(Amerika) United States Navy

[Schneemann]

US Seventh Fleet continues “experimentation” with assault carriers

The US Navy is looking at different combinations of embarked air wing to enable its LHA vessels to operate as aircraft carriers. [...]

The US Navy’s trials in operating its landing helicopter assault (LHA) flattops as mini aircraft carriers, as seen with the America-class USS Tripoli earlier this year, could provide a “neat capability”, according to the commander of the US Seventh Fleet.

During trials with the USS Tripoli some 14 F-35B fifth generation stealth fighters were embarked onto the vessel, along with multiple rotary assets, to flesh out operational concepts in integrating such “assault carriers” into the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, which is based in the western Pacific. The vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) nature of the F-35Bs enable the aircraft to operate from a variety of warships as they do not require the traditional catapult and wire recovery system. [...] Vice Admiral Karl Thomas described the LHAs as a “versatile instrument” that could be re-roled depending on the makeup of the embarked air wing. [...]

Thomas added that the service was “still in the experimentation phase” in determining how to integrate an assault carrier-configured LHA with the US Navy’s more conventional nuclear-powered Nimitz-class supercarriers deployed in the region. [...]

https://www.naval-technology.com/homepag...-carriers/

Die Frage die sich stellt, ist, ob dies nun wirklich der Versuch einer Reaktivierung eines alten Konzepts auf neuen Plattformen darstellt - US-Angriffsträger (CVAs) gab es auch schon in den 1950er Jahren -, das dem Ziel dient, eine verbesserte Flexibilität und mehr CAS bei Landungsoperationen zu gewährleisten, oder aber ob diese Maßnahme eine Art von Lückenfüllerei ist, da man die Zahl der CVNs in den letzten Jahrzehnten immer mehr reduziert hat und nun angesichts der Lage in Asien nach möglichen Ergänzungen sucht?

Schneemann