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NATO aircraft have been busy over the past two days intercepting Russian aircraft flying close to NATO airspace.
On 28 April Polish fighters were scrambled under NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission from Estonia to identify two Russian Tu-160 long range bombers, escorted by several fighters and supported by an Airborne Early Warning aircraft. The formation was later intercepted again by fighters of the Royal Danish Air Force.
On the same day a Russian Airborne Early Warning aircraft as well as two Russian Tu-22 long range bombers with fighter escorts approached NATO airspace off the coast of Norway and were intercepted by Norwegian fighter jets.
On 29 April Norwegian fighters were scrambled twice more against two Russian Maritime Patrol aircraft, approaching NATO airspace close to Norway. After the first intercept by Norwegian F-16 aircraft, the Royal Air Force launched their Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth to meet and escort the Russian planes as they tracked south towards the North Sea. They operated around the North Sea and turned north where Norwegian F-35 fighters met them and escorted them out of NATO’s area of interest.
All intercepts were conducted in a professional manner, demonstrating that NATO fighters across the Alliance remain ready and poised to protect Allied skies 24/7.
In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructureís (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
Australian Department of Defence, April 26, 2020.
*** Local Caption *** In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructures (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
*** Local Caption *** In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructures (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
default *** Local Caption *** In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructures (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
*** Local Caption *** In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructures (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
*** Local Caption *** In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructures (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
*** Local Caption *** In a further milestone for the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) program, the two halves of the first of class ship, Arafura, built by Luerssen Australia and its partner ASC have been brought together and welded to form a complete hull.
In what was the largest block move in the history of the Osborne Naval Shipyard and a considerable engineering feat, Australian Naval Infrastructures (ANI) operations team manoeuvred the two mega-blocks together, with only millimetres between them.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) conducts operations in the Philippine Sea. Barry is underway conducting operations in the Indo-Pacific region while assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest forward-deployed DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force.
On February 7, 2020, the US Navy officially received its first CMV-22B Osprey, the replacement for its venerable C-2 Greyhound aircraft.
I attended the ceremony held at Amarillo, Texas and had a chance to talk with a number of the participants before and after the ceremony.
Having followed the Osprey since 2007 and observed its impact on the USMC, it was never a simple case of the MV-22 replacing the CH-46 ‘Phrog’ and its mission.
The tiltrotor is not the same in any real sense as a traditional rotorcraft, and the increased range and speed of the Osprey and its unique operating envelope has proven to be a significant capability for the Marine Corps which they have been able to leverage to transform their core operations.
Now the US Navy will be transitioning from a fixed-wing aircraft configured to operate with the cats and traps system onboard an aircraft carrier (the C-2) to an aircraft (the Osprey), which is not limited by that system will not operate in any way like a C-2.
It is undoubtedly going to also be a significant opportunity for the Navy to manage the transition and to understand fully how to make the most of the new aircraft’s capabilities to conduct Airborne Logistics from the Sea Base in new and innovative ways.
There is another major aspect or indeed opportunity, that has nothing to do with the COD (Carrier On-board Delivery) mission.
The Osprey has proven capable of a wide range of operations, from Special Forces transport to performing a Medical Evacuation off of a submarine, but the US Navy is not buying it for those missions.
Yet, given the demanding strategic environment in which the fleet is operating and going to operate, it is difficult to believe that the Navy will not wish broaden the envelope of what the Osprey can do for the fleet.
To do so will lead inevitably to the demand to buy more than a simple COD replacement would dictate.
Because the Osprey is a multi-service, and multi-national asset, there will be opportunities as well to leverage collaborative investment as well.
This has not been possible with the C-2 because it was and is a uniquely Navy plane.
How then might the Navy use the aircraft beyond the classic C-2 ops rhythm?
And how might the Navy take advantage of a broader investment or production set of opportunities posed by multi-service and multinational partners?
What is clear is that the challenging path of transition which the Marine Corps took from CH-46 to MV-22 will not be as difficult for the Navy.
They can already build on the experience of the Marine Corps.
Nonetheless, it is clear that there will be unique aspects of its fleet introduction.
During my visit to Amarillo in February 2020, I had a chance to talk with a retired Navy officer who was involved throughout his career with the C-2 as well as becoming involved in the process of working the C-2 replacement effort.
Just recently Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX-21) and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX-20) wanted to honor the final C-2A Greyhound test aircraft (BuNo 162142) before it was retired to the Pax museum. What better way than a photo flight to illustrate the passing of the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission featuring the first-ever US Navy variant of the V-22 Osprey, the CMV-22B with the venerable C-2 Greyhound. Photo credit: Erik Hildebrand / US Navy
Currently, CAPT (ret.) Sean McDermott is a commercial airline pilot who served in the US Navy for 26 years. He was involved with the C-2 during the majority of his career, starting as a Greyhound pilot and eventually commanding one of the Navy’s two fleet logistics squadrons.
In the final years of his service, McDermott was involved in working through options for the Navy as they considered C-2 replacements, with an eventual Osprey selection.
In our discussion, McDermott highlighted a key point which logistics pilots are keen to underscore: “You don’t care about logistics until you don’t have the supplies you need at the time you want them.”
He noted that when he became part of the C-2 community, there were two squadrons, based at three locations.
One, VRC-40 ‘Rawhides’ was located on the East Coast at Norfolk, VA, and the second, VRC-30, ‘Providers’, on the West Coast in San Diego California. There is also a permanently forward-deployed detachment of VRC-30 based in Iwakuni Japan.
Both squadrons fall under Airborne Command & Control and Logistics Wing (ACCLW) headquartered in Point Mugu, CA. The wing was traditionally led by officers with an E-2 Hawkeye background.
This meant that there was little opportunity for C-2 pilots to lead the community beyond the possibility of becoming a squadron commander or O-5 (Commander) rank, vice O-6 (Captain/Commodore) rank.
Lacking the upward mobility, post-squadron command has made it more difficult for the C-2 leadership to become involved in future planning and to be able to be in the best position their assets for more robust mission opportunities.
As a story published in 2010 in the Virginian Pilot newspaper noted for the 50th anniversary of VRC-40:
McDermott and the other members of his squadron, known as the Rawhides, aren’t used to being the center of attention. In naval aviation, glory usually goes to the fighter pilots and their jets, not to those who deliver mail, spare parts and passengers.
“We’re a light switch. We’re the Internet.
They expect us to be there all the time,” McDermott said.
“The only time we’re visible is when we’re not there.”
McDermott underscored the challenges facing C-2 leaders getting into a position to shape the future of their mission within the overall world of carrier aviation.
“In general, there is no upward mobility for C-2 COs.
“In general, the preponderance of the leadership of the wing are E-2 Naval Flight Officers.
“This means that you’ve got somebody who’s your boss who’s never flown your plane, never done your mission, doesn’t have a complete understanding of the challenges that are unique to deploying detachments across the planet.
“They had about 140 people in their squadron when they were commanding officers and a C-2 squadron is 400 people.”
McDermott noted that one of the encouraging signs with the CMV-22B transition is that a new Wing, COMVRMWING has been stood up, and its Commodore who is in charge of the Osprey team now being charged to take over the COD mission.
This CMV-22 wing should provide a more dedicated voice to implement new ideas for airborne logistics operations as well as exploring how the aircraft could be used to support other missions for the Navy in a distributed maritime environment.
We discussed at length his experience with the challenges of getting the Osprey engaged with the Navy fleet and eventually on to the carrier for a fleet battle experiment as well as in support of humanitarian assistance missions.
He was also involved in the efforts to deploy Ospreys onto foreign ships, and he worked closely with the Marine experimental squadron VMX-22 and Col. Michael Orr, who we interviewed often during the time frame when the Osprey transition was accelerating, to leverage the Marine’s experience with the aircraft to shepherd Navy interest.
On the cover of our book, Rebuilding American Military Power In The Pacific, we chose a photo of Col. Orr landing on the USS George H.W. Bush.
McDermott was on that carrier during those trials and highlighted how challenging it was to get support to land the Ospreys onboard the large deck carriers.
The Marine aviation leadership created VMX-22 to lead the way forward, first with Ospreys and preparing the way for the next round of aviation innovation.
Because they worked under strong leadership, they could partner with a Navy leader like McDermott to create an opportunity for the Osprey to become a large deck carrier asset.
As McDermott noted about Col. Orr: “I have a lot of respect for Mike, clearly a leader who is willing to support change and innovation.”
But as the trials evolved, there were opportunities to demonstrate how an Osprey could do things a C-2 never could do, given the flexibility of the aircraft and its speed and range.
He provided several examples of this.
One involved when Orr’s group arrived back in Norfolk on an Osprey, and when taxying, out came a chief petty officer blocking their way. They stopped and the chief said that there was an urgent need to get a part to an F/A-18 Hornet so that it can fly off of the carrier prior to getting to port.
The ship was pulling in the next day, and if they did not get the aircraft off of the ship, the aircraft would need to be craned off the ship while in port, not something the Navy likes to do.
The catapults have already been shut down on the ship and were not available.
Obviously, this was not a barrier for the Osprey which flew to the ship, delivered the part and left within 90 seconds from the ship.
McDermott recalled: “The Air Boss on the carrier was an E-2 guy and he underscored, “Let’s see a COD do that!”
We concluded our discussion by focusing upon the potential impact of the multi-mission Osprey to the fleet.
McDermott put it this way: “With the C-2 we did one thing – Carrier On-board Delivery.
“With the Osprey, Combatant Commanders already know the multi-mission capability of the V-22 and will be tempted to utilize them for a variety of other missions.
“This is not something that would happen with a C-2. Carrier leadership will eventually struggle to fence off their logistics assets from outside tasking.”
In other words, there is an anticipated operational demand that they will want to leverage fully the new versatile capabilities of the Osprey.
He noted that with the new platform being introduced to carrier aviation, it will be possible to leverage it to shape a greater range of capabilities for the COD asset.
He noted that as the Marines began to get comfortable with the MV-22, they shaped the unique Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SP-MAGTF), which has become a highly demanded asset.
He argued that such innovation was certainly possible for the Navy as it worked with its new COD aircraft.
One area he noted were forward deployed locations that would benefit like operations in Bahrain.
Ospreys deployed to these locations could not only better support logistics but would also have the flexibility to support other mission sets for combatant commanders.
“With the coming of the new platform into the fleet, one innovation which might be considered is how to use the new Navy Osprey as part of a broader sustainment effort encompassing Marine Corps and Navy Ospreys.
“It also is an area where the multi-mission capabilities of the aircraft for the Navy can be explored as well.
“In other words, where the Marines leveraged their Ospreys to build and equip SP-MAGTF, perhaps the US Navy can leverage the Bahrain anchor from which to build regional sustainment and explore ways to build out the multi-mission capabilities it would want from its CMV-22s.”
This clearly might require the Navy to consider from the outset ways to ramp up the buy and to prepare for ways in which the fleet commanders will employ it to leverage fullythe aircraft capabilities, and, at the very least, utilizing its capability to provide improved logistics to Navy and Maritime Sealift Command ships.
Carrier Air Wing innovations highlighting platforms coming onboard which will shape clusters of innovations driving forward innovation onboard the large deck carrier. Credit: US Navy
According to the top European Union’s diplomat, Josep Borrel, there was “an infodemic accompanying the pandemic”.
According to a story by Andrew Rettman published in the EUOvserver on May 1, 2020:
“His service had recorded 400 fake news items on the virus in recent weeks, he said.
“Some of the Russian ones peddled fake cures which were “putting people’s lives at risk”, he added.
“But the EU’s debunking website had had an 800 percent increase in traffic since the pandemic began, with 10,000 readers a day, Borrell said, indicating the effectiveness of its work.”
Rettman’s story highlighted Chinese attempts to influence the European Union’s report on the “infodemic.”
In an earlier Rettman story published on March 27, 2020, the author highlighted the extensive Russian effort fueling the “infodemic.”
Russia’s top coronavirus fake news stories were about Western plots – a theme also popular in Chinese disinformation.
There was little hope of educating people who believed that type of thing, propaganda experts said.
But some of the lies had “real-world consequences” that were hard to ignore.
The Facebook engagement was calculated using Buzzsumo, an online tracking tool.
The numbers reflected Facebook activity between January and mid-March on a set of 110 bogus Russian stories which the EU foreign service recorded in its counter-propaganda database.
China also got in on the act, EU officials noted.
The highlighted photo shows Russian president Vladimir Putin (c) at a coronavirus situation centre in Moscow (Photo: Kremlin.ru)
Eventually, the customer for the two ships which had been built was Egypt.
And if you fast forward to 2019, you find the Egyptians exercising their new ship in a Mediterranean friendship exercise which had Turkey in mind.
According to a December 20, 2019 article by Hagar Hosny and published by AL-Monitor:
Egyptian naval forces conducted military drills Dec. 11 against the backdrop of the Nov. 28 maritime border and security agreementsigned by Turkey and the internationally recognized Tripoli-based Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Fayez al-Sarraj.
The agreement providesfor the expansion of security and military cooperation between the two sides and was condemned by Greece and Egypt.
In a Dec. 11 statement, the Egyptian army said these military exercises come in implementation of an Egyptian military strategy aimed at developing its capabilities in the face of the challenges and risks witnessed in the region. The statement added that the military activities included the launch of a submarine anti-ship Harpoon missile with a range of more than 130 kilometers (81 miles). This is in addition to the combat activities of the Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, a helicopter carrier, in the Mediterranean.
During the exercise, the Egyptian forces conducted “Friendship Bridge 2019” in the Mediterranean Sea using a task force which included the ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010), a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) of the French Mistral class, as well as Perry-class frigates, missile boats (Soliman Ezzat), Class-209 submarine, a number of anti-submarine units and special forces.
This naval military exercise also included different scenarios of amphibious operations showcasing the capabilities of Egypt’s general command in supervising, commanding and controlling this type of complex maneuvers.
For the first time, Egyptian Naval Forces used modern attack helicopters including the Russian-made Kamov Ka-52 and the American-made AH-64D/E Apache that took off from the Mistral-class amphibious assault ship Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010).
ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser (L1010) is an Egyptian Navy amphibious assault ship of the French-designed Mistral-class which is also used as a helicopter carrier by the Egyptian Navy. Egypt is the first and only country in Africa and the Middle East to have that type of combat ship.
The exercise highlighted the evolving role of amphibious ships away from simply being Greyhound buses moving troops from port to embarkation point, to being part of sea control and expeditionary strike operations.
The Egyptians understand this point and have been working with the Russians to purchase Kamov Ka-52K naval attack helicopters for Anwar el-Sadat, and they see the AH-64D as a gap filler until they get a marinized helicopter.
The helicopters onboard the Egyptian Mistral class are land-based operating helicopters flying from the ship rather than marinized helicopters part of the work flow of the ship. In the first case, helicopters optimized for land operations certainly can fly to and from an amphibious ship operating as an offshore operating base; they are not optimized for at sea operations with the ship as part of a fast moving task force.
In an article by Tyler Rogoway written at the time of the initial acquisition by Egypt of the French ships, the author highlights why Egypt was buying the ships.
“Egypt has been engaged in a deepening counter-terror fight against extremist elements, namely those aligned with ISIS. Geographically speaking, threats are emanating primarily from around the Sinai Peninsula, which Egypt worries could one day endanger the Suez Canal, and from the western border with Libya, which is embroiled in a full-on civil war and teaming with Islamic militants…..
“These powerful ships could be used as seabases of sorts, parking them off the coast of trouble spots on the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea, but that would signal a massive expeditionary shift in Egypt’s foreign policy.”
The vides below highlight the exercise:
The featured photo shows Russian-made Kamov Ka-52K and American-made AH-64E Apache helicopters prepare to take off from ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser Mistral-class amphibious assault ship during naval exercise Friendship Bridge 2019 (Picture source: Egyptian MoD).
Spain, France and the United Kingdom will take up NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission starting in May, guarding the skies over the Baltic region for the next four months.
The three NATO Allies are replacing air force detachments from Belgium and Poland which have protected the airspace of NATO’s three Baltic Allies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since January. The Spanish and British air force contingents will operate out of Siauliai airbase in Lithuania, while the French air force will fly from Amari in Estonia. Spain is the lead nation for the mission.
“We thank Spain, France and the UK for taking over NATO’s Baltic-air policing mission”, said NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu. “This 24/7 mission demonstrates that our commitment to the security of our Allies is rock-solid and that our vital work goes on despite the coronavirus pandemic,” she stressed.
NATO’s Baltic Air Policing deployment is a defensive mission that sees allies sending planes to patrol the airspace of the three Baltic States, who do not have fighter jets of their own. The Air Policing programme keeps fighter jets on alert 24/7 and ready to scramble in case of suspicious air activity close to the Alliance’s borders.
The mission which has been running since 2004 took on greater prominence following Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014. NATO aircraft routinely intercept Russian military aircraft near the Baltic States which frequently fail to adhere to international air safety norms. In 2019, Allied jets attached to NATO’s Baltic air-policing mission scrambled around 200 times to safeguard allied airspace.
Recently, three RAF Puma helicopters have been dispatched to Kinloss barracks in Moray, Scotland.
They are there to be able to respond to COVID-19 incidents throughout Scotland.
According to a May 1, 2020 story by David Mackay published by the Press and Journal:
“One of the Pumas at Kinloss Barracks has been tasked specifically for medical evacuations with one for transporting supplies and another on standby.
“The aircraft has been selected for the task because it can land in small locations with less disruption from the blades while still being able to carry two stretchers and a medical crew.
“A support crew of 56 personnel have travelled to the Army base in Moray from Oxfordshire for the mission.
“Squadron Leader Johnny Longland, the Puma detachment commander, explained the recent training in the Western Isles has involved several agencies.
“He said: “We have paramedics from the islands working with our crewmen to look at how they can integrate their equipment with the Puma.
“NHS Scotland and coastguard teams of paramedics, clinicians and planners were primarily looking at how they can put stretchers in the back of the aircraft and continue to perform their essential care for the patient.”
