Amphibiosity Is Up in the Air

The U.S. Navy has neglected a key competency that was crucial to its success in the last major maritime conflict. In the face of possible future conflict in the western Pacific, the service would do well to reflect on capabilities that contributed to that competency: logistic sustainment. It is crucial, requiring development of a flexible and agile resupply network. An essential component of that network could be amphibious aircraft, tried-and-true workhorse connectors, to support distributed maritime operations.

The Navy has been operating amphibians since July 1911, when Naval Aviator No. 1, Lieutenant Theodore Ellyson, flew a Curtiss A-1 Triad from North Island in San Diego, California. Long before aircraft carriers ruled the sea, amphibious aircraft already had earned their place in history.

In the decades that followed, amphibious aircraft matured, showing their true worth during World War II. Planes such as the PBY-5 Catalina played a variety of roles supporting and enabling fleet operations in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. They performed long-range reconnaissance to detect enemy fleets. They were armed with bombs and depth charges to protect convoy routes from submarines, and they mined enemy ports to disrupt shipping and port operations. They also conducted search-and-rescue operations and provided logistical sustainment. Fleets of PBY aircraft—more than 3,000 Catalinas in all—and their sea-tender ships were the vital connectors that allowed the fleet to sustain its force, protect supply lines, and maintain battlespace awareness.¹

Two well-known examples from World War II illustrate the value of amphibious aircraft. The first came only six months after U.S. entry into the war. On 3 June 1942, Ensign Jack Reid was flying a PBY-5A from VP-44 out of Midway Atoll. His long-range reconnaissance mission was to find and fix the Imperial Japanese fleet. While conducting his 700-mile patrol, he spotted enemy ships on the horizon. He provided an initial sighting report and was ordered to obtain additional information. After maneuvering, he identified at least two aircraft carriers and a large Japanese invasion force.² Over the following days, this critical sighting initiated the massive fleet actions in the Battle of Midway, resulting in a key U.S. victory.

The second example occurred near the war’s close. In July 1945, the cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) was transiting from Guam to Leyte. The ship had just completed a classified mission to deliver components of the atomic bombs that were later used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki when she was spotted by a Japanese submarine. On the night of 30 July, she was torpedoed and sank rapidly. Of the crew of 1,199 sailors on board, an estimated 900 escaped into the water.³ After four days, a bomber on a routine antisubmarine patrol accidentally discovered the survivors. Lieutenant Commander Adrian Marks and his crew flew their PBY-5A to assess and report on the situation. After locating sailors in the water, his aircraft dropped survival supplies, life jackets, and rafts. They continued to observe the men in the water and witnessed shark attacks while orbiting overhead. Marks was ordered not to set his aircraft down, but he disobeyed those orders. On landing, he and his crew immediately began rescue operations. When the aircraft was full, sailors were lashed to the wings. In all, Marks’ crew saved 56 sailors, almost 18 percent of the 316 Indianapolis sailors rescued. Despite disobeying orders and seriously damaging his aircraft, Marks earned the Air Medal for his actions, awarded personally by Admiral Chester Nimitz only 12 days before the surrender of Japan.⁴ 

The United States has since lost interest in flying boats and amphibious aircraft. Beginning in the 1960s, defense budget priorities changed. Development of ballistic-missile submarines and ever more powerful aircraft carriers became the focus. The U.S. Navy flew its last amphibious aircraft mission in 1967, and the Coast Guard followed suit 16 years later, with its last recorded flight in 1983.⁵

Living in the Past Means Living Today

Limited range and an inability to land on water lessen the utility of rotary-wing aircraft for distributed maritime operations. A similar problem exists for fixed-wing aircraft, which mainly rely on large-deck ships and fixed airports and runways. When it comes to long-range sustainment, the most capable aircraft (Air Force C-17s and Navy and Marine Corps C-130Js) operate with political and practical restrictions on where they can land and refuel. The Sea Services’ freedom of movement and operational norms have become predictable, generally occurring at or from fixed sites well known to the enemy and easily targetable. 

Numerous Proceedings authors have pointed out that amphibians are not shackled by such restrictions. For example, Marine Captain Walker D. Mills and Navy Lieutenant Commander Dylan Phillips-Levine argue:

Amphibians could continue to operate forward from austere and dynamic base locations even after a crippling attack on fixed infrastructure. Their ability to persist forward and their proven value in maritime roles make amphibious aircraft a promising complement to other U.S. platforms in the western Pacific and a perfect fit for new and emerging operational concepts such as distributed maritime operations and expeditionary advanced base operations.⁶

It is easy to make the case for flying boats as connectors and enablers for expeditionary operations. They could be equipped with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities and armed with torpedoes to support antisubmarine warfare. They could perform search and rescue or transport casualties that might be days away from other available resources. Logistically, they could deliver spare parts or technical representatives to ships underway, perhaps restoring key capabilities without the need for a return to port. They also might support special warfare or expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO) in places otherwise inaccessible. As a result, operations could be more dynamic and less predictable. 

Meanwhile, a look across the Pacific shows U.S. allies and partners investing in amphibians. Japanese ShinMaywa amphibious aircraft have been in service for decades in a variety of roles, including search and rescue. In January 1992, U.S. Air Force Captain John Dolan’s F-16 experienced an in-flight collision with a KC-135 Stratotanker, and he was forced to eject over open ocean 630 miles east of Tokyo. Five hours later, a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) ShinMaywa US-1A flying boat located him in the water. Despite heavy seas, the crew decided to risk the water landing and recovered the downed pilot.⁷ 

Today, the JMSDF operates the ShinMaywa US-2, a refined and improved aircraft. It has a range of 4,700 km (2,500 nautical miles [nm]) and can take off and land in seas as high as three meters.⁸ JMSDF US-2s have recorded more than 1,000 rescues at sea.⁹ 

In Australia, Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI) has secured the U.S. FAA type certificate for the legendary HU-16 and G-111 Grumman Albatross family, which would allow it to manufacture versions of the aircraft without going through a lengthy and extraordinarily expensive full certification process. Albatrosses saw service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and continued to fly for the military until their retirement in 1983. The new aircraft—dubbed Albatross 2.0—is expected to feature a glass cockpit and turboprop engines. AAI has been remanufacturing an original Albatross as a test aircraft and reported in 2022 that it intended to begin flying the testbed by December 2023 (although as of this writing it does not appear to have yet reached that milestone.)¹⁰ A similar effort is underway with a U.S. company that has obtained the type certificate for the Catalina flying boat.¹¹

Great Power ‘Amphib-etition’

However, not only U.S. allies and partners are investing in amphibious aircraft. Great power competitors Russia and China are, too. 

China and Russia are believers in the value of amphibious aircraft. In May 2022, China conducted the first flight of the upgraded AG-600 amphibious plane in Guangdong Province.¹² Now the world’s largest amphibious aircraft in operation, the AG-600 was initially developed for firefighting operations. It offers tremendous versatility to support military and foreign humanitarian assistance, however. The aircraft boasts a cruising speed of 500 km per hour and a maximum range of 4,500 km (2,400 nm). It is capable of landing in rough seas up to two meters (six feet).¹³

Russia also is investing heavily. In 2020, the Russian Defense Ministry revealed plans to create several new air units that would include amphibious aircraft, awarding a contract for Be-200 airframes planned for delivery that same year.¹⁴ The Be-200 has been employed extensively dating back to 2004, when it conducted joint firefighting operations in Italy, and has consistently aided many countries with firefighting and disaster recovery. And, in the past year, the Russian Navy reportedly placed Soviet-era Beriev Be-12 amphibians back in service to patrol the Black Sea for Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicles.¹⁵ 

U.S. competitors are developing and procuring amphibious aircraft, and they are busily employing them to provide humanitarian assistance, including firefighting, to strengthen their diplomatic and military relationships.¹⁶

As rapidly as possible, the United States should begin developing contingency contracts for commercial seaplanes and flying boats. For the armed forces to be ready to “fight tonight,” these aircraft could be crucial. Having access to additional logistical connectors for distributed maritime operations would only strengthen the versatility, flexibility, and resiliency of the military’s sustainment network. Until U.S. aircraft are available, the Navy and Marine Corps could purchase the service commercially, similar to how the Marine Corps has leased or purchased offshore support vessels for a variety of experiments and purposes. 

The joint force also should man, train, and equip an amphibious aviation element. It could start by modernizing some legacy designs and working with industry to establish new production lines for tried-and-true platforms. Finally, it should innovate with what already exists. Imagine a variant of one of the types as an airborne tanker, prepositioning fuel for long-range strikes instead of escorting them. Or perhaps amphibious warships could carry an aircraft design with folding wings in their well-decks for logistics or transportation of casualties. 

For more than a century, amphibious aircraft have demonstrated their worth. Excellent, capable designs exist. If the Sea Service can free themselves of the range and landing restrictions of conventional aircraft, the possibilities are limited only to the innovation of engineers, the creativity of planners, and the daring of pilots and warfighters. Only one question remains: What are we waiting for?