US Navy's "Future Air Wing" appears in Asia-Pacific
2024-08-16
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The USS Carl Vinson. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy
Comprehensive compilation Zhang Haotian
For the US Navy, the 2024 Rim of the Pacific Exercise held not long ago is a good opportunity to carry out public relations activities. As the core of the US military participating in the exercise, the USS Carl Vinson sailed from San Diego, California to the waters around Hawaii in advance, and invited a group of media to accompany it, demonstrating a series of new combat capabilities during the exercise.
According to the British "Navy News" website, the "Carl Vinson" is the first pilot unit of the "Future Air Wing" concept of the US Navy Air Force. It carries a variety of aircraft types including F-35C stealth fighters, F/A-18E/F fighter/attack aircraft, EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft, E-2D early warning aircraft, and MH-60R/S helicopters. Compared with these "familiar faces", the three airborne weapons that appeared during the "Rim of the Pacific Exercise" have aroused greater interest from the outside world.
The first is the AIM-174B long-range air-to-air missile. It is an improvement on the Standard-6 carrier-based air defense missile. During the exercise, the CVW-2 carrier-based aircraft wing of the Carl Vinson sent F/A-18E/F fighters carrying live ammunition to take off and land on the aircraft carrier many times, indicating that this weapon has initial combat capability. Considering that the next-generation long-range air-to-air missile jointly developed by the US Navy and the Air Force is not yet mature, the AIM-174B can fill the gap in long-range firepower during the transition period.
"Navy News" stated that the return of long-range air-to-air missiles has allowed the US aircraft carrier battle groups to regain the air firepower coverage of the Cold War era. The maximum range of the "Standard"-6 missile launched from a ship is about 240 kilometers. After being launched from the air, its strike distance is expected to be further extended to more than twice that of ordinary air-to-air missiles. With the commissioning of the AIM-174B, the US military has caught up with or even surpassed other countries in the indicator of air-to-air missile range. This missile also supports the "A-shoot, B-guide" mode, which can receive target information from another aircraft after launch, and has high tactical flexibility.
At the same time, the electronic warfare aircraft on the Carl Vinson has obtained a new "soft kill" means: the AN/ALQ-99F-V electronic warfare pod. This system is the first model launched among the next generation of airborne electronic warfare equipment of the US military. According to the records of the US Congressional hearing, its production and delivery work will start in the second half of 2023, and the first batch of deployment is expected to be completed before October this year. The USS Lincoln aircraft carrier formation that recently went to the Middle East was also equipped with this electronic warfare pod.
According to the manufacturer Raytheon, AN/ALQ-99F-V is the most advanced electronic attack means of the US military, mainly used to destroy and weaken the enemy's high-tech weapons, especially communication tools and air defense systems. Due to the use of a composite phased array radar system, this pod can not only fight multiple threats simultaneously in a wide area, but also carry out network attacks by "remotely inserting codes" and emitting high-power microwaves to physically destroy precision instruments.
The US "War Zone" website analyzed that the US carrier-based aircraft unit is the only unit in the US military that has tactical-level electronic warfare aircraft and can provide accompanying cover, and often undertakes "cross-service" support and intelligence gathering tasks. In regional armed conflicts, the EA-18G carrying advanced electronic warfare equipment is indispensable in protecting friendly forces from anti-aircraft fire attacks.
On this basis, the aircraft of the USS Carl Vinson can also use AGM-88G anti-radiation missiles to carry out "hard kill" on enemy radars and air defense positions. The AGM-88G is the latest improved version of the "HARM" series of anti-radiation missiles, which began to be delivered at the beginning of this year; thanks to its multi-mode guidance and GPS targeting functions, it can take into account both mobile and fixed targets. During the Red Sea escort operation earlier this year, the EA-18G carried by the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier used anti-radiation missiles to destroy a helicopter parked on the ground by the Yemeni Houthi armed forces, demonstrating the actual combat potential of this type of weapon.
In an interview with Naval News, US Navy Captain Matthew Thomas mentioned that the USS Carl Vinson and USS Lincoln are the first two US aircraft carriers to put the concept of "Future Air Wing" into practice. This concept includes dozens of combat capabilities and will be gradually extended to all carrier-based aircraft wings of the US Navy in the next few years. Naval News pointed out that the deployment of the USS Carl Vinson is aimed at promoting the implementation of these advanced capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region and accelerating the shift of the US military's strategic focus.
Source: China Youth Daily Client
