How Does an Aircraft Carrier Support the Tactical and Operational Objectives of the United States - Essay Example

The US aircraft carrier and its evolution and employment are the most advanced of its type on planet earth.  The United States force projection afloat is the primary means of conducting a number of operations along the civil-military spectrum to include everything from peace operations to the evacuation of non-combatants to full-scale military offensive operations.  Since the end of WWII, the US Navy has dominated the blue water and littoral capabilities of naval operations around the globe.

The US Navy far outstrips the sheer numbers and size of operational carriers around the globe.  It currently rotates eleven carriers with one being decommissioned in 2014-15 and one under construction and two more planned.  The carriers have a global presence and a steaming speed depending on weather conditions that can move the carrier close to one thousand miles in just over a day.  The nuclear power plants provide an astonishing loiter capability in theater but it is still severely dependent on a long and robust logistical tail to remain fully operational.  Jets and helicopters are hungry for fuel and a veritable replenishment and protective flotilla accompanies the carriers in their traditional battle group formations.

The carrier forces provide a huge menu of force projection options for the President and the capability of the United States to exert influence and power around the world.  The US Department of Defense (DoD) conducts the full spectrum of operations along the force spectrum with layers of institutionalized echelons of warfare familiar to most practitioners in the Western world: tactical, operational, and strategic.

The tactical level is the point of the spear as it were.  The operational level is the intermediate level, the interim which takes the strategic vision and provides the means to translate the strategic vision into reality through the actual use of forces for the desired outcome.  In this case, the carrier battle group also allows National Command Authority to implement what some call strategic compression which is the use of tactical forces for strategic outcomes.  For instance, a show of force scenario off the coast of a country threatening the national security of the United States could defuse the situation before any shots are fired and avoid hostilities altogether.  There is a subtle parsing between grand strategy and strategy in the upper echelons of security policy that would employ longer-range planning coupled with political and diplomatic elements to inform strategy and on down to the tactical level.

The tactical level is the carrier and its battle group formation itself.  Whether the support of Marine forces ashore or the evacuation of civilians or the historical fights between ships where only the pilots of attacking aircraft saw the other ship, the tactical means is the business end of the fight. They can deploy 60+ aircraft off their decks subject to sea conditions and have a force protection envelope that is virtually unlimited for the aircraft capable of refueling in the air. This does not account for the naval gunfire and over the horizon capabilities for the surface warfare ships and submarines which accompany the carrier on her missions. This normally comprised of the following:

• one CV/CVN
• One Carrier Air Wing
• 50 Strike/Fighter A/C (Peacetime Norm)
• four E-2C AEW
• four E-A6B SEAD/EW
• eight S-3B
• two Es-3A
• six H-60
• Six Surface Combatants comprising at least:
• three Aegis CG/DDG
• four VLS-Tomahawk ships
•  ten Lamps
• Two SSN (1 VLS)
• One Multi-purpose AOE (Pike, 2)

The operational level is at the Fleet headquarters level.  The US Navy has divided the world into a number of unified combatant commands that provide the operational echelon to execute the strategic plan formulated by the National Command Authority and the civil secretaries of the various branches of the armed forces.  The Navy may be the most mature and useful strategic asset the President has to execute the full spectrum of military operations.  Steeped in a tradition of Admiralty Law and a keen appreciation of the impact on foreign relations of force projection, the Navy provides the focus and the framework for making American foreign policy much more visible around the globe. The armadas of Halsey and Nimitz during WWII in the Pacific provide a splendid example of the operational employment of naval forces.

The strategic level is wholly owned and operated by the National Command Authority and the civil secretaries in DoD.  Since policy formulation and the long-term political end-state of the regional or global area of interest at stake informs the strategic (and grand strategic) formulations, the role of the militaries is traditional advice and consent.