Jane's Navy International
June 2000

Naval Aviation Shows Force As Carrier Boom Continues

The shapes may not change in United States Navy aviation - but keep an eye on mission, tactics and doctrine, writes Bill Sweetman

Ten or even 15 years from now, the US Navy (USN) carrier fleet will not look very different. The carriers will be recognisable as Nimitz-class ships, with the exception of one or two modified ships with a different island design. Most of the aircraft on their decks will be F/A-18s, with a basic design dating to the late 1960s. The airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) and carrier on-board delivery (COD) designs will be approaching their 50th year in service.

Where the fleet will have changed is in its mission, tactics and doctrine. What was once a carrier's secondary role - its ability to 'show force' and to intervene in a crisis on land without involving any neighbouring state - is now its primary mission. Training and doctrine are increasingly aimed at the littoral zone - defined as the area on either side of the coastline where the carrier and its aircraft can operate effectively. Tactics are changing to reflect the importance of sensors and weapons as well as that of the aircraft which carry them.

In the past two years, the USN has apparently resolved the biggest question over the future of US sea-based airpower: for the foreseeable future, USN aviation will continue to be founded on 100,000-tonne nuclear-powered carriers derived from the Nimitz-class design.

The commissioning of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and the retirement of the oil-fired Independence (CV-62) in 1998 brought the USN closer to standardising its carrier fleet on a single basic design - the Nimitz class, built exclusively at Newport News Shipbuilding since the USS Nimitz was launched in 1972. The next ship in the class, the USS Reagan (CVN-76), is being completed at Newport News and will be commissioned next year. The USN will then have nine Nimitz-class ships, the unique Enterprise and two oil- burning carriers: the USS John F. Kennedy (now the USN's training carrier) and Kitty Hawk.

Before May 1998, the navy was looking seriously at a range of entirely new and often smaller carrier designs, with gas turbine, diesel or nuclear power. However, this was resisted and ultimately rejected because of its high development cost and the advantages of a large carrier. Studies showed that, as a carrier is made smaller, its capacity for aircraft and weapons declines more quickly than its cost. The carrier's ability to operate aircraft in high seas is also directly related to its size. Rather than making carriers smaller, the USN is working on making them more useful, with a more flexible aircraft complement for special operations, amphibious warfare or open-water operations.

Studies at Newport News did not show any overwhelming advantages for different propulsion systems as long as the carrier remained close to its present size. Slow-speed diesels and gas-turbine/electric drives were studied. However, while they may be US$1-$2 billion less costly than nuclear power over the ship's life, they are by no means free from basic challenges. A Nimitz-sized turbine-electric ship would need eight General Electric LM6000 engine and generator sets, distributed around an upper deck to reduce the volume of the uptakes. A diesel ship would need four massive 70,000shp engines, extending from the keel to the bottom of the hangar deck.

Instead, the USN is embarking on a three-ship transitional programme which will lead to a new class of carriers - but a new class which is recognisably descended from the Nimitz. The two main goals are to reduce the carrier's large and distinctive radar signature and to reduce its operating costs.

The USN is not attempting to produce a stealth carrier, but to reduce the carrier's radar cross-section (RCS) to the same order as other ships in the fleet, making it less easy to identify on radar and giving its electronic warfare systems a smaller real target to mask. This will mainly require changes at or above deck level. One of the main RCS contributors on today's carriers is the island, which starts 30m above the water and has the same RCS as an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. The plethora of equipment around the deck perimeter is another major RCS contributor.

Redesigned island

Costs are largely associated with manpower. With 6,000 people on each supercarrier, some 40% of the life-cycle cost is directly related to personnel - paying them and providing them with food and medical care. Refitting and upgrading carriers is also labour- intensive.

The next carrier will be CVN-77. A construction contract should be issued for this ship at the end of this year, and it will become operational in 2008, replacing Kitty Hawk. CVN-77 is basically a Nimitz-class ship with two changes, one of them physical and the other programmatic. The physical change is a redesigned island, which incorporates an integrated sensor and communication system. Electronically steered multi-function arrays replace the hundreds of rotating and wire antennas on today's ships, and are built into the angled sides of a smaller, reduced-RCS island. The programmatic change is that the entire combat system - radar, electronic warfare, communications and battle management - will be integrated by a single contractor. Newport News chose Lockheed Martin to fill this role.

The new combat system will have an open-architecture design, making it easier to upgrade and replace components as computer and sensor technology improves. One technology investigated at Newport News is called 'blown fibre'; plastic tubes are installed permanently in the ship, and fibre-optic lines are threaded through the tubes by air pressure. If a line breaks or a higher-capacity link is needed, the old line is simply blown out and replaced. The main fiber-optic links would connect 16 communications nodes throughout the ship, using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software. Better information systems will help reduce manning requirements on CVN-77 by 5-10%.

The next carrier after CVN-77 is designated CVNX-1. Construction should start in 2006, and in 2013 it will replace USS Enterprise - the first nuclear carrier to be retired. CVNX-1 will introduce one major design change: a new nuclear propulsion plant, based on improvements in submarine propulsion technology, combined with a new electrical power system.

On the Virginia-class submarine, the General Electric S9G nuclear reactor provides more energy, includes components that better resist corrosion, and has a redesigned core that is expected to last for the lifetime of the ship. For the carrier, reducing or eliminating the need for periodic refuelling will significantly reduce lifetime operating costs. The S9G propulsion system includes a redesigned, less costly and more efficient steam generator.

With more nuclear power, the carrier will have more energy available for electrically powered secondary systems. CVNX-1 will have a new electrical generating and distribution system, based on a redundant grid design. It will use power more efficiently, require less maintenance and will be more resistant to accidental failure and combat damage than today's system.

By proving the new propulsion and power system, CVNX-1 paves the way for some of the major changes on CVNX-2. Construction of this carrier should start in 2011 and it will replace the last non- nuclear carrier, John F. Kennedy, in 2018. The USN plans to build 10 more ships on the same lines, replacing the Nimitz-class by 2060.

CVNX-2 will be the first carrier to feature an electromagnetic aircraft launching system (EMALS) and electromagnetic aircraft recovery system (EARS). Two teams, led by Northrop Grumman and General Atomics, were awarded contracts in December to demonstrate EMALS. Under US$60 million-plus, 48-month program definition and risk reduction contracts, the two teams will design and build reduced-length, full-scale EMALS catapults and test them on land, starting in 2003.

EMALS is expected to reduce manpower and maintenance requirements and extend the life of USN airframes, and should reduce wind-over- deck requirements. It will be compatible with the needs of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Greater onboard power will also allow the new ship to incorporate directed energy weapons, including lasers and high-power microwave (HPM) weapons, to protect itself and other ships.

CVNX-2 will have a redesigned flight deck. The landing runway will be extended and re-aligned so that it is almost parallel to the ship centreline. The deck edges will be reshaped and covered to reduce RCS. The elevators may also be rearranged: the No 1 (forward, starboard) elevator could be removed and replaced by an enlarged No 2 elevator, or a centreline elevator could be introduced. Deck operations could be eased by the use of a small deck structure known as a 'pit stop', combining a weapons elevator with fuel supplies.

Reduced manpower

CVNX-2 will incorporate a number of approaches to reduced manpower requirements. The basic housekeeping of the ship will be more automated. Robotic systems will be used to move weapons within the ship and load them on to the aircraft. Newport News has looked to the cruise-ship industry for ways to support people. Cruise liners carry 3,000 people, feed them in less than two hours, and can load food for a 10-day cruise in a one-day turnround, using pallets and mechanical handling systems.

Overall, the USN plans to reduce the CVNX-2 ship's total operating costs by 20-40% compared with the new USS Reagan. Most of the reduction will be associated with a 30-50% savings in manpower.

By locking in place its long-term plans for ships, the USN has provided a stable platform for its aircraft program - something which the service has sorely needed, after the collapse of its tactical aircraft modernization plans in 1989-91.

The USN's most important aircraft is the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. In March 2000, USN test squadron VX-9 reported that the Super Hornet had passed its six-month operational evaluation (Opeval), which had been completed in November 1999. VX-9 flew 1,233h in 850 missions, performing dozens of carrier operations and participating in a Red Flag exercise.

The test team confirmed that the fighter was "operationally effective and operationally suitable," clearing the way for the Pentagon to authorise full-rate production. A multi-year contract is expected to be signed in the summer, covering the first five full- rate production batches (Lots 24-28 of Hornet production). Boeing will build 36 aircraft under Fiscal Year 2000 (FY00) funding, 42 for FY01 and 48 per year thereafter. By March 2000, 69 Super Hornets had been built or were on firm order, including the seven EMD aircraft. Deliveries of the first low-rate initial production (LRIP-1) batch, numbering 12 aircraft, were completed in 1999, and Boeing is now delivering the 20-strong LRIP-2 batch.

Eagles want to fly

The first training squadron, VFA-122, has been established at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. This month, the first operational F/A-18E/F pilots will start training, and will graduate in early 2001. USN plans call for the first Super Hornet unit to be VFA-115 (Eagles), which is currently flying F/A-18Cs on the West Coast, based at LeMoore, and will re-equip with F/A-18Es. VFA-115 is expected to take the Super Hornet on its first cruise aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2002.

Most Super Hornets will replace Northrop Grumman F-14s. Although the F-14 has been successfully adapted to the strike role, with laser- guided bombs and the advanced LANTIRN targeting pod, the fleet is aging. Production in the 1980s was slow.

Today's carrier air wing comprises two F-14 squadrons and three F/A- 18 squadrons, having gained an F/A-18 squadron as the A-6 was retired. The future air wing will have two F/A-18C squadrons, one F/A-18E squadron and one squadron of two-seat F/A-18Fs.

The Super Hornet is a controversial aircraft. Its performance reflects compromises made at the start of the design process. By far the most important goal was to increase the bring-back load, allowing the aircraft to return to the carrier without jettisoning costly precision weapons. The F/A-18C/D's bring-back load is very limited - particularly at night, when the USN requires a much larger landing fuel reserve. Up-and-away performance and range were subordinated to this aim.

The Super Hornet does provide the required increase in bring-back performance, and its low-speed handling is apparently excellent. Payload and range numbers are improved over the C/D, but by a lesser margin than the USN predicted. In a standard interdiction configuration - with three tanks, four 450kg bombs, sensor pods and AIM-9s - on a hi-lo-lo-hi profile, the F/A-18E is expected to have a 434nm mission radius, compared with 376nm for the F/A-18C - a 15% difference, rather than the 40-50% improvements forecast early in the programme.

Air-combat performance has been a more controversial area. The Super Hornet's performance in the high transonic and low supersonic regime is inferior to that of the C/D. Early in the design process, it was recognised that the wing would have to be made thicker to handle an extra weapon pylon. The wing was redesigned, and the leading-edge extension was enlarged to remedy a predicted loss of turn performance. Both changes caused more drag in the transonic regime. In a typical air-to-air configuration, the Super Hornet's absolute maximum speed is Mach 1.6, and it is a transonic aircraft in most air-combat situations.

However, the USN has changed its acquisition plans for the Super Hornet in ways that reflect changes to the fighter's mission. These changes place less stress on aircraft performance, and emphasise its flexibility as a weapon platform.

Under the Quadrennial Defense Review in 1997, the USN reduced its Super Hornet requirement from 1,000 to 548 aircraft, but sharply increased the number of two-seaters - 288 of the planned 548 aircraft will be F/A-18Fs. Rather than being trainers attached to single-seat units, they will be two-seat combat aircraft with a weapon system operator (WSO) in the rear cockpit. The two-seaters will be concentrated in later production lots.

Since 1997, the USN's Super Hornet upgrade programme has evolved to a point where the aircraft will be produced in two distinct blocks. The first 140 aircraft, comprising the low-rate initial production batches and the first two full-rate lots, feature an improved version of the F/A-18C/D avionics suite, including the mechanically scanned Raytheon APG-73 radar. The remaining 400-plus aircraft will be more capable.

Early changes, starting with Lot 23 (the third low-rate initial production batch), include a new digital map system, the Tactical Aircraft Moving Map Capability (TAMMAC). Intended to equip most new USN combat aircraft, TAMMAC comprises a Smiths Advanced Memory Unit (AMU), using PCMCIA memory cartridges, and a Harris Digital Map Computer (DMC).

Major changes

Super Hornets will carry the Raytheon's Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) targeting pod. Boeing awarded Raytheon a US$21 million contract to develop ATFLIR and produce eight development systems in June 1998, and the first test flight took place at China Lake, California, in December 1999. It is due to enter service in early 2002.

ATFLIR uses a mid-wave (3-5 micron) focal plane array. Its effective range is three to five times greater than that of the Nite Hawk, and it can be used to provide precision target location data for GPS- guided weapons. The ATFLIR pod also accommodates a forward-looking navigation FLIR, produced by BAE Systems.

Apart from the first two low-rate production batches, all Super Hornets will have provision for the new Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), being developed by Vision Systems International (VSI). JHMCS is intended to set new standards in reliability, accuracy and safety. Its principal role is the allow the pilot to exploit the full 90 off-boresight capability of the Raytheon AIM-9X Advanced Sidewinder air-to-air missile (AAM).

Full-rate-production Super Hornets, starting with Lot 24 deliveries in 2002, should feature the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system. Developed by Lockheed Sanders, IDECM comprises the ALQ-214 radio-frequency countermeasures (RFCM) subsystem, with receiver and onboard jamming hardware produced by ITT, and the ALE-55 Fibre-Optic Towed Decoy (FOTD).

The next step in the development of the Super Hornet is the Advanced Mission Computers and Displays (AMCD) upgrade. This introduces a completely new mission avionics architecture, based on COTS processors. The new computers and displays should be introduced in Lot 25 (with deliveries in 2003) and can be retrofitted to earlier F/A-18E/Fs.

Major changes start in 2004 with the delivery of Lot 26 aircraft, which should be the first Super Hornets to have a new Enhanced Forward Fuselage (EFF). The EFF costs less to build than today's structure, but most important feature is that it accommodates a new radar and, on the two-seater, a redesigned aft cockpit.

The radar is the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) system. Boeing selected Raytheon to develop the AESA in late 1999. It is due to be installed on new Block 27 Super Hornets, with deliveries in 2005-06, and can be retrofitted to Block 26 aircraft. Navy and Boeing managers regard the AESA as the most important single upgrade for the Super Hornet.

The AESA provides more range and more accurate target location in both air-to-air and air-to-ground modes, and can operate concurrently against air and ground targets. It offers higher resolution, improving its ability to identify targets. The fixed antenna reduces the fighter's head-on RCS, and the AESA is expected to offer an order-of-magnitude reduction in maintenance costs.

Bigger advance

AESA should provide real-time SAR information, which the APG-73 cannot supply. This is particularly valuable when combined with GPS/inertial guided weapons such as the Raytheon AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) and the Boeing GBU-31/32 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).

AESA-equipped F/A-18Fs will be mission-capable two-seaters, not trainers, with a new rear cockpit called the Advanced Crew Station (ACS). The ACS rear cockpit will be dominated by a 20[YN]25cm full- colour display, with almost three times the area of the current centre display, which can fully exploit the high-resolution imagery from the sensors while presenting a detailed, comprehensible map of the tactical situation.

From the carrier battle group commander's viewpoint, the Super Hornet is a much bigger advance than the performance numbers suggest. First, it is a multi-role aircraft that takes over the missions now performed by the F-14. If there is no air threat to the carrier group - which is more than likely to be the case - the battle group commander has two more strike squadrons available.

With two more stores stations and the ability to carry asymmetrical loads better than the C/D, the E/F will be more flexible than the C/D. The Super Hornet can carry two HARMs, two JDAMs and three tanks; the same load would require two C/Ds. Operationally, the commander will also see greater range, because the new fighter brings a combat tanker back to the fleet. A tanker-configured Super Hornet takes off with 30,000 lb of fuel, and can give two-thirds of that to inbound strike aircraft.

The USN is likely to buy more Super Hornets than it plans to do today. The Command & Control Warfare (C[2]W) variant of the F/A- 18E/F, informally known as the F/A-18G Growler, is a candidate to replace the EA-6B Prowler escort jammer. Along with a number of other platforms, it is being studied in the Pentagon's Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) for the jamming and defense-suppression missions. The currently favoured C[2]W configuration has wingtip-mounted wide- band receiver antennas and a modified version of the EA-6B's ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System. The AESA would be particularly useful in the C[2]W role, because the active antenna can be used as a very sensitive passive receiver or as a powerful jammer.

Eventually, the USN will weigh the acquisition of more Super Hornets against its plans to buy 300 carrier-based (CV) versions of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Boeing and Lockheed Martin are preparing their competing JSF flight demonstrators for flight testing, which should start this summer, and the Pentagon plans to select a winning design in March 2001.

The USN JSF is intended as a stealthy, long-range 'first day of the war' strike aircraft. The USN's minimum unrefuelled operational radius of action is 1,020km, with two 900kg bombs and two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles carried internally; both teams have attempted to exceed that range figure, approaching the USN's 'desired' range of 1,300km. The USN is also asking for a 4,080kg bring-back load, allowing it to land with full internal weapons with night-time fuel reserves.

Although the USN is a minor player in the JSF programme, with only 10% of the aircraft in the baseline production plan, its requirements have heavily influenced both designs. Lockheed Martin's navy JSF design has a much larger wing than the US Air Force and Marine versions. Boeing changed its entire design, adding a horizontal tail, to meet the USN's bring-back requirement. USN range requirements have driven the fighter's internal fuel capacity.

How JSF will fit into the carrier group is still undetermined. The USN JSF buy will be enough to replace one of two F/A-18C/D squadrons on each carrier, but not both. JSF will return the USN to the days of having three different fighters on the deck - something that the service has tried consistently to avoid. Neither has the USN been willing to put up with operating fighters in single squadrons - a logistical burden.

From the operational viewpoint, the JSF's longer range will be hard to exploit, because support aircraft - Super Hornets used for defence suppression and jamming - will not be able to match it without additional tanker support.

Hard-pressed

Consequently, it is probably fair to say that the USN has to decide whether it is serious about JSF. The service will have to double its JSF order, to complete two squadrons per carrier, or pull out of the programme. The latter option is not inconceivable. The USN insists that the Super Hornet, with its limited stealth features, is survivable and will remain so without major changes, because of its ability to defend itself, its crew's situational awareness, and its use of the Boeing AGM-84H SLAM-ER missile to engage the most heavily defended targets.

For the most difficult deep-strike targets, too, the USN appears to be increasingly focused on the potential of the new Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile. Under development by Raytheon, Tactical Tomahawk is designed to be pre-programmed with up to 15 targets, and can be retargeted in flight. It is intended to loiter over the battle area for more than two hours, using its electro-optical camera and datalink to observe damage from previous strikes. If the commander sees that a target has been disabled, the missile can be commanded to hit another target. Consequently, fewer missiles are needed to ensure that all the targets in a group are hit and damaged.

Raytheon is due to complete engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the basic Tactical Tomahawk in 2001, and production should start in 2002. The initial contract includes firm pricing for 1,343 weapons in the first five years of production.

If the USN did back away from JSF, it would ease pressures on the service's budget, which is already hard-pressed to cover the Super Hornet and will be stretched further if the F/A-18G goes ahead.

Budget restrictions have proven particularly hard on the USN's carrier-based support aircraft. Plans for a Common Support Aircraft (CSA) to replace the E-2C Hawkeye AEW&C aircraft, the C-2 Greyhound transport, S-3B Viking anti-submarine warfare aircraft and the ES-3A Shadow carrier-based signals intelligence aircraft have been abandoned. The ES-3As were retired in 1999 after being converted at a unit cost of US$65 million in the early 1990s.

The S-3B Viking is changing from its traditional role as an ASW platform to a precision surveillance aircraft for littoral warfare. Early last year, the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) modified an S-3B as the prototype for the Surveillance System Upgrade (SSU). The SSU Viking has an improved APS-137B(V)5 radar, with higher-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes; a new open-architecture mission computer; and Link 16 and Tactical Common Data Link systems.

The SSU's primary role will be as a targeting system for weapons such as JDAM and JSOW, using its SAR as well as electro-optical and passive electronic sensors. However, the aircraft can also carry AGM-65 Maverick and AGM-84 Harpoon missiles, and could eventually be cleared to use SLAM. Currently, it is the only SAR platform in the carrier group, and will retain that distinction until the AESA- equipped Super Hornet arrives in 2006. Tentative plans call for the remaining S-3Bs to be retired in 2008.

The E-2C Hawkeye appears set to continue in service until at least 2015. In March 1999, the USN awarded Northrop Grumman a five-year contract for 21 E-2C Hawkeye 2000 aircraft. The most important improvement in the Hawkeye 2000 is the incorporation of the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC). This combines a new mission computer with a high-speed datalink, allowing the Hawkeye to pass its complete radar picture to ships and other users. In particular, CEC allows the Hawkeye to cue the Aegis radar system, dramatically extending the lethal range of the Standard missile against airborne low-altitude, low-RCS targets. Meanwhile, under the Radar Modernization Program (RMP), the E-2C radar is being modernized to improve its ability to detect and track small targets, particularly overland.

Off-board assets

Given that the E-2C is to remain in the carrier fleet, it will not be difficult for the USN to support the closely related C-2 Greyhound. Northrop Grumman is conducting a full-scale fatigue test programme to determine whether the C-2's structural life can be extended from 10,000h to 15,000h. The company is also developing a service-life extension programme (SLEP) which would keep the C-2 flying until 2015.

Another carrier-based transport aircraft is the Sikorsky CH-60S, which made its first flight in January. A hybrid of the Army UH-60 Black Hawk and the USN's SH-60 Seahawk, the CH-60 was initially selected to perform the vertical replenishment (Vertrep) mission currently performed by the Boeing CH-46, and will be operational in that mission by 2002. However, the CH-60S is also due to replace the MH-53 mine-countermeasures helicopter in 2005 - tests of the CH-60's ability to tow MCM devices took place immediately after the first flight - and will also take on combat search and rescue and special operations missions in 2006. The USN plans to acquire 237 CH-60s.

The acquisition of the CH-60S is part of a USN plan to standardise on the H-60 for almost all of its helicopter missions. The other main element of this plan is the remanufacturing of three older H-60 versions - the SH-60B and SH-60F ASW helicopters and the HH-60H rescue aircraft - into a common multi-mission configuration, the SH- 60R. This aircraft carries a new dipping sonar, an improved radar and self-defense systems. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the SH-60R, and the remanufacturing programme is due to continue until FY12.

Increasingly, the carrier force of the future will rely on off-board assets, including P-3s and unmanned air vehicles. In the Balkans last year, P-3s were used for the first time to launch SLAMs at land targets, and the aircraft are being upgraded to improve their radar and optical sensor suites and their datalinks. The USN's Special Mission P-3s - now operating under the codename 'Iron Clad' - were heavily in demand during the Kosovo operation, using high-resolution optical sensors to observe ground targets.

In the UAV world, the USN selected Northrop Grumman earlier this year to develop its Vertical Tactical UAV (VTUAV) contest. The company won a US$93.7 million contract for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of its Model 379. The contract includes options for three low-rate initial production (LRIP) systems. VTUAV is potentially a billion-dollar programme, according to Northrop Grumman. The system will replace the US Marine Corps' remaining Pioneer fixed-wing UAVs, and will also be used to provide over-the-horizon surveillance and weapons targeting for the USN's DDG-51 guided missile destroyers.

Northrop Grumman's VTUAV team includes Schweizer Aircraft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Federal Systems, L-3 Communications and Sierra Nevada Corporation. The team also includes Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (ES3), which is teamed with TAMAM-Israel Aircraft Industries and is responsible for the sensor payload.

The USN has also launched a new program to develop a multi-role endurance (MRE) UAV, issuing contracts to four companies to define the programme. MRE is a shipboard UAV designed not only for reconnaissance, but also for SEAD and weapons delivery - representing the Navy's move into the world of uninhabited combat air vehicle (UCAV) systems. Study results are to be submitted in February.

With its carrier-building plan on a firm foundation, however, the US Navy's aviation budgets will continue to be dominated by sea-based manned aircraft. For better or worse, the service appears to have avoided major changes, and - barring major upsets - the supercarrier will be with us throughout this century.