The short take-off, vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and current and emerging tiltrotor technology make a light aircraft carrier (CVL) a plausible idea to meet many of the Navy’s warfighting requirements. By modifying existing ship and aircraft designs already in production—the America-class amphibious assault ship, the V-22 Osprey, and the F-35B—the Navy could quickly field a class of CVLs and an air wing at an acceptable cost to meet the challenge of a rising global maritime adversary.
At more than 44,000 tons displacement, with a length of 844 feet and a beam of 106 feet, the America-class ships are not small.1 In dimensions and displacement, they are akin to the war-winning Essex-class aircraft carriers the Navy employed to fight across the Pacific in World War II.2
A key tenet of the argument in defense of big carriers is that anything less than 65,000 tons is not survivable. The combat record of the Essex class, however, proves just the opposite. In World War II, not a single Essex was lost, though several took punishing damage. The USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) absorbed kamikaze hits in quick succession while covering the Okinawa landings, experiencing widespread fires and 653 casualties.3 She steamed back to the United States for repairs under her own power. In March 1945, the USS Franklin (CV-13) became the most heavily damaged U.S. carrier to survive the war, after a Japanese air attack inflicted extensive damage.4 Off Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Essex-class carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34) experienced extensive fire damage through five decks when a flare inadvertently ignited and set off a chain reaction of explosions.5 Both ships not only survived, but also continued in service following repairs.
Another argument used against small carriers is that the embarked air component would be correspondingly small. This is true, but with precision-guided munitions and the types of missions envisioned, an air group of 30 or so STOVL fixed-wing and rotary-wing/tilt-rotor aircraft would be appropriate and sufficient for mission execution. The America LHA class was designed to support an air component of more than 30 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Further, the USS Nassau (LHA-4, a ship of the earlier class of LHAs) performed the role of “Harrier carrier” during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, embarking upward of 20 AV-8B Harriers to provide close-air support for Marines ashore. The USS Bataan (LHD-5) served in this capacity as well during the opening stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2013.
The LHA of today is not your grandfather’s amphib. The command-and-control, communication, computer, and combat systems and intelligence capabilities are extensive and second only to those of a Nimitz- or Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. They include two- and three-dimensional air-search radars, an extensive satellite communication suite, and intelligence facilities. The sensor and communication assets in the big-deck amphibs are further proof that sufficient capability can be built into a carrier of 40,000–45,000 tons.
Equipping a CVL derived from the America class would be an air component built around the F-35B. With its advanced capabilities in sensing, stealth, and weapon delivery, this aircraft challenges the notion that STOVL aircraft are a step down in capability from their conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft relatives.
Rounding out the air component would be tiltrotor and rotary-wing aircraft. An aerial refueling tanker capability for the MV-22 Osprey is already under development by the Marine Corps. An airborne early warning variant of the MV-22 would provide airspace awareness and control, while an MV-22 variant configured for antisubmarine and surface warfare would serve as the CVL’s workhorse for the sea-control mission. These variants are well within the realm of feasibility and affordability. In addition, other promising tiltrotor designs, such as the Bell V-280 Valor, are being tested as part of the competition for the medium-lift helicopter replacement program and might be potential platforms for any or all of these missions.
Completing the air group would be detachments of MH-60R and S helicopters for use in the inner zone antisubmarine/surface warfare missions, as well as search and rescue and combat search and rescue. As unmanned aerial systems mature, they could be incorporated to enhance or replace existing manned systems as appropriate.
An Enabler for EABO
The CVL and its STOVL air component would provide additional capability and punch to the Marine Corps’ expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO) concept. The air group could be shore based on the expeditionary airstrips and austere locations envisioned in EABO. It could shuttle between its light aircraft carrier home base and these expeditionary sites or use these sites to extend the striking range of the CVL while keeping it outside enemy threat arcs. A key advantage of an air group comprised exclusively of STOVL and rotary-wing aircraft is the tactical flexibility in basing it permits. The air group would be able to be based not only on smaller aircraft carriers and big-deck amphibious ships, but also across a number of even smaller ships, including nontraditional ones such as modified container ships, in a further expression of distributed lethality and tactical agility.
Complement Not Replacement
In a major combat/high-intensity conflict, carriers such as the Nimitz class will be fully engaged in strike missions and seeing to their own fleet defense. However, the supporting missions of sea control still will need to be accomplished and will require significant air support. Enter the light aircraft carrier. Sanitization of choke points to allow the passage of shipping and protection of convoys are two examples of missions for the CVL. Much like light aircraft carriers of the Independence class supplemented the Essex-class aircraft carriers in World War II, CVLs could be employed to provide antisubmarine and surface warfare and assist in air defense of the carrier strike group, acting as a force multiplier to maximize the offensive punch of the CTOL carriers.
In lower intensity conflicts and small-scale interventions, the light aircraft carrier and its air group would be sufficient to accomplish the mission, as demonstrated by the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)/26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in Operation Odyssey Dawn in 2011 and the Wasp ARG/22nd MEU in Operation Odyssey Lightning more recently.
Opponents of a light aircraft carrier will correctly note that smaller carriers lack the sortie generation rate of the CTOL carriers, and STOVL aircraft cannot match CTOL aircraft in range, ordnance loadout, and ordnance bring-back capability. However, for the missions envisioned and with employment of precision-guided munitions, the CVL and its STOVL air group do not need to match the CTOL carrier and its air wing in these performance metrics. In addition, the F-35B comes quite close to CTOL high-end tactical aircraft in performance.
The Way Forward
Beginning with the USS Bougainville (LHA-8), ships of the America class have a redesigned flight deck and island superstructure to maximize topside aircraft stowage and handling. The first two ships of the class—the USS America (LHA-6) and Tripoli (LHA-7)—possess an expanded hangar deck in lieu of a floodable well deck to maximize aircraft stowage and maintenance space but possess a more limited flight deck. The well deck was reintroduced beginning with LHA-8. By combining the flight deck and island design of LHA-8 with the original no-well-deck hull, the United States could quickly field an affordable light aircraft carrier with adequate hangar and flight deck space to operate a viable number of aircraft.
Regarding the CVL air component, the F-35B is already fielded. The MH-60R and S models are mature systems. The aerial refueling tanker package for the MV-22 has been tested by the Marine Corps. Presumably, this capability also could be installed in the Navy’s CMV-22B Ospreys.
What remains is to bring existing technology that has been studied and tested into production and install it—specifically, sensors for the airborne early warning mission and weapons and sensors for the sea-control mission. As an added fiscal benefit, an international market already exists for the marriage of tilt-rotor platforms and the mission equipment mentioned. Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, and India currently operate some form of light aircraft carrier. South Korea will be fielding one soon. By garnering overseas customers, the costs of fielding “upgunned” tiltrotor aircraft would be driven down.
A capable light aircraft carrier equipped with STOVL aircraft is a viable choice for the Navy. Senior leaders, both uniformed and civilian, should seize the opportunity and engage industry in bringing existing technology together to field this capability with the fleet.
1. Jane’s Fighting Ships (London: IHS Global Ltd., 2016).
2. Paul H. Silverstone, U.S. Warships of World War 2 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989), 42.
3. Naval History and Heritage Command, “Bunker Hill I (CV-17) 1943–1966,” Dictionary of American Fighting Ships.
4. Naval History and Heritage Command, “Franklin III (CV-13) 1944–1964,” Dictionary of American Fighting Ships.
5. Wynn F. Foster, Fire on the Hangar Deck—The Ordeal of the Oriskany (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001), 69.
