Aircraft Air Carrier Operations Form

I worked the flight deck at night on the USS Ranger during Desert Storm. The Ranger got all the night attacks, as we had no F-18s and more A6s than other carriers, so were considered better at night ops. That first night of Jan. 17th 1991, we prepared to launch our first Alpha strike. I saw aircraft in the hangar already armed, with cute words of wisdom scrawled on the bombs. “This Buds for you”, shit like that. And there were suddenly way too many people on the flight deck! Marines guarding each plane, and unnecessary gawkers. This was my very first Westpac, seems some people had to wait a career to get to see this.As an AT, I was sent up to program radio frequencies. I get to my first Tomcat, and there’s an armed Marine guarding it. He tells me nobody is allowed on the jet. Well I went to A-school with Marines, and wasn’t overly intimidated by them, so I just say, “Fine with me! I’ll just go tell the Maintenance Masterchief a Marine won’t let me work on the plane…” The Marine thinks a few seconds, and lets me pass. :-DJust about every aircraft was up within 30 minutes, using all four cats. Helos take-off first, then E2 Hawkeyes, then A6s and S3s (used mostly for refueling), then F-14 Tomcats.The first night we launched everything, then went below to watch the start of the air war on CNN like everybody else! We watched that flak, and thought we’d lose several aircraft, have crashes on deck (not the controlled kind), and be fixing battle damage. We were pretty euphoric when every plane got back without a scratch!Shortly after, we seemed to fall into a more normal rhythm. A sortie of A-6s would take off loaded with Rockeye cluster bombs (CBU-100 Cluster Bomb - Wikipedia) and skippers (AGM-123 Skipper II - Wikipedia), with S-3 tankers, always a E2 in the air, and followed by 2–4 F-14s, 2 flying combat air patrols, 2 flying attack escort, and at least one F-14 on “Ready Five”. Attack missions were staggered so another wave took off, just before the previous wave returned. We’d launch several attack waves per night. Our F-14s might fly 8 hours of combat air patrol, a long time confined to a hard seat.About 3 days into the bombing, we had a general quarters. We were previously warned there would be no further drills in combat. I was way up on the bow supporting a turning F-14 that was getting ready to launch, when I see everyone running towards the island. I didn’t hear anything right next to my Tomcat. I thought shit, probably a flight deck fire, but I didn’t see any glow of flames… :-/I waited a bit, thinking my duty was to continue supporting my aircraft if it had an electronics failure. Then I walked around the jet, and took a few tentative steps toward the island away from my jet, so I might see/hear what’s going on. Well I hear “Abandon the flight deck! Abandon the flight deck!” blasted from the island speakers, and since I’m apparently the only idiot left on the flight deck (other than the two aircrew in my bird, who had radio) I gotta assume that order was issued just for me!So I jump into the catwalk next to Cat 1 (starboard side, well forward), and fly through a latched 6-dog door in about 15 seconds, and run into my shop, where one of my shop mates throws my gas mask at me! No real fear at this point, all adrenaline and shock. The captain comes on the 1MC and says “An Iraqi Mirage F-1 is within 80 miles, likely armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles. Brace for shock!” USS Stark incident - WikipediaHmmm… that can’t be good. I remember than an Exocet missile is what nearly cut the USS Stark in half in the 80s. But I’m thinking a carrier is really big, even if it hits, it’s not likely to hit me. (cause I’m still young, dumb, and invincible) So I start casually checking my tool bag, to make sure I still have everything, and don’t FOD the runway. Then we all just stare at each other for about 10 minutes, but remain calm, nobody says anything.About 12 minutes later, the captain comes back on the 1MC, and says it was a mistake, and stand down from general quarters. I think that’s the last of it.A few hours later, I’m debriefing the aircrew from the previous CAP, finding out if anything is broke on the jet we need to fix, and I overhear the aircrew talking among themselves. Seems the Iraqi F-1 was really one of our F-18s returning by himself without functioning IFF. Seems the poor guys ECM threat warning lit up, as he found himself suddenly tracked by multiple fire control radars, and he was screaming “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” over his radio! Likely had to thoroughly launder his flight suit after that. I did hear stories later of a few people freaking out during GQ, glad I didn’t.Sometime after this, we figured out Iraq really didn’t have the capability to strike us back, and our air war was seeming like a real cake walk, barring any serious flight deck fire. Then about 6 days into the air war, one of our A6s didn’t come back, two aircrew lost… Nobody really knew what happened, if they got hit by flak, or hit something or flew into the ground as they were flying low level at night at the time. Those were our only two casualties of Desert Storm.We quickly obliterated the Iraqi Navy (saw some awesome uncensored bomb camera footage), decimated Iraqi tanks, and set the record for all time monthly flight hours for an F-14 squadron (VF-2) in February. Our birds were in top condition, Tomcats don’t break if you fly the shit out of them, and really CAPs are probably pretty gentle flying compared to the way pilots probably normally abuse their jets.I later heard our pilots just irate bitching how they were 50 miles from two Iraqi jets, itching to get kills, when Saudi F-15s were vectored 200 miles to make the kills. Politics, everyone has to do their part! :-( Our sister squadron VF-1 later shot down an Iraqi helicopter, it was more than we got.Added later, I even found it! Isn’t the internet amazing! Attack on Ras Tanura - WikipediaWe also had one flight deck crewman get sucked into an A6 intake at full military power on the CAT, and survive! And we had one F-14 waiting to launch get spun around sliding on the hydraulic fluid covered steel deck missing half it’s non skid, by the jet blast of the Tomcat ahead of it at full power on the cat, until a wheel went over the side. Stories I’ve told elsewhere. :-DThe last day of the air war, the captain comes on the 1MC to say, “A cease fire was declared to start at 8:00 am local time. We intend to bomb the shit out them until then!” This kicked off pretty much another alpha strike, as every bird tried to get in on the last remaining action. I learned later our birds heavily contributed to the Iraqi “Highway of Death” bombing / massacre. Not sure how I feel about completely wasting a retreating enemy today. Highway of Death - WikipediaThanks for the upvotes. :-)

Two things:An aircraft carrier is part of a large Fleet of ships and does not operate by itself,An aircraft carrier prefers to be moving when launching and recovering airplanesTerritorial limits: Territorial waters - WikipediaBy international decree/law, the waters within 12 nautical miles of a country’s coast line are part of the country. And a country has an economic zone that stretches 200 nautical miles from the country’s coast.An aircraft carrier fleet will want to typically operate in International waters that are more than 200 miles from another nation’s coast, and the aircraft carrier fleet wants to operate a Safe distance from it’s enemy’s defenses: land based aircraft and coastal patrol boats with anti-ship missiles.Theoretically, an aircraft carrier fleet could operate (literally) 12 miles from the coast of a country. In practice it will stay at least 200 nautical miles away if possible.

It costs approximately 1.5 million dollars to run a Nimitz class carrier for one day. The 6.5–7 million cost the the other guy put would be the cost to run the entire strike group for one day. Since you only asked about the carrier that’s what I provided.

Marine aviators, like all non-0311 Marines, exist only to support the Marines on the ground. Marine Hornet pilots will fly primarily CAS and strike missions in support of Marine landings and movements. They will only fly CAP and intercept missions in a secondary role as necessary.

Apparently quite hard, as only 2 empires have done so to date, the USA and USSR (no longer around). A further 4 empires have done the whole job on a smaller scale (< 45,000 tons), with another 10 doing a partial job, by buying carriers and / or aircraft from other nations.So the list:Commissioned, and operated a 45,000+ ton carrier entirely designed, built and equipped by the nation:USAUSSRCommissioned and operated, a carrier < 45,000 tons entirely built and equipped by the nation:UKFranceJapanItalyBuilt, but equipped with foreign Aircraft or systems:SpainBought and fitted out / refitted, using their own indigenous aircraft and systems:ChinaRussiaNetherlandsBought and fitted out / Refitted, using foreign aircraft or systems:IndiaBrazilAustraliaCanadaCarriers and planes purchased from another nation.ArgentinaThailandNote: UK and China both have two 60,000+ ton carriers under sea trials / construction, and India has plans to build one in the next decade.Essentially to build and operate a 45,000 tons carrier, apart from the many Billion dollars to design, construct and operate the ship, and the required support fleet / battle group, you require large established indigenous: ship building, aerospace, armaments, avionics, electronics, steel, ceramics, chemical, ... sectors in your nation / empire, along with many decades of naval tradition and experience. So given those criteria there's really only one entity around with the full skill set at present, the U.S. of A., with another 5 lacking in an area or two: UK, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia.See also: How much does it cost to build and to maintain one aircraft carrier?

As stated in many of the answers, already, probably longer than you would think. The carrier has a multi-layered defense starting with global sensors (satellites) and intelligence information so they can be where there are (hopefully) no submarines - or at least know where submarines are so they can avoid those areas. This should be able to give you a 100–200 mile bubble you can operate in.Then, you first have American SSNs as the far sentries listening for approaching submarines. A diesel sub does not have the range to approach a carrier group in the open ocean without having to use the diesel - and thus give itself away. A nuc boat is noisy enough that it can be tracked. And if already in a war situation, these will be a prosecute to kill, not just drive off/annoy. You don’t want the enemy sub getting close enough to get “eyes on the carrier” (exact coordinates) to be able to target a missile at the carrier. So, considering the horizon, keeping the sub 15 miles away will be enough. A sub can fire a torpedo with passive sonar (which can “see” farther than the eye/radar can, but it takes a while to determine where to fire the torpedo to make sure you are targeted on the carrier. If we are looking for a submarine, he may not have the time for that. If the sub does fire a torpedo, unless it is really close the ships can maneuver to avoid or get beyond the range of the torpedo. And of course there are noisemakers and such to spoof the torpedo, also. And once the torpedo is fired the submarine gives away its position and will be prosecuted.After the SSNs, you have the Battle Group escorts (DDGs) plus the ASW air platforms (both fixed wing and rotary wing ) from the escort ships and the carrier to locate the subs out there. And, again, if we are in a war situation, these contacts will be prosecute to kill.Now, if the sub fires a missile at the carrier, unless he has exact targeting information (which it may have via satellite links), the weapon will be in an ‘acquire” mode where it will try to figure out which “target” is the carrier. The missile can be spoofed to either go for another (less valuable) target, or even be convinced the carrier/battle group is someplace else (even a mile off is enough difference to protect the carrier/battle group).Now, if the missile is not spoofed and continues heading for a target, you have the anti-missile systems of the battle group and carrier - everything from computer guided and heat seeking missiles to CIWS (gatling guns) to shoot the missile(s) down. And, of course, once the missile is launched the sub gives away its position…Not to say the defenses couldn’t be overwhelmed with multiple submarines in the area firing multiple missiles and torpedoes, but very few countries could devote 5 or 6 submarines to every US carrier battle group. The Soviet Union could, at one point, but the Russian submarine fleet only has about 50 (a little over 1/2 nuc) SSK/SSN/SSGN submarines to use to go against our battle groups. And I’m sure they would be used elsewhere, also, limiting how many could actually be used to take on carrier battle groups. The US has about 50 SSNs, and 2–3 of these are part of each deployed carrier battle groups as the far sentries. But, of course, for both fleets, you never have 100% of your assets “on the firing line”. The general rule is you have 1/3 of your fleet on station, 1/3 in transit and the other 1/3 in upkeep/overhaul. This may change somewhat if you are initiating the conflict, but more of your submarines deploying than normal would be a dead giveaway that something is going on and we would be more attentive.About the only sub that may have a chance to get inside the escorts to be able to make a direct attack on a carrier are the Swedish AIP submarines (Gotland class) that can operate for long distances (underwater endurance is listed as “weeks”) with little to no noise. But, there are only 3 of those, I believe. Don’t know all the technical specs, but it is a good thing the Swedes are our allies!

If you were to wade into a war zone clad only in your underwear with an M-16 in your hands and nothing else, what are your chances of returning to the camp later in the day?A “Carrier Group” is designed to act as a unit, with each element complementing the other’s strengths, and elements mutually compensating for each others’ weaknesses. After all, an aircraft carrier is only as good as its air group’s muscle.And by elements I do not mean just capital ships. They are the thousands of developments in science and technology available to the fleet.These elements are constantly being upgraded to cater to newer threats.Let’s take a REAL carrier group, and let’s take 1983: a safe enough year to reveal secrets.The vulnerability of aircraft carriers to attack has long been a concern to designers and strategists.It’s ironic that a ship capable of such awesome firepower seems such easy prey.During World War I, the British Royal Navy (who first appreciated the implications of Ely’s feat) built "semi-carriers" to launch and recover reconnaissance aircraft, but kept these new warships well-hidden behind the fleet's battle line.Prior to World War II, the U.S. and Japanese navies realized that carriers equipped with dive bombers were too important to be tucked carefully away from the action, and both marked out tactics that pushed the carriers into the forefront.The carriers Lexington and Yorktown could outsteam anything in the U.S. battle line.For the first time in naval history, the battleship was surpassed—both literally and figuratively—as an offensive weapon at sea.But aircraft carriers foaming fast and furiously toward the forefront appeared woefully vulnerable targets with their big flat decks and magazines socked full of fuel and explosives.They couldn't hide from radar, and to keep carriers with armored decks seaworthy, their armor had been spread unevenly—too thin along the flanks and too thick along the top.Threats loomed everywhere from bombs, torpedoes, mines, shellfire and, now, missiles. (I’d like to add those famed hypersonic glide missiles here: they are no secret now.)Today, the proliferation of small, fast, smart—and relatively inexpensive—missiles have made carrier defense more urgent, and more expensive, than ever.On May 4, 1982, a single Exocet missile sunk the British Royal Navy's destroyer, HMS Sheffield.The age of precision-guided cruise missiles that can home in and hit targets without human control has arrived with a bang.Such weapons can be launched from air, land or sea over great distances.If a weapon is armed with a nuclear warhead, how can any ship, once located, escape its Waterloo?Well, no ship (or land base) can survive a nuclear hit.On the other hand, aircraft carriers are seasoned veterans, having survived almost 75 years of technological innovation targeted at them.At various times in the aircraft carrier's history, new weapons have emerged—super battleships, dive bombers, PT boats, submarines and sea serpents—promising to deep-six the big ships.Even cruise missiles are really nothing new—the Japanese called them kamikazes.The development of guided missiles after World War II might help explain the Navy's scramble to launch from carriers jet aircraft capable of intercepting long-range bombers loaded with missiles, day or night, at high altitudes, in any weather.And it wasn't easy.Jet aircraft demanded many innovations, including steam catapults, canted decks and mirrored landing aids.Scouting patrols (called Combat Air Patrols today) were beefed up with jet fighters that could blow away enemy bombers.Even today such CAP squadrons provide a carrier with its main umbrella of defense.1983:The Carl Vinson's CAP team is formed by two squadrons of F-14A Tomcats and four E-2C Hawkeyes.The Hawkeyes give long-range warning of possible aggressors and direct the F-14s to their targets.Rear Admiral Richard Dunleavy, then director of the U.S. Carrier Program, felt confident that this CAP team could successfully defend a carrier from a 200- to 300-mile radius.Should any missiles or aircraft rip through the F-14s, the Carl Vinson would rely on its destroyer escort for help, and its two “close-in” antiaircraft weapons installed on board the carrier: NATO’s Sea Sparrow missiles and the Phalanx, a high-tech version of the Gatling gun.In the meantime, the carrier would be using electronic countermeasures and chaff to wash out the enemy's radar or homing equipment.Although no ship could withstand a direct nuclear hit, supercarriers like the Carl Vinson can be better hardened to withstand a nuclear near miss, and can better absorb damage inflicted by conventional weapons—Exocets, for example—than a smaller ship.During an attack, a carrier wouldn’t lie as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean."Most critics forget," said Dunleavy, "that the carrier is constantly moving. It's not just sitting there waiting to get hit."A Nimitz-class carrier could try to steam out of the way at an unflagging 30 knots.Still, 30 knots doesn't sound like much evasive speed in the face of a volley of nuclear-armed cruise missiles roaring toward their target at Mach 3.Can the carrier fleet withstand a saturation of nuclear warheads launched from land, sea and air?Who knows?If a nuclear war erupted, a whole lot more would be at stake than the defensive capability of a dozen U.S. carriers.While a carrier must try to win such a showdown, its primary mission in an everyday world of hot spots has priority over its role in a nuclear holocaust.As a strategic nuclear weapon, an aircraft carrier offers few advantages over Trident submarines, MX missiles or even B-52s lugging around armloads of cruise missiles.The aircraft carrier is a weapon of first resort, not last, a weapon that allows presidents to buy time, to hedge their bets but still hold a strong hand.Contrast that with the British Royal Navy’s experience during the Falklands war.Without the funds to manage a supercarrier equipped with fast fighters and surveillance aircraft, the Royal Navy depended on V/STOL carriers (or "Harrier Carriers") from which to launch its aerial attack and defense.While its loss of five ships pointed sorely to the need for aerial surveillance aircraft that could have been provided by a Hawkeye launched from a supercarrier, the British made do with its missile systems.Argentine jets that should have easily manhandled the Harriers couldn’t beat the British defenses that had combined the Harriers with surface-to-air missiles.High-altitude missiles forced the attacking Argentine Mirages and Skyhawks into low-altitude combat in which the Harriers proved their prowess.About 60 percent of these Argentine jets were downed.The British Navy's missile strategy turned the Harrier into the top dogfighter of the war.So, coming back to your original question, how about taking a walk in Herat clad only in your swimming trunks, all alone?

Oh i am sure that our foes would love to do that BUT there is a major difference:1-Most civilian airports do not have the tools(for now) to deal with these “new threat”, for once you can not just fire at the thing until you blow it out of the sky because firing in a “public” place like that could cause more harm than the drone itself, you can try to jam the drone BUT again you are surrounded with planes/car/building with technology in them, and a mistake could make you jam the wrong signals and cause who knows what accidents, you would have to try and locate the owner and arrest him/her, try to snipe it out of the sky carefully, use your own drones to knock it down, use trained birds of prey (there are some countries using them), use very narrow beam jammers that wont affect a very large area or something like it2-A carrier (or any military base or similar) has every tool in the book to deal with drones/planes/terrorists etcetera , first a military place usually is a “closed” place, nothing is allowed to be there unless authorized, no planes, no cars , no people, so anything that is NOT authorized is a probable THREAT, and you have radars/sensors AND people scouting for THREATS LIKE these 24/7 so it will be detected … then you have a lot of ways to deal with it, you have AA defense that can take out a drone from long /medium/short range as needed, you have more freedom to jam the thing or even take command of the thing as needed, you have your technology SET for this, not in a regular airport.Of course with these new Threats Airports will need to be updated tp have passive and active tools for the job.

I went to check out the question log, thinking it might have been posted years ago when the Liaoning was just commissioned. But as it turns out this question was very recently posted:The single aircraft carrier that the Chinese Navy now operates is an old Russian-made ship. It doesn’t yet operate an air group, after about 18 months. What’s taking the Chinese so long to actually base aircraft on this carrier?Uh… but the Liaoning does have an air group? Why would you think there isn’t any aircraft on the carrier? Also why the “18 months” claim, as the vessel has been in service for much longer than that?中国人民解放军海军舰载航空兵部队, or “Carrier-Based Air Force Unit of PLAN”, is what the carrier-affiliated wing of the PLAN Air Force (PLANAF) is officially called. It is a division-level unit with a carrier-based fighter force the size of a regular air regiment (20+ airframes), plus all the other equipment like helicopters, etc.The mainstay fighter operated by the unit, the J-15 (developed based on the Soviet T-10K-3 prototype from Ukraine and can be viewed as a cousin of the Su-33), has been constantly flown from the Liaoning, most recently during the fog-filled PLAN Day parade less than a month ago.There has been somewhat credible claims that China has been very stingy about the production of more J-15s, thus perhaps rendering its second aircraft carrier short of aircraft when it is set to be commissionsed soon, but that would be a completely different issue. Some people speculate it’s because they are working on incrementally improved versions of carrier-based fighters so the base version is only set to come in small numbers.All the other (four) existing answers are purely anecdonatal and without real understanding of the actual status of the Chinese Navy. It’s sad to see even US veterans giving casual, short and WRONG answers without checking the premise of the question first.

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