-defense; the DF-21D will never pose a serious threat to US national security because it is not even able to reach Hawaii, the newspaper said, though fully aware of the US naval deployment in the Western Pacific.”

By: Brant

$30-odd Billion in Carriers

right-click to save for yourself

By: Brant

Chinese Carrier Goes into Service

And anyone who thinks the timing of the launch of the carrier has nothing to do with the current maritime disputes with Japan isn't paying attention...

China sent its first aircraft carrier into formal service on Tuesday amid a tense maritime dispute with Japan in a show of force that could worry its neighbors.
China's Ministry of Defense said the newly named Liaoning aircraft carrier would "raise the overall operational strength of the Chinese navy" and help Beijing to "effectively protect national sovereignty, security and development interests".
In fact, the aircraft carrier, refitted from a ship bought from Ukraine, will have a limited role, mostly for training and testing ahead of the possible launch of China's first domestically built carriers after 2015, analysts say.
China cast the formal handing over of the carrier to its navy -- attended by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao -- as a triumphant show of national strength at a time of tensions with Japan over islands claimed by both sides.
"The smooth commissioning of the first aircraft carrier has important and profound meaning for modernizing our navy and for enhancing national defensive power and the country's overall strength," Xinhua news agency cited Wen as saying at the commissioning ceremony in the northern port of Dalian.

By: Brant

Every Service Has At Least One Bat-Shit Crazy Senior Officer

And apparently the Navy's guy wanted to pick a fight with Iran.

According to Todd and another witness, Cosgriff’s idea, presented in a series of staff meetings, was to sail three “big decks,” as aircraft carriers are known, through the Strait of Hormuz — to put a virtual armada, unannounced, on Iran’s doorstep. No advance notice, even to Saudi Arabia and other gulf allies. Not only that, they said, Cosgriff ordered his staff to keep the State Department in the dark, too.

To Todd, it was like something straight out of “Seven Days in May,” the 1964 political thriller about a right-wing U.S. military coup. A retired senior naval officer familiar with Cosgriff’s thinking said the deployment plan was not intended to be provocative.

But Todd, in an account backed by another Navy official, said the admiral “was very, very clear that we were to tell him if there was any sign that Washington was aware of it and asking questions.”

For the past year, the air had been electric with reports of impending U.S. or Israeli attacks on Iran. If this maneuver were carried out, Todd and others feared, the Iranians would freak out. At the least, they’d cancel a critical diplomatic meeting coming up with U.S. officials. Todd suspected that was Cosgriff’s aim. She and others also speculated that Cosgriff wouldn’t propose such a brazen plan without Fallon’s support.

Retired Adm. David C. Nichols, deputy Centcom commander in 2007, recalled in an interview last year that Fallon “wanted to do a freedom-of-navigation exercise in what Iran calls its territorial waters that we hadn’t done in a long time.” Nothing wrong with that, per se, but the problem was that “we don’t understand Iran’s perception of what we’re doing, and we haven’t understood what they’re doing and why,” Nichols said. “It makes miscalculations possible.”

By: Brant

UK In Action: Carrier Through Portsmouth

A computer generated image (CGI) of one of the two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers soon to be built, passing Round Tower and out of the Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire. The construction of the Armed Forces’ new aircraft carriers pressed forward in July 2009, as Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal performed the steel cutting for the first of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers at BVT Surface Fleet’s shipyard in Govan, Glasgow. The ceremony marked the start of the manufacture of the Royal Navy’s largest ever warships. Together with the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft and the brand new Type 45 destroyers, they will form the cornerstone of Britain’s future ability to jointly project air power worldwide from land or sea at a time and place of UK’s choosing. The future aircraft carriers, to be named HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMS PRINCE OF WALES, will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed in the UK. They will provide our forces with world-class capabilities, supporting peace-keeping, conflict prevention and our strategic operational priorities. They will be a highly versatile and potent joint defence asset, able to meet the widest range of tasks.

img from UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

US To Iran: Suck It

Iran's big talk about US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf turned out to be just that: big talk. We sailed the USS Abraham Lincoln right up their ass.

Amid heightened tensions with Iran, an American aircraft carrier has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. The Navy says it's a routine maneuver.
Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost said the USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Gulf on Sunday without incident to conduct scheduled maritime security operations. Derrick-Frost is a spokeswoman for the Navy's 5th Fleet, based in the Gulf state of Bahrain.
U.S. warships frequently operate in the Gulf. But when the carrier USS John Stennis departed the Gulf in late December, Iranian officials warned the U.S. not to return.

By: Brant

Iran Says "Boo"; US Says "Uh, OK"

Iran has threatened "action" if the US sends a carrier group back to the Gulf.

Iran will take action if a U.S. aircraft carrier which left the area because of Iranian naval exercises returns to the Gulf, the state news agency quoted army chief Ataollah Salehi as saying on Tuesday.
"Iran will not repeat its warning ... the enemy's carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill. I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf," Salehi told IRNA.
"I advise, recommend and warn them (the Americans) over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Salehi as saying.
Salehi did not name the aircraft carrier or give details of the action Iran might take if it returned.
Iran completed 10 days of naval exercises in the Gulf on Monday, and said during the drills that if foreign powers imposed sanctions on its crude exports it could shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's traded oil is shipped.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, said it would not allow shipping to be disrupted in the strait.

And by 'action' perhaps they will taunt us a second time...

By: Brant

Chinese Aircraft Carrier Imaged By Satellite

U.S. satellite imaging firm Digital Globe has released a satellite photograph believed to be of the Chinese aircraft carrier Varyag during sea trials in the Yellow Sea.

By: Shelldrake

UK In Action: Carrier Operations, Day & Night

Royal Air Force Chinook and Army Air Corps Apache helicopters are pictured practicing deck landings onboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. Two Apache helicopters from 664 Squadron, Army Air Corps embarked for a two week training package, to enable pilots and ground crews to acclimatise to working in a maritime environment. They were joined by a Chinook from 7 Squadron, Royal Air Force which flew out to the ship for a few hours deck landing practice.

Pictured through an image intensifier, An Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopter lifts off from the deck of HMS Illustrious during night flying operations. Two Apache helicopters from 664 Squadron, Army Air Corps have also embarked for a two week training package, to enable pilots and ground crews to acclimatise to working in a maritime environment. They were joined by a Chinook from 7 Squadron, Royal Air Force which flew out to the ship for a few hours deck landing practice.

img from UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

Is the US "Exaggerating" the Threat from China?

You'd think the Chinese would love it that the US thinks they're expanding their capabilities.

China's state news agency accused the United States Thursday of "exaggerating" the threat posed by its military, after a report said the Asian nation was expanding its maritime power.
The US defence department said in its annual report to Congress that China was increasingly focused on naval power and had invested in hi-tech weaponry that would extend its reach in the Pacific and beyond.
Xinhua said many people in China found it "weird" that the United States, which spends far more on its military than any other country in the world, should highlight Chinese expenditure.
"The report... exaggerated the threat incurred by China's military development in 2010 to the Asia-Pacific region," Xinhua said in a commentary.
"For many in China, it is weird that the Pentagon, whose expenditures reached nearly $700 billion and accounted for over an appalling 40 percent of the world's total in 2010, routinely points its finger at China."
China's People's Liberation Army -- the largest armed force in the world -- is extremely secretive about its defence programmes, which benefit from a huge and expanding military budget boosted by the nation's runaway economic growth.
Beijing announced earlier this year that military spending would rise to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.7 billion) in 2011 and also said it was developing its first stealth fighter jet.

"accused the United States Thursday of "exaggerating" the threat posed by its military, after a report said the Asian nation was expanding its maritime power"
Uh, excuse me, Mr China? Yeah, that aircraft carrier you just launch? Was that not an expansion of your maritime power?

By: Brant

China's Aircraft Carrier Make a Go Of It

The Varyag, uh... PLAN-Flagship-to-be is floating its way out to sea.

China launched its first aircraft carrier for a maiden run on Wednesday, a step likely to boost patriotic pride at home and jitters abroad about Beijing's naval ambitions.
The long-awaited debut of the vessel, a refitted former Soviet craft, marked a step forward in China's long-term plan to build a carrier force that can project power into the Asian region, where seas are spanned by busy shipping lanes and thorny territorial disputes.
"Its symbolic significance outweighs its practical significance," said Ni Lexiong, an expert on Chinese maritime policy at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
"We're already a maritime power, and so we need an appropriate force, whether that's aircraft carriers or battleships, just like the United States or the British empire did," he said in a telephone interview.

By: Brant

UK In Action: QE-Class Carrier, Computer Model

Computer graphic of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier.

img from UK MoD

By: Widow 6-7

Royal Navy Pilots Learning To Speak French

The recent agreement between Britain and France to share an aircraft carrier means that some Royal Navy pilots must learn French in order to operate off the Charles de Gaulle. Who woulda thunk it?!

The first five of 30 Royal Navy pilots have begun French language training at the defence college in Paris before they join the carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, where they will fly Rafale jets.

They will spend 16 weeks studying French so that they are able to communicate with their colleagues on board the vessel.

While they will wear their own uniforms they will sleep, eat and work alongside French fighter pilots, in what has been described as a major test of co-operation for the two Navies.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The relationship with France is strategically important and discussions are ongoing about Royal Navy personnel being based on Charles de Gaulle as part of the bilateral agreement between our two countries. This will allow us to maintain our skills and help to develop an enhanced capability in the future.”

By: Shelldrake

USN IDs Next Aircraft Carrier

The Navy has decided to name the next aircraft carrier the USS John F. Kennedy.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today the next Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier will be named the USS John F. Kennedy.

The selection John F. Kennedy, designated CVN 79, honors the 35th President of the United States and pays tribute to his service in the Navy, in the government, and to the nation.

“President John F. Kennedy exemplified the meaning of service, not just to country, but service to all humanity,” said Mabus. “I am honored to have the opportunity to name the next aircraft carrier after this great sailor and inspirational leader, and to keep the rich tradition and history of USS John F. Kennedy sailing in the U.S. Fleet.”

Born in Brookline, Mass., May 29, 1917, Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1940 and entered the Navy in October 1941.

During World War II, Kennedy took command of PT 109 at Tulagi Island in the Solomons with a mission to intercept Japanese ships attempting to resupply their barges in New Georgia. In the early morning hours of Aug. 2, 1943, Kennedy’s ship was inadvertently struck by an enemy ship and split in half. Over the course of the next six days, Kennedy led his crew members to safety and an eventual rescue. Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for the rescue of his crew and a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained when his ship was struck.

After his military service, Kennedy became a congressman representing the Boston area, he was elected to the Senate in 1953, and in 1961 became the youngest person to be elected president.

One previous ship, the USS John F. Kennedy, CV 67, was named in his honor and was decommissioned in 2007 after nearly 40 years of distinguished service, including Operation Desert Storm.

The USS John F. Kennedy and other Ford-class carriers will be the premier forward asset for crisis response and humanitarian relief and early decisive striking power in a major combat operation. The aircraft carrier and the carrier strike group will provide forward presence, rapid response, endurance on station, and multi-mission capability throughout its 50-year service life.

The USS John F. Kennedy will provide improved warfighting capability, quality of life improvements for sailors and reduced acquisition and life cycle costs. The ship will be constructed at Newport News Shipbuilding, Va., a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

By: Brant

The Brits'll Get An Aircraft Carrier Afloat... Eventually

Well, I guess the Brits will get an aircraft carrier back on the seas by 2020.

Defence secretary Liam Fox was on the Clyde to cut the first steel for HMS Prince of Wales, the second of the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth class carriers.

Dr Fox started the computer-guided laser to cut the first piece of hull for the ship at a ceremony at the BAE Systems shipyard in Govan.

After the symbolic ceremony, Dr Fox told the workers the government was committed to delivering this next generation of powerful British aircraft carriers, which will form the cornerstone of the navy's Future Force 2020.

"This major construction project is creating and sustaining thousands of jobs in shipyards around the country," he added.

After attending the event, Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty told The Courier, "It is another milestone on the road to completion of the two aircraft carriers.

"Obviously I am delighted to begin to see the Queen Elizabeth carriers taking shape in Govan and more crucially at Rosyth."

He said not only would the carriers guarantee employment for Rosyth until 2020 at least, but they were of great benefit to the UK.

In the meantime, the pride of the French navy is doing the heavy lifting of Libya.

By: Brant

Naval Aviation Going Unmanned?

The success of UAVs in the GWOT has the US Navy looking into UAVs for carrier operations.

The U.S. is developing aircraft carrier-based drones that could provide a crucial edge as it tries to counter China's military rise.
American officials have been tightlipped about where the unmanned armed planes might be used, but a top Navy officer has told The Associated Press that some would likely be deployed in Asia.
"They will play an integral role in our future operations in this region," predicted Vice Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, which covers most of the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Land-based drones are in wide use in the war in Afghanistan, but sea-based versions will take several more years to develop. Northrop Grumman conducted a first-ever test flight — still on land — earlier this year.
Van Buskirk didn't mention China specifically, but military analysts agree the drones could offset some of China's recent advances, notably its work on a "carrier-killer" missile.
"Chinese military modernization is the major long-term threat that the U.S. must prepare for in the Asia-Pacific region, and robotic vehicles — aerial and subsurface — are increasingly critical to countering that potential threat," said Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for New American Security.

By: Brant

HMS Queen Elizabeth Under Construction

A "65,000-tonne jigsaw puzzle".

In a shipyard in Scotland the future of the Royal Navy is slowly taking shape. But the construction of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is a mammoth task.

Imagine an aircraft carrier as a 65,000-tonne jigsaw puzzle and you have got a good idea of the scale of the building of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The pieces are being built at six shipyards around the UK and will be slotted together at Rosyth in Fife using an enormous crane which was transported by sea from China.

Around 10,000 workers across Britain are employed on the £5bn project with up to 25,000 engaged in building components for the Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft.

The carrier will have between 12 and 40 F-35s, or Joint Strike Fighters, costing around £65m each.

We're trying to find some images on like the ones linked at the article. Below is the Google Maps sat view of the shipyards where the work's going on.

By: Brant


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Railgun Launches USN Jet Fighter

Science fiction became science fact with the recent announcement of a successful launch of a F/A-18E Super Hornet using electromagnetic force.

Not to be outdone by NASA's plans to launch spacecraft into orbit using electromagnetic force, the U.S. Navy is also intent on using the technology to launch fighter jets from aircraft carriers. And they successfully did just that with an F/A-18E Super Hornet.

The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), can move a 100,000 pound jet 240mph across a 300 foot runway space. According to the Navy, not only is EMALS is a smaller and more efficient method of launching planes than steam turbines, it can deliver 30% more power. The Navy says they will to use this system to launch all aircraft from carriers going forward, including heavy strike fighters and lightweight drones.

According to Danger Room, EMALS will be fully implemented on all future aircraft carriers (the next scheduled deployment of a new carrier will be the USS Gerald R. Ford in 2015). In the meantime, they plan to test the launch system out on other aircraft, including the C-2 and T-45 planes.

By: Shelldrake

China's First Aircraft Carrier Signals A Change In Naval Ambitions

China's expanding navy has been a focal point of tension between China and other Pacific nations, including the US.

When the Soviet Union began building the aircraft carrier Varyag more than a quarter of a century ago, the 300-metre ship was expected to one day sail provocatively into the Mediterranean Sea, a Cold War challenge to American naval dominance in that part of the globe.

When it finally sets to sea under its own power some time this year or next, the Varyag will have a very different master and mission. Today, the construction project that began in 1985 in what is now the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv is being completed in the Chinese hub of Dalian.

A world and an era away from its original intended purpose, the Varyag will instead feed fears and suspicions between the United States and China, its latest military rival.

The Varyag is far from the pinnacle of China's naval ambitions. In fact, it's not clear that the ship will ever be anything but a floating test runway for the pilots and planes that will eventually be transferred to a larger and indigenously developed aircraft carrier that China hints could be mission-ready by 2015. As many as six aircraft carriers are believed to be either planned or under construction by the People's Liberation Army Navy.

The status of the Varyag (a Cold War relic that once appeared fated to become a floating casino in Macao) is now of major concern in Washington, and among neighbours such as Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. This fact speaks to a lingering truth about international relations: Even in a world of satellite weaponry and cyberwars, naval power remains as relevant in 2011 as it was in centuries past.

I strongly recommend reading the entire article found here.

By: Shelldrake