For much of the past decade, even as it has struggled to formalize its "expeditionary" concept of operations, the Air Force has struggled to obtain (and maintain) rights to base aircraft in foreign lands during periods of combat. During Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, it negotiated for months to gain access to bases among the nations of central Asia. During preparations for Operation Iraqi Freedom, political imperatives restricted Air Force use of bases in Saudi Arabia and Turkey that the United States spent years and a significant portion of its overseas budget building and equipping. Is there any way to ensure access to airfields and staging bases that will allow the Air Force to fly and operate without restriction? The Navy may have an answer.
One of the key concepts behind Admiral Vern dark's "Sea Power 21" is Sea Basing, "the ability to operate anywhere in the world without a permission slip, by utilizing the inherent sovereignty of naval platforms at sea." There are clear advantages to this strategic construct, which allows all parts of the Navy and Marine Corps team to maneuver to objectives without reliance on foreign assistance—and there is no reason these advantages could not be extended to our joint partners. The Army has seen the benefits of operating from a mobile sea base, with the staging of special forces units on board the carrier Kitty Hawk (CV-63) during Operation Enduring Freedom. Some Air Force units have been exposed to the inherent flexibility of sea basing, since venerable EA-6Bs assumed a monopoly on the electronic attack mission and began incorporating Air Force officers into their crews and commands. Otherwise, the Air Force is materially precluded from the carrier environment because of the inability of its aircraft to handle the stresses of carrier landings and takeoffs. This could change, however.
The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are in the final stages of developing the Joint Strike Fighter. Each service will purchase its own variant to suit its mission needs. The Marine Corps desires an aircraft capable of short take-off and vertical landing. The Navy requires a sturdy aircraft that can operate from carriers. The Air Force seeks a bird much like the Navy's, yet stripped of the heavy landing gear and tailhook assembly, to carry a large weapon load deep into enemy territory. Why doesn't the Air Force buy the carrier variant, and train its crews to operate from the sea?
The additional weight of the Navy landing gear and tailhook assembly would decrease either the aircraft's overall range or its weapon load, but a sea-based aircraft would almost always be launched at a closer proximity to its target than land-based aircraft—and would have guaranteed access to its base. To be sure, we have only a limited number of carriers, and their flight decks already are occupied by Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, but we have had more carriers in the past. Some are in ready reserve right now, and more carriers are being built.
How could we afford to build and operate such a force? We only need look at the funds allocated over the past 12 years to the building and maintenance of overseas bases to find the answer. We have spent billions in Europe and central and southwest Asia—and our hosts have restricted our access and operations. How many carriers, with 50-year service lives, could we build with the $30 billion in grants andloan guarantees promisedto Turkey?
As the shifting alliances and decreasing stability of the future call into question our access to bases in foreign lands, the Air Force should consider the sea base as the center of joint operations. The Air Force would be well advised, while it has the time, to purchase an aircraft that can operate from both land- and sea-based environments. If it will not, then perhaps our political leaders will see the wisdom of buying fewer Air Force Joint Strike Fighters, more of the Navy's variant, and perhaps throw in a few carriers as well. It will be cheaper and less politically embarrassing than continually seeking "coalitions of the billing."
Lieutenant Commander Hendrix is assigned to the Navy staff in Washington, DC.