The Navy Just Quietly Sent An F-35 Carrier To The Pacific — And It Signals A Major Change

The U.S. Navy broke with its tradition of hyping up F-35 deployments by sending of the USS Essex jump-jet carrier into the Western Pacific with a deck full of the revolutionary fighter jets — and it could signal a big change in how the U.S. deals with its toughest adversaries.

When the USS Wasp became the first small deck aircraft carrier to deploy with U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, the media was in on it. But the Essex’s departure marks a change, as the Navy broke its usual protocol and only announced the deployment after the ship departed, the USNI News notes.

The Navy regularly deploys capital ships like small and big deck carriers for patrols around the world, but has only twice ever deployed ones like these.

https://news.usni.org/2018/07/12/essex-amphibious-ready-group-quietly-deployed-tuesday-marine-f-35s

https://taskandpurpose.com/navy-f-35-carrier-pacific/


The whole idea is less force deployed, with greater terminal effect.

Politically or militarily.

I wouldn't want to be on the other side.

 

Another way of telling them how wonderful the Western way of life is, and 'You'd better believe it, because we in our 'wisdom' ( ) know what's best for y'all: whether you want democracy or not, we're here with all this hardware to make sure you get it.' Soft diplomacy writ large?

 

Its almost like invisible jets who would kill them in their sleep is an international language.

Lets see if they understand together.+

 

It was reported a couple of days ago (July 16, 2018 ) on the USNI Fleet Tracker. -> https://news.usni.org/category/fleet-tracker


Total U.S. Navy Battle Force:
284
Ships Underway
Deployed Ships Underway 30
Non-deployed Ships Underway 50
Total Ships Underway 80
https://news.usni.org/2018/07/16/usni-news-fleet-marine-tracker-july-16-2018

In the Eastern Pacific
The three-ship Essex ARG and the 13th MEU left San Diego, Calif., on July 10, 2018, with no public announcement regarding the start of their Western Pacific and Middle East deployment, USNI News reported last week.

USS Essex (LHD-2), amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD-23) and dock landing ship USS Rushmore(LSD-47) departed for a routine deployment with a squadron of Marine F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters from the “Wake Island Avengers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, the official confirmed to USNI News.

The deployment is the first for Marine Joint Strike Fighters from the U.S., following the deployment of Japan-based “Green Knights” of VMFA-121 on the forward-deployed amphibious warship USS Wasp (LHD-1) in March.

The Marine F-35Bs aboard Essex are set to bring a drastically expanded set of capabilities to the ARG/MEU beyond the more-than-30-year-old design of the AV-8B Harrier II that makes up the bulk of the Marines’ strike inventory.

 

Looks like a pretty large force. It will be interesting to see what kind of gunboat diplomacy response it gets.

AR what is your take on the Harrier?

 

I was never a big fan of the AV-8B Harrier . All of the Mar. 3rd Air Wing Harriers are based at MCAS Yuma and is why you rarely see them flying around SoCal.

But it was in 2001 when we went into Afghanistan was the first time fixed wing aircraft the AV-8B operated and conducted combat operations from the deck of an amphibious warship. either a LHD or LHA I forget. But it worked. They were concerned if the amphibious assault ship could conduct combat flight operations around the clock and operate an air command and control operations aboard the ship.

Today LHD's and LHA's can be classified as small aircaft carriers.

That what we are seeing today F-35'Bs operating from amphibious assault ships.
U.S. Navy F-35C's can't operate from an LHD or LHA, they have tail hooks and require catapult and arresting gears that LHD and LHA don't have.

When you look at the USNI Fleet Tracker map you'll see some "ESG"
What's an ESG ? There was no such thing as an ESG a couple of years ago.

ESG (Expeditionary Assault Group) is a Amphibious Assault Group (ASG) that has either AV-8 B Harriers or F-35B's operating from a LHD or LHA and also surface warships of cruisers and destroyers as part of the group.

It's a new concept, it's like a small Carrier Strike Group as a LHD or LHA operating as an aircraft carrier plus with a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of over 2,000 Marines ready to assault some beachhead. Plus navy cruisers and destroyers.

Earlier this year the Marine Corps readopted the designation of a rifle battalion that is at sea as a Battalion Landing Team (BLT) that dropped out of use in 1970 during the Vietnam War,

When I was TAD to 1/26 (1st Battalion / 26th Marines) and we were aboard a Navy LPH off shore we became BLT 1/26. That was during Operation Defiant Stand and Operation Bold Pursuit. The last two amphibious assaults conducted during the Vietnam War. Once the operation was over we went back to being just 1/26.

 

OK, I am going to address this out of order.

First of all, there is nothing unusual about this. And for the "twice ever deployed ones like these", that is really incorrect. We have been deploying VSTOL fighters aboard amphibious ships since the 1960's, this is simply the second time we have use the F-35B instead of the AV8 HARRIER. Exact same mission, simply a new aircraft and ship (the Wasp Class LHD-2 as opposed to say the Iwo Jima class LPH-2.

And no, these are not, nor have they ever been capital ships. These are amphibious warfare ships, designed to transport Marines and their equipment to foreign shores. They are not carriers, it is certainly not a "jump jet carrier". It is designed to carry a Regimental sized landing force, with enough aircraft (previously AV8B, now F-35B) to provide the task force with airborne defense capabilities, as well as to provide some close air support once the Marines hit the ground.

And the decks are hardly "full". LHD-2 is designed to operate normally with 6 aircraft, wither AV8B or F-35B, and still have it's Regiment sized complement of Marines aboard. While getting exact numbers and complement on ships like this is very hard to get, VMFA-211 is believed to have 12 F-35B aircraft.

And the Wasp class was designed to operate in a "Sea Control" mission with up to 20 aircraft.

So assuming they brought every one of their fighters, that is just over half the actual capability of the ship. Likely this is yet another exercise to test and experiment with other loadouts of men and equipment. Likely there are only 3 Battalions of Marines aboard, with the rest of the space taken up with the additional pilots and air crew needed. Somewhere between the typical Standard Complement, and the Sea Control Complement.

But no, other than being a "fairly new ship" and a new fighter, there really is nothing real special with this mission. We have been deploying Marines on amphibious assault ships with Marines in fighters since the first LPH-2 entered service in 1971 when they started to use the AV8A.