USS Harry S. Truman launched strikes against ISIL from the Mediterranean Sea. Also a response to Russia growing influence in the region.
On Jun. 3, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Truman launched air strikes against ISIL position from the Mediterranean sea, marking the first time a carrier conducted combat operations from the 6th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) since 2003.
The Truman CSG (Carrier Strike Group) tour of duty, that has also included operations in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, in the Persian Gulf within the 5th Fleet AOR, has been recently extended by 1 month to fill the gap until the replacement carrier (USS Eisenhower) arrives. The extended tour of duty enables Truman to support US-led coalition’s air campaign against Daesh from the Med.
Until yesterday and for the last 13 years, the air strikes against targets in Iraq or Syria have always been launched by aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf or Indian Ocean with the Med used only as a transit “corridor” to Suez.
The raids from the Mediterranean Sea have opened a new direction of attack against the terrorist target in what many analysts consider an answer to Russia’s military presence in the region. In November 2015, two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bombers departed from a base in northwest Russia for a 13,000km journey around Europe, and launched cruise missiles against ground targets in Syria from over the Mediterranean Sea (while being escorted, approaching Syria, by at least three Su-30SM Flankers launched Latakia): a true air power demonstration.
The video below shows VFA-103 F/A-18F Super Hornets and VFA-25 F/A-18E Hornets launch (with 2x JDAM – Joint Direct Attack Munitions under the right wing and an ATFLIR pod and a laser-guided GBU under the left one) to carry out the first U.S. Navy air strikes from the Mediterranean Sea. The tactical warplanes were supported by VAW-117 E-2C Hawkeye.
This impressive video was shot years ago from the cockpit on an A-6 Intruder about to land on USS Carl Vinson in the Indian Ocean.
A night carrier trap landing is always a challenging task, even more so if a generator failure occurs during the approach.
Here’s how the author explains what is shown in the footage:
“The dimly lit ship is barely a speck in the night at about three miles (time 1:22). Warning tones are (1) radar altimeter (set to 1200′ and 375′) and (2) a rapid warning tone from the radar altimeter due to a generator failure. LSO [Landing Signal Officer] calls for “Wing lights,” which were lost due to the electrical malfunction (unknown to LSO). Expeditious emergency procedures for an electrical failure to regain lost electrical buses were completed while performing demanding tasks involved in landing a jet aboard the pitching deck of an aircraft carrier at night.”
H/T to our reader “brightlight” for the heads-up
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Stunning footage from U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet strike-fighter aviation community.
This year’s West Coast Hornet Ball video is simply amazing.
Produced by LT Joseph “C-Rock” Stephens, an Instructor WSO with the VFA-122 Flying Eagles, Hornet Ball 2015 features clips from most of the squadrons based at NAS Lemoore as well as the 4 forward deployed squadrons in Japan: VFA-102, VFA-27, VFA-115, and VFA-195.
This cool video filmed with GoPro cameras, shows launches and recoveries aboard the 38,000-ton, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.
The footage not only lets you observe blue water operations of French Navy aircraft from the privileged eye of flight deck operators, but also brings you inside the cockpit of a Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard (also shown firing an AS-30 missile) as well as aboard a Dassault Rafale M for a high-speed, ultra low-level flight.
As the footage shows, the French aircraft carrier uses the same kind of catapult of the American flattops, although the Super Étendards are launched with a wire attached to the bottom of the fuselage instead of a cat shuttle attached to the nose gear (which actually is the same way the F-4 Phantoms were launched from an aircraft carrier). That’s why, in the past French Rafale combat aircraft have operated from USS Trumanand F/A-18E Super Hornet and C-2A COD (Carrier On Board Delivery) planes have operated from Charles De Gaulle demonstrating interoperability between allied navies.
On Sep. 25, the venerable T-2 took its final flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, ending a 56-year career.
Developed to be used from early flight training right on to carrier indoctrination, the first single engine North American T2J-1 (later designated T-2A) was delivered to the Navy in July 1959.
After 217 T-2As were produced, it was decided that a twin engine version of this trainer would have been more appropriate for the purpose and 97 T-2Bs equipped with two Pratt and Whitney J60 engines were delivered beginning in 1965. The final major version of the Buckeye, the T-2C powered by two General Electric J85s was introduced in 1968 and, overall 231 examples were produced since then. The Buckeye was also sold to Venezuela (that acquired 12 T-2Ds) and to Greece (which bought 40 T-2Es).
The T-2 served the Navy as a two-seat intermediate carrier-capable jet trainer from 1959 until 2008, when it was replaced by the T-45 Goshawk. Three T-2s were retained by Air Test & Evaluation Squadron 20 as chase aircraft for aircraft and weapons testing and they will now be replaced by C-38 Courier business jets.
In the following video you can see a T-2 performing an OFC (Out of Control Flight) training sortie, aimed to provide the student with the fundamental knowledge necessary to recognize, analyse and recover from the loss of aerodynamic control of the aircraft.
