Page 40 - NAVAL SCIENCE 3 TEXTBOOK

NAVAL OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT FUNCTION S 45

necessary to get in close and engage enemy aircraft with guns in the tronics the weapons systems of all ships involved with air defense.
classic dogfight. Many modern tactical aircraft require a crew of The most modern system of this type in the fleet today is called
two----one to fly the airplane, and the other to operate the complex Aegis, which was described in Naval Science 1. Aegis cruisers and
fire-control and weapons systems of today's sophisticated aircraft. destroyers are able to effectively combat the most serious threat to
surface ships, the low-altitude antiship missile. This virtually auto-
matic system is regarded as the best defensive and offensive system
for task groups ever developed.

Surface Warfare
Surface warfare at sea has been conducted ever since two ene-
mies went to sea in boats and later in ships. Lil<e carrier-based
stril<e forces, surface attack forces are' primarily intended to estab-
lish command of vital sea areas so that friendly forces may operate
there and enemy forces cannot.
Until the advent of naval aviation and submarine warfare in
the early part of the last century, virtually all naval warfare was
An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the " Fighting Redcocks" of
Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-22 lands on the flight deck aboard the conducted between opposing surface forces. Combat was some-
aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). (Gary Prill) times between individual ships, lil<e many of the famous actions
in the American Revolution. Many major naval battles were fought
SLllface-to-air warfare, called simply air wa/fare CAW) in the between opposing battle fleets, such as the Greeks and Persians at
fleet, includes all measures designed to counter attack by hostile the Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C., the defeat of the Spanish Armada
aircraft or guided missiles. Active AW uses aircraft, antiaircraft by Britain in 1588, and the Battle of Jutland fought in World War I
guns, missiles, and electronic countermeasures. Electronic coun- between the English and the Germans.
termeasures are used to jam radars, confuse guidance systems, and In World War II numerous surface actions were fought to
present false targets. Passive AW uses such tactics as cover, conceal- establish control of vital shore areas, straits and other navigational
ment, and dispersion. chokepoints, and sea routes over which war supplies traveled. In
An AW ship formation is designed to provide defense in depth the Korean and Vietnam Wars, surface actions involved mainly
to the carrier or other high-value ships in the battle group. AW support of forces ashore and transportation of war materiel, and
operations occur in three phases as attacking aircraft approach the denial of these capabilities to enemy forces.
formation. The first phase involves searching for, finding, evaluat- Subsequently, surface forces were used to convoy U.S. and allied
ing, and reporting the enemy attack force. This is followed by ini- oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf dur-
tial AW defense measures. Taken while attacking aircraft are still ing the Iran-Iraq War, to enforce trade sanctions and launch cruise
distant from the force, these may include electronic deception, air- missiles against Iraq during Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi
craft intercepts, and long-range surface-to-air guided missile fire. Freedom, and to launch cruise missiles against enemy forces in
The third phase begins when the enemy aircraft or the missiles Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. More recently,
they launch have come within antiaircraft gun range of the main they have been used to protect shipping against piracy in the waters
body of ships. This involves close-range defense by rapid-fire guns off the Horn of Africa.
of both large and small caliber, short-range missiles, and evasive Long-range surface-to-surface missiles such as the Tomahawk
maneuvering. add greatly to the capabilities of surface forces today. These mis-
Defense in depth against an air attack demands careful coor- siles allow naval surface forces and attack submarines to stril<e land
dination between widely dispersed ships in the formation. The targets from positions far offshore, formerly a capability reserved
attackers can climb to very high altitudes or they can come in just for carrier air forces and ballistic missile submarines.
over the waves. No matter what their altitude, their speed is likely to Surface ships used in surface warfare today include guided
be supersonic. And they can fire missiles that can home in on target missile cruisers, frigates, destroyers, and a wide variety of patrol,
ships from miles away, which means that defenders must be able to littoral combat, and mine warfare craft. They have many capa-
react and compute defensive fire-control solutions instantaneously. bilities and missions, ranging from peacekeeping in the troubled
An AW coordinator is in charge of a team that directs air areas of the world to drug traffic interdiction in the waters of the
defense for the entire formation. Using computerized tactical data Caribbean and the Straits of Florida.
links, the coordinator guides with direct communications and e1ec-