![]() ![]() ![]() Yet, it is far from over as ISIS jihadists, while in hiding underground, are still conducting attacks to destabilize northern Iraq and Syria. Today’s threat is of course not as strong as in 2015. Today’s mission remains the same as five years ago, the fight against ISIS. The first time France commanded the CTF50 lasted four months between December 2015 and March 2016 during Operation Arromanches II. The USS Eisenhower takes over towards the end of the month. It is only the second time that the French carrier will serve as flagship of CTF50. If it is common naval procedure for single ships to join forces with CTF50 – that was the case as far as the French Navy is concerned with FDA (air defense frigate) Forbin, FAA (anti-air frigate) Jean Bart, FREMM (multi-mission frigate) Auvergne in 2017. request came several weeks before warships were delayed by the six-day Suez Canal obstruction caused by the container ship Ever Given. Also led by the French Navy, GASWEX took place in the Gulf of Aden between March 19 and March 22. initiative comes in the aftermath of a multilateral surface, air and sub-surface training exercise between the US, French, Belgian and Japanese navies called GASWEX (Group Arabian Sea Warfare Exercise). McKenzie to the French Army deputy commander for Air-Land operations (SCOAT for ‘’sous chef des opérations aéroterrestres de l’armée de Terre’’) that the French Air Naval Group (GAN for ‘’groupe aéronaval’’) assume command of US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT)’s Task Force (CFT) 50 from March 31st till April 24th’’, explains a French military officer. Indeed, “it is at the request of US CENTCOM Commander Gen. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and the French Charles de Gaulle CSG are cooperating at levels of integration rarely achieved in the past. Looking into the future, the problem is only going to get worse as the fleet and its aircraft become fuel hungrier.The USS Dwight D. If a T-AOE is not available, resupply duties must be carried out by slower T-AO oilers and T-AKE dry cargo/ammunition ships. The Supply-class carry enough ordnance to refill a the magazines of a Nimitz-class carrier, along with fuel for the carrier's aircraft and escort ships. Military Sealift Command only has two operational Supply-class T-AOE fast combat support ships able to keep up with the carriers (the other two have been retired as a cost-cutting measure). has some pretty serious logistical shortcomings when it comes to supporting the carriers. The modern-day prevalence of precision-guided munitions like the JDAM allow aircraft to get better results with less ordnance.Ĭarriers are able to do UNREP of ordnance, with VERTREP by MH-60S Knighthawks being the preferred method. Second, the exercise largely involved unguided iron bombs. Furthermore, such a high operational tempo isn't the norm, especially on the kinds of deployments carriers have made to the Gulf in the last 20+ years. ![]() In actual combat conditions, a Nimitz-class carrier would have managed a much lower sortie rate, even at max tempo. First, the 1997 SURGEX was a best-of-the-best-case scenario. there are some important caveats to be made here. And even with this replenishment, the Nimitz would have run out of aviation ordnance had operations continued for another 24 hours. Land-based USAF and USMC tankers further supported the carrier's aircraft. Over the course of the exercise, the Nimitz replenished its entire aviation ordnance magazine and topped up its aviation fuel tanks from supply ships. F/A-18 strike fighters flew 79 percent of the strike sorties, posting what on the surface seemed to be a phenomenal sortie rate of 4.2 sorties per aircraft per day. Of this total, 771 were strike sorties, which led to delivery of 1,336 "bombs"-mostly practice BDU-45s-on targets within 200 nautical miles of Nimitz. Over 98 hours, carrier Nimitz and its air wing, CVW-9, generated 975 fixed-wing sorties. During an exercise in July 1997, Nimitz showed just how fast a carrier (in optimal conditions) could empty its fuel and ammunition reserves. In a max tempo operation, a Nimitz-class could burn through ammunition and jet fuel quite quickly. U/EarthandEverything, where did you get that figure from? USNI says the magazines of the Nimitz-class can hold "1,954 tons of aviation ordnance." ![]()
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