NAVAL AVIATION VISION

NAVAL

AVIATION

VISION

May 2003
NAVAL AVIATION VISION
VADM Michael D.Malone,USN

Commander,Naval Air Forces (CNAF)

Out in the Fleet,Naval Aviation serves as“the tip of the spear”in defense 

of our nation. This means our warfighters continually require new 

technologies and new techniques, to face ever-changing threats.

This Naval Aviation Vision spells out those future requirements, as we 

transform from a platform centric to a network centric force. We in the 

Fleet will bring together these new technologies and advanced 

doctrinal concepts to create a flexible, responsive force and realize our 

vision of Sea Power 21.

RADM Michael J. McCabe, USN

Director, Air Warfare (N78)

Naval Aviation faces immense challenges in adapting to post-Cold War 

strategic realities. Mission requirements continue to grow, while 

budgets continue to tighten. Transformation will require “reality checks” 

on existing programs. As we develop next-generation programs, we 

must “neck down” existing platform and weapons types.

We at N78 are committed to overcoming these challenges. This Naval 

Aviation Vision represents our commitment to providing the 

warfighters a smooth transition into Network Centric Operations.

VADM Joseph W. Dyer, USN

Commander, Naval Air Systems Command (COMNAVAIRSYSCOM)

Naval Aviation possesses a proud technological heritage, stretching back 

to the early days of the 20th Century. This latest edition of the Naval 

Aviation Vision spells out how we will extend that tradition of innovation 

well into the 21st Century.

We at NAVAIR will continue to develop and acquire the most advanced 

aircraft and weapons systems in the world. No matter what challenges 

our warfighters face in this new era, we will provide them the tools for 

success.

NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION

NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Table of Contents

Introduction .....................................................................................................................................02

A Changed Security Environment ............................................................................................05

Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) ................................................................................06

Enduring Roles of Naval Aviation.............................................................................................. 09

Sea Power 21....................................................................................................................................10

Global CONOPS .......................................................................................................................12

Sea Strike ................................................................................................................................... 14

Sea Shield ..................................................................................................................................28

Sea Basing ..............................................................................................................................

FORCEnet—The Catalyst for Making Sea Power 21 a Reality.................................. 36

...34

Processes and Initiatives for Sea Power 21 .................................................................... 38
NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Roadmaps.........................................................................................................................................51

Aircraft Carriers .......................................................................................................................52

Future Air Wings..............................................................................................................56

Networks and Systems .........................................................................................................58

Sensors .......................................................................................................................................60

Weapons ....................................................................................................................................63

Navy Aircraft .............................................................................................................................68

Strike/Fighters .................................................................................................................71

Electronic Aircraft ...........................................................................................................73

Command and Control Aircraft ................................................................................. 73

Maritime Support Aircraft ............................................................................................73

Rotary-Wing Aircraft ......................................................................................................74

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs/) ...................................................................................76

Marine Corps Aircraft ............................................................................................................ 78

Tactical Aircraft (TACAIR) ..............................................................................................78

Assault Support Aircraft ...............................................................................................80

Summary ...........................................................................................................................................83

Appendix A: List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ...............................................................85

Appendix B: Image Credits..........................................................................................................91
02 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Introduction

Future Naval Aviation: A Scenario

THE YEAR: CIRCA 2015

THE PLACE: SOMEWHERE OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL ASIA

THE MISSION: JOINT OPERATION AGAINST TERRORIST-BACKED REBELS

Multiple explosions rent the night air over the Central Asian mountain pass,

illuminating the stark terrain below. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)

precision-guided bombs had scored direct hits on a rebel ammunition convoy,

setting off secondary explosions and completely destroying the line of vehicles.

Strike aircraft from the carrier USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), based 150 miles off

the Persian Gulf Coast, had suddenly complicated the enemy’s plans. An Air Force

AC-130 Gunship had joined the two F/A-18 Super Hornets and two Joint Strike

Fighters from the REAGAN on the mission.

Targeting had been no problem despite heavy fog. The ground-based Special

Operations team had relayed the convoy’s position to the REAGAN via satellite

communications. Prior to launch, the strike aircraft had downloaded the targeting

data from Joint tactical databases.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 0 3

This fusion of data networks, sensors, platforms, and weapons formed the heart of

the Navy’s FORCEnet architecture. Through FORCEnet, the Carrier Strike Group

maintained constant communication with all Joint assets in theater.

Two first-generation unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) flew past the two

sections of Super Hornets and JSFs, returning from a deep-strike mission further into

the mountains. UCAVs had come a long way in the last decade, since the Predator’s

use in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. They had by no means

replaced manned aircraft; instead, they had become integrated into the air wing as a

complementary force. The UCAVs had received in-flight commands from the lead

Super Hornet to take out several rebel bases defended by anti-aircraft artillery fire and

surface-to-air missiles.

The Special Ops team now freed the two sections to pursue their secondary

target—an old Al-Qaeda cave complex now used as a rebel weapons depot. But as

the strike aircraft headed for the caves, a command-and-control Hawkeye aircraft

redirected them to an enemy airfield south of the country’s capital. Elements of the

Marine Expeditionary Brigade were facing heavy artillery fire in their attempt to take

the airfield; they had requested close air support to take out the enemy’s guns. Aided

by the Marines’ targeting lasers, the fighters dropped their laser-guided bombs

(LGBs). The LGBs steered to impact by guiding on the laser light reflected from the

targets. Columns of flames confirmed the bombs’ accuracy.

Their ordnance expended, the enemy guns silenced, the strike aircraft headed back

for “home plate” as the sun began to inch over the horizon. En route to the carrier, the

Super Hornets and JSFs received vectors from the Hawkeye to the

Super Hornet tanker circling off the coast.

The lead Super Hornet pilot reflected briefly on the events of the past week. Only

last Sunday, the REAGAN had been cruising the Persian Gulf, maintaining a forward

presence, “showing the flag” to reassure allies and inhibit regional despots. It was

vitally important to prevent unfriendly nations from controlling “chokepoints” in the

sea lanes such as the entrance to the Gulf.

Then, without warning, Central Asian rebels with suspected terrorist links had

seized their country’s capital. The group claimed to have weapons of mass

destruction, which they would use against a major U.S. city unless all American forces

immediately left the Gulf region. Within a matter of hours, the REAGAN Carrier Strike

Group received direction to respond with overwhelming, effective, and accurate

striking force.

The carrier-based air assets, stationed off the Persian Gulf coast, had spent the next

week destroying rebel bases as well as enabling Joint access to the theater. The close

air support had helped the Joint ground forces quickly retake the capital and restore

the legitimate government. The only task left was to find and destroy the last pockets

of resistance.

Just after the infamous “September 11th” attacks back in 2001, then-President

George W. Bush had said U.S. forces were “...taking justice to the enemy...” The pilot

of the Super Hornet knew that this operation maintained that tradition. As his section

held overhead the carrier, preparing to land, he felt more than a little stirred at being

part of such an awesome and flexible force.
04 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 0 5

A Changed Security Environment

The tragic and despicable events of 11 September 2001 have drastically altered

how the United States assesses the global security environment. In their aftermath,

we will find it even more difficult to predict the potential sources of military threats,

the conduct of future wars, and the form that threats and attacks will take.

Our nation also continues to struggle with the changes brought on by the collapse

of the Soviet empire. Though it marked the welcome conclusion to the Cold War, the

Soviet Union’s downfall also ended the familiar superpower standoff between East

and West. We now face a host of potential regional powers and non-state actors such

as terrorist networks.

These changes highlighted our entry into an era of asymmetric warfare,

a form of conflict that seeks to exploit enemies’ weaknesses rather than confront

their strengths. Adversaries, aware that they cannot successfully challenge

U.S. conventional forces, may rely increasingly on unconventional methods such as

terrorism and weapons of mass destruction—or even long-range ballistic missiles

launched against the U.S. homeland. Such asymmetric attacks pose perhaps the

most serious immediate threat to our nation’s security.

These geopolitical and military realities will profoundly shape the future security

environment. Our adversaries will have new capabilities that previous opponents

lacked; we should not expect opponents in 2020 to fight with strictly “industrial age”

tools. We must begin to develop our own asymmetric capabilities out of our existing

superiorities in conventional warfare. Our advantage will come from our leaders,

people, doctrine, organizations, and training—these will enable us to take advantage

of technology and achieve superior warfighting effectiveness.
06 NAVAL AVIATION VISION 

Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)

The short, introductory scenario shows vividly how Naval Aviation contributes to

the U.S. defense strategy, as set forth in the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial

Defense Review (QDR). As described in the introduction, the Carrier Strike Group and

elements of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) took actions supporting the

strategy’s four key goals:

• To assure our allies and friends of the United States’ steadiness of purpose and

its ability to fulfill security commitments;

• To dissuade adversaries from undertaking programs or operations that could

threaten U.S. interests or those of our allies and friends;

• To deter aggression and coercion by deploying forces forward, forces which can

swiftly defeat attacks and impose severe penalties for aggression; and

• To defeat decisively any adversary, if deterrence fails.

These four fundamental goals, along with the QDR’s operational goals, will guide

how our nation develops and uses its military. Defense planning will shift from a

“threat-based” model to a “capabilities-based” model. This model, growing out of

geopolitical and military trends, focuses more on how an adversary might fight

rather than on specifics such as whom the adversary might be or where a war might

occur.

Adopting this approach requires our nation to transform its entire military

establishment, a change that must affect not only capabilities but force structures

and institutions as well. The United States will maintain its military advantages in key

areas yet must also adapt to new circumstances and develop entirely new

capabilities. In this way, we will extend our advantages well into the 21st Century. . .

and beyond.

The Department of the Navy has set forth its plans for transformation in a separate

document, titled Naval Transformation Roadmap: Power and Access...From the Sea.

That publication describes the key concepts, capabilities, initiatives, and programs

that will guide the Navy/Marine Corps team as they transform in support of the QDR

goals. The concept binding the rest together is “Sea Power 21,” the Chief of Naval

Operations’ construct for the 21st Century Navy. That operational vision includes the

three fundamental capabilities of Sea Strike, Sea Shield, and Sea Basing.

Naval Aviation’s role in this Service-wide transformation is spelled out herein. In

this document, Naval Aviation Vision, we focus particularly on the striking power of

the air wing and the aircraft carrier.

Critical to the success of this transformation is the information architecture known

as FORCEnet, a single, comprehensive maritime network for the battlespace. More

than simply a computer network or data link, FORCEnet represents the seamless

connection of all Naval and Joint assets in theater—via their sensors, networks,

decision aids, weapons, and supporting systems.

Sea Power 21, exploiting the power of these netted forces, will combine Naval

capabilities and those of the other services to achieve dominance of an integrated

maritime “battlespace.” Within this multi-dimensional space of operations, the Joint

Force Commander will project power and protect U.S. forces.
"In order to prepare for the wide array of threats facing us, we have to organize 

ourselves around a clear, concise, and powerful vision of what the Navy will provide to 

our nation in the months, years, and decades ahead. This vision must build on the 

strengths that are inherent for us in the United States of America, not somebody else's, 

but on ours. And I believe that we possess asymmetric advantages. Oftentimes, we talk 

about asymmetry and it's always the other guy's asymmetries. I believe that the United 

States possesses asymmetric advantages, such as information superiority, sea control, 

mobility, stealth, reach, precision, firepower, and persistence."

Admiral Vern Clark

Naval War College, Newport, RI, 12 June 2002

N A V AL A V I A TION VISION 0 7
08 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 0 9

Enduring Roles of Naval Aviation

Since the United States’ earliest days, the Naval Services have fulfilled an enduring

role in defense of our national interests. Naval Aviation—in particular thanks to the

air wing and the large-deck aircraft carrier—has evolved into a powerful element of

this mission. From World War II onward, U.S. Presidents have asked, “Where are the

carriers?” when faced with international crises. Our NIMITZ-class carriers have

answered that call for over 30 years.

Now, upon entering a new century, our highly capable, survivable, and efficient

CV-designed carriers and their embarked air wings will be the salient force in the

Carrier Strike Force. They will be supplemented by the new CVN 21, the nextgeneration aircraft carrier. The overwhelming striking power of the Carrier Strike

Group and netted warfighting systems will assure sea-based battlespace dominance.

It will also continue to offer our nation’s leaders the flexible, scalable, and sustainable

options they require in the global theater of operations.

Our preparation and vigilance are not without risk or price. It requires great

sacrifice to maintain a keen edge on our globally-deployed forces. Yet like their

predecessors, our nation’s future leaders will rely on the striking power of carrierbased aviation to fulfill these enduring roles:

• Assurance and Deterrence: A forward-deployed Navy shows our nation’s

commitment to allies and friends. Our forces are immediately deployable, able

to project power, shape events, deter conflict, and defeat aggression.

• Command of the Seas: Our nation’s continued existence is tied to the seas; our

freedom to use those seas is guaranteed by our Naval forces. These combatready forces operate throughout the world’s vast oceans to control our seaward

approaches, gain and maintain control of forward Sea Lanes of Communication

(SLOC), and keep the seas open for friendly use.

• Power Projection: We project Naval power over great distances to deter threats.

When necessary, we use this power to disrupt, deny, or destroy hostile forces. As

U.S. sovereign territory, our Naval vessels can deploy rapidly and flexibly around

the globe without concern for territorial boundaries.

• Homeland Security: Naval forces serve as a first line of defense for the

American homeland, keeping attacks at bay far across the seas. Deployed

forward, our forces detect, deter, and interdict attacks by hostile nations and

emerging non-state actors.

These roles are fundamental to our Navy and likely will remain so well into the

future. Yet transformation means profoundly changing the ways we fulfill these

enduring roles. The Navy therefore requires a concept of operations that recognizes

and drives these changes. This concept is “Sea Power 21.”
10 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sea Power 21

The Sea Power 21 operational concept, released in Summer 2002, outlines the

CNO’s vision of how the Navy will function in this new era and establishes a

framework for Naval transformation. The concept also explains the Navy’s unique

contributions in support of our nation’s defense strategy and goals.

The capabilities outlined in Sea Power 21 are unique to the Navy, yet the Navy’s

future lies in collaboration with its sister services. As the CNO has expressed, the

Navy will be “... first and foremost, a Navy committed to, and built upon, the

principles of jointness.”

At its heart, Sea Power 21 encompasses three major concepts:

• Sea Strike: Projecting Precise and Persistent Offensive Power

• Sea Shield: Projecting Global Defensive Assurance

• Sea Basing: Projecting Joint Operational Independence

The Navy will realize Sea Power 21’s full potential by using information technology

to network our warfighting forces. We will end our reliance on “stovepipe” networks

and single-purpose systems, integrating fully into Joint and national systems.

We will reduce our emphasis on platform centric operations in favor of Net Centric

Operations (NCO); this new approach, enabled by the FORCEnet concept, will link

our forces via a global grid of interoperable and overlapping networks. Joint Force

Commanders will enjoy optimal access to sensor, engagement, and command nets.

Formalized through doctrine, NCO will enable a precise, agile maneuver warfare.

This style of war will be able to sustain access and decisively influence events ashore

and at sea anytime, anywhere. With FORCEnet as the catalyst, we will realize Sea

Strike, Sea Shield and Sea Basing through transformational warfighting capabilities.

These will turn the vision of Sea Power 21 into a powerful reality.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 1 1

The roadmaps which follow display dramatically how the Navy will increase its

capabilities in aircraft carriers, networks, sensors, weapons, and platforms. Yet though

technology may express transformation most visibly, the Navy must also transform

doctrines, organization, and leadership development. This includes, for example,

changing personnel systems: how we recruit and train and support our people.

We must also transform our acquisition and logistics establishment—how we

provide and support equipment and facilities we provide to the warfighter. The

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) serves an important enabling role for Sea

Power 21 by providing six core technologies to Naval Aviation:

• Sensors

• Aircraft

• Weapons

• Training

• Launch and Recovery

• Communications

To realize Sea Strike’s potential, the Navy must also implement initiatives such as

Navy/Marine TACAIR Integration, to provide the optimal balance of efficiency and

warfighting effectiveness. This requires a holistic approach, taking into account

current fiscal realities and operational commitments. It also requires an adaptable

organization that can help integrate affordable technology with innovative

operational concepts and a fully-netted force. Together, these will enable the Navy

to achieve an “in-stride” transformation while meeting current obligations.

Sea Power 21 will include three initiatives to achieve this culture of innovation:

• Sea Trial: To put the Fleet at the heart of innovation

• Sea Warrior: To develop our Sailors’ full potential

• Sea Enterprise: To employ business efficiencies to recapitalize our Fleet

Viewed together, these elements describe our Naval forces’ full integration into a

Joint Team. This integration will dramatically increase our forces’ operational reach

and connectivity, as well as their precision, speed of decision, and battlespace

awareness. In short, the Carrier Strike Groups of the 21st Century will be far more

capable than their 20th Century counterparts to resolve international crises quickly

and with minimal loss of life.

September 11th highlighted our nation’s need for military transformation, but by

no means did it begin the process. In fact, the Navy possesses a rich legacy of

adapting to new challenges. During the Revolutionary War, the United States

designed fast, well-armed sailing ships that challenged powerful British fleets. That

innovative spirit continues today, as seen in design ideas for the Joint Strike Fighter,

the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), and CVN 21, the next-generation

aircraft carrier.

Sea Power 21, the Navy’s new operational concept, represents another important

step along this continuum of change. It is the Vision of a 21st Century Naval Force

with Presence, Power, and Persistence.
12 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Global CONOPS

The Global Concept of Operations (Global CONOPS) will provide the United States

with widely dispersed combat power from forward-deployed Naval forces, thus

enhancing our nation’s ability to protect its vital interests. This concept also enables

U.S. forces to respond swiftly to a broad range of scenarios anywhere in the world.

Global CONOPS will employ a flexible force structure, which can be resized to meet

the needs of each task as well as the mission requirements of the Joint Force

Commander. Under Global CONOPS, the Navy will employ:

• Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) that provide the full range of operational capabilities.

These groups will remain the core of our Navy’s warfighting strength.

• Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESG) consisting of Amphibious Readiness Groups

(ARG) augmented with strike-capable surface warships and submarines. ESGs

will provide Sea Strike capabilities in lesser-threat environments. Aviation assets

such as Joint Strike Fighters and V-22s will help realize the ESG’s warfighting

potential.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 1 3

• Missile-defense Surface Action Groups that will increase stability by providing

security to allies and Joint forces ashore.

• Specially-modified Trident submarines that will provide covert striking power

from cruise missiles and the insertion of Special Operations Forces.

• A modern, enhanced-capability Combat Logistics Force that will sustain the

widely dispersed Fleet.

These groups will operate independently around the world to counter

transnational threats. They will join together to form Expeditionary Strike Forces

when engaged in regional conflict.

This dispersed, netted, and operationally agile Fleet, as part of the Joint Force, will

deliver the combat power needed for the U.S. to sustain homeland defense, as well as

to fulfill its “1-4-2-1” military commitment. Under this commitment, Naval forces will

defend the U.S. Homeland (1), provide forward deterrence in four theaters (4), swiftly

defeat two aggressors at the same time (2), and deliver decisive victory in one of those

conflicts (1).

In every war plan, the Navy will center on the employment of sovereign sea-based

forces—these forces will project offensive and defensive power across a unified

battlespace. Just as importantly, this 21st Century Fleet will be positioned around the

world, ready to counter unexpected threats from any quarter of the globe.
14 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sea Strike

Sea Strike projects precise and persistent offensive power against key enemy

targets. The Carrier Strike Group and its embarked air wing are uniquely suited to

this mission. Together, they create a powerful and highly survivable force for

conducting effects-based operations. As opposed to attrition warfare, effects-based

warfighting philosophy seeks to directly influence an adversary’s reason and beliefs.

It seeks to generate the right effect on the right target at the right time and defeat

the adversary’s strategy early in any conflict.

Exploiting knowledge superiority, the Carrier Strike Group can expand the

battlespace, provide real-time battlespace awareness, conduct covert operations,

and deliver high-volume and lethal fires to the enemies’ critical vulnerabilities. Sea

Strike will capitalize on early war-termination opportunities that would be lost

under a solely attrition-oriented style of warfare.

The FORCEnet architecture will make this possible by linking our geographically

dispersed forces in theater—including sea-based sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAVs), manned platforms, and air-launched munitions. This seamless linking

provides theater commanders with powerful advantages: the long “dwell time” of

UAVs and their sensors, the versatility and speed of manned platforms, and the reach

and precision of guided, air-launched weapons.

Sea Strike operations also allow commanders to exploit the positional advantage

that the maritime environment offers, with reduced dependence on tactical land

bases. We will seize the initiative, disrupt enemy timelines, and pre-empt adversaries’

options. These will create rapid, decisive operations that ensure

mission success.

In support of the Sea Strike concept, we will employ the transformational

capabilities of:

• Persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR);

• Time Sensitive Strike (TSS);

• Electronic Warfare (EW)/Information Operations (IO);

• Ship to Objective Maneuver (STOM);

• and Covert Strike (not described below).

Persistent ISR

Persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (Persistent ISR) will deny

sanctuary to potential adversaries by means of networked Joint and national

capabilities. Future carrier air wings will provide the Joint Force Commander with

extensive ISR capability through a combination of UAVs, helicopters, strike aircraft,

electronic-warfare aircraft, and command-and-control aircraft. These air wing assets

will provide the mission flexibility and survivability of networked sensors and

platforms to survey the battlespace. In this way, we can build a knowledge base of

enemy activities, capabilities, and vulnerabilities.

We will augment organic capabilities by sensor data sources collected, assessed,

and analyzed from national, Joint, and Naval ISR. These tiered systems will provide
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 1 5

Joint forces accurate and real-time information, from which we can gain precise

battlespace awareness. This analysis will allow us to anticipate and limit adversary

actions, rapidly focus fires, and operate inside the enemy’s decision timeline. We will

be able to do this at any time of day or night and in any weather.

Friendly sea- and shore-based aviation forces will make use of this battlespace

awareness to exploit enemy weaknesses. We will foreclose enemy options and

debilitate the adversary’s fundamental command-and-control systems. In this way,

we will ensure success through rapid, decisive operations.

To achieve these capabilities, however, we must enhance legacy networks and

systems while developing and acquiring powerful new ones. We will develop highly

interoperable systems that eliminate the “stovepipes” of the past and support the

concepts of Sea Power 21. The following are some of the systems particularly

important to Naval Aviation.

The Expeditionary Sensor Grid

The Expeditionary Sensor Grid is a multi-tiered, warfighter-centered architecture

that supports U.S. forces’ asymmetric warfare of the 21st Century. The Grid comprises

numerous and heterogeneous sensors throughout the battlespace—in the air,

underwater, on the sea surface, and on the ground. The Grid notionally integrates

these sensors to complement current and planned systems at both the national

and theater levels.

Component sensors will include tiered unmanned aerial vehicles (possibly armed

UCAVs), offboard surface and subsurface warfare sensors, unattended ground/sea

sensors, Naval ground forces (USMC and Navy Special Warfare units), and platformmounted sensors on forward-deployed Naval units.

To build battlespace awareness in real time, we must significantly increase not

only our sensing power but also our ability to process information. The

Expeditionary Sensor Grid will aid this effort, allowing us to do things currently

difficult due to technological challenges—such as getting in close to defeat stealth

features. In addition, the Grid will deliver improved mobility, cover, concealment,

and deception.

The Grid also ensures that tactical warfighters have sensors at their disposal;

this will provide the responsiveness we need for the 21st Century’s rapid,

decisive operations.
16 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

The Joint Fires Network (JFN)

This is the end-to-end architecture for Time Critical Targeting (TCT)/Time Sensitive

Strike (TSS). JFN merges numerous functions: intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance,

and targeting (ISRT); mission planning; and situational awareness.

JFN includes timely interfaces to sensors and weapons systems. Its core capabilities

derive from the convergence of Joint Command and Control (JC2)—formerly known

as Global Command and Control System-Maritime (GCCS-M)—with Joint Sensor

Image Processing System-Navy (JSIPS-N). JC2 meets the Joint and Service

requirements for a single, integrated, and scalable command-and-control system. This

system receives, displays, correlates, fuses, and maintains geolocational track

information on all forces in a theater—whether friendly, hostile, or neutral; whether on

land, on the sea, or in the air. JC2 also integrates the data with available intelligence

and environmental information.

The Navy is developing a multi-functional fusion tool, one that operates in real time

and can process information from multiple sensors. It is designed to accept ISR inputs

from various Joint assets—these inputs feed mission planning and fire control/

combat systems. The system provides TCT/TSS capabilities to units afloat and to the

Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander. It can also be used across multiple

warfare areas and tasks.

Naval efforts fuse organic intelligence data with information from the broader

national and Joint intelligence activities. These efforts are being pulled together with

the Distributive Common Ground Station-Navy (DCGS-N), the Marine

Air-Ground Intelligence System (MAGIS), and the JFN. Together, these vastly

expand the accuracy and speed of actionable tactical intelligence.

The new DCGS-N family of systems features common components, open

architecture design, and adherence to interoperability standards. It also offers

excellent “reach back” connectivity to Joint intelligence facilities. This family of systems

will support tremendous improvements in interoperable tasking, processing,

exploitation, and dissemination for the Joint Force.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 1 7
18 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 1 9

Advanced Tactical Data Links Systems (ATDLS) Link-11/16/22

Link-11 is the common tactical data link for all U.S. Navy and allied ships not

equipped with Link-16, the Department of Defense’s primary Joint Tactical Data

Link. The Navy is implementing Link-16 in most of its link-capable platforms.

The ATDLS program delivers Link-16 hardware to the Fleet and funds planned

improvements. Link-22, a multi-national tactical data link, will implement the

Tactical Data Link Joint Message Standard (TDLJMS) (J series). Aviation platform

solutions, such as the Multi-functional Information Distribution System-Low Volume

Terminal (MIDS-LVT), will provide a tactical information distribution system

equivalent to the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS).

Additional ISR Capabilities

The Roadmap section of this document describes these additional important

systems and networks:

• The Joint Service Imagery Processing System (JSIPS) & JSIPS-N(Navy)

• The Naval Mission Planning Systems (NavMPS)

• The Common Data Link-Navy (CDL-N)

• Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC)

In addition to using the Expeditionary Sensor Grid, we will also significantly

increase Naval Aviation’s ISR capabilities by fielding the next generation of

Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) as well as UAVs. These UAVs will possess

advanced sensors that can be reconfigured for each mission.

The MMA’s transformational bottom-up design will tailor integration of its

onboard mission suite with UAV- and satellite-based systems and sensors. The

platform will upgrade its ASW and ISR features—crucial features of Sea Strike—

through continual improvements in networks, sensors, and communications. Other

unmanned ground and underwater vehicles will provide critical close-in ISR

capabilities. Naval ISR systems will benefit greatly from the deployment of a family

of Navy and Marine Corps UAVs; equipped with various sensors, these will be

networked via the Tactical Control System. This integration will extend the reach,

coverage, and persistence of the Naval ISR systems in providing information to the

Joint Force.
20 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Time Sensitive Strike ( TSS)

Time Sensitive Strike brings precise, lethal effects from Carrier Strike Groups,

Expeditionary Strike Groups and surface combatants to bear in decisive quantities

on important targets. Sea-based strike groups will use onboard sensor and

weapons systems to deny sanctuary to the enemy and enhance warfighters’

battlespace awareness.

These platforms will be highly survivable in the hostile battlespace, due to

designed-in survivability and the incorporation of self-defense systems. This will

provide our warfighters with more opportunities to seek out and destroy

enemy targets.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 2 1

Moreover, our warfighters will be the responsive and pervasive force that strikes

one of our toughest battlespace challenges: time-sensitive mobile targets. These

can include mobile ballistic or cruise missile launchers or advanced, mobile

surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries. We will focus largely on reducing the

“kill-chain time”—that is, the time between when our forces detect and then attack

these mobile targets. We will achieve a timescale measured in minutes and

ultimately seconds of target detection, by changing the sensor-to-shooter interface.

Transformational efforts in Time Sensitive Strike will improve warfighter

performance in two important areas. First, we will reduce the time needed to strike

targets. We will achieve this through improved ISR and better autonomous targeting

for attack platforms. Secondly, we will be able to engage a far greater number of

targets, within a broader range of threats, due to dramatic increases in precision and

volume brought about by the JFN.

Our efforts to improve rapid-response time will benefit from better intelligence

preparation of the battlespace (IPB). This intelligence preparation helps focus ISR

collection efforts in several ways. We focus on the most likely enemy operating areas,

then dynamically cross-cue the collection sensors to fuse rapidly the data collected

by networked sensors.

Combat experience in Operation Enduring Freedom has revealed that up to 80%

of aircrews, at the time they launched from the carrier, did not know what their

targets would be. This percentage reflects the rapidly increasing tempo of 21st

Century operations and is likely to continue to increase, thus requiring ever more

capable airborne systems for mission planning. Our ISR systems will be able to relay

data into the JFN. Decision aids will then help controllers to match fleeting targets

with on-call, quick response shooters. Advanced data links will provide shooters with

the timely information they need for quickly locating and striking a target.
22 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

We can substantially improve the kill-chain time. This will happen as we improve

the information flow and the information content (i.e., decision-making capacity)

from ISR sensors to tactical controllers both in the air and in the strike group. We

focus on improving this flow and content by upgrading sensors and then sensor

systems; this includes those dealing with radio frequency (RF), electro-optical, and

infrared energy. Hyperspectral sensor technology can also significantly increase

information content, thus potentially enhancing the speed of decision-making.

The Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV, EP-3E Aries, and the MMA will

significantly enhance their connectivity over a range of links for command and

control, communications, and intelligence. In addition, we will improve mission

software to link offboard and onboard sensors. This will create a fused tactical picture

of the battlespace, sent in real time to warfighters.

Future systems will also include penetrating sensors. These include systems such

as the Ground Weapons Locating Radars, Predator and Dragon Eye UAVs, and the Navy

Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAV-N). All of these can operate with the Joint

Fires Network. The Navy has also slated design improvements for the nextgeneration CVN 21 carrier that will make it easier to integrate UAVs and UCAVs into

the future battleforce.

Naval Aviation can also compress decision time by improving our ability to detect

and engage enemy targets. This will be the role of the Advanced Electronically

Scanned Array (AESA) radar, installed on the F/A-18E/F and Joint Strike Fighter. The

AESA system will allow attack platforms to “hunt and kill” fleeting targets in areas

identified in the IPB process.

Besides AESA, we will gain additional autonomous-targeting capability thanks to

the Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared Radar (ATFLIR) and the SHAred

Reconnaissance Pod (SHARP). These systems require little or no assistance from

offboard sensors and tactical controllers; this reduces the time normally required to

coordinate among sensors, controllers, and shooters.

Similarly, next-generation electro-optical systems will increase the distance at

which rotary-winged aircraft can locate and recognize targets. Such improvements

will allow aircraft to locate and recognize targets out to the maximum range of

onboard weapons. The Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) aircraft, for example, will be

able to cover the full spectrum of electronic threats. The AEA can also strike—thus

significantly improving each strike sortie’s effectiveness.

Naval forces are undergoing a revolution in aggregate striking power, against both

fixed and mobile targets. This has occurred for three reasons. First, next-generation

reliable sea-based strike aircraft, such as the F/A-18E/F and the Navy and USMC

variants of the JSF, possess greater payload and precision-strike capabilities. Second,

these sea-based aircraft will be able to launch more sorties from the CVN 21 than

from existing carriers. Third, the integration of Navy and Marine Corps tactical

aviation will enhance our interoperability and mission effectiveness.

Advances in precision-guided weaponry—such as laser-guided bombs and the

Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)—have made it possible for Naval planners to

speak of the destruction of multiple targets per sortie rather than of sorties per

target. The Navy will also benefit from the introduction of new aircraft, missile

systems, and precision air-launched weapons—these include the Joint Advanced

Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JAASSM) and Joint Standoff Weapons System (JSOW).
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 2 3

High Speed Weapons

Naval Aviation planners have also expressed interest in the development of High

Speed Weapons—these are considered to possess operational capability from

supersonic speeds (typically Mach 3-4) to hypersonic speeds (Mach 5 and above).

Typically, these are also viewed as long-range weapons. The Office of Naval Research

(ONR) has invested funds in developing the technologies needed for such systems.

The immense velocities achieved by High Speed Weapons will reduce the

kill-chain time for Time Sensitive Targets and increase the weapons’ ability to

penetrate hard and deeply buried targets.

Within a decade, we expect to improve the Carrier Strike Group’s current

precision-firing capability from a few hundred aim points per day to over five times

that many. This strike capacity will double again in the following decades, as

individual attack aircraft increase their payload of miniaturized munitions.

Commanders on the ground will gain a tremendous advantage from the enhanced

strike ability of sea-based aircraft. This striking power, combined with that of other

elements of the Carrier Strike Group and Expeditionary Strike Groups, will allow

ground commanders to integrate fires with maneuver. This integration will

dramatically enhance the strategic role of our forward-deployed Naval forces,

allowing them to help deter aggression. When deterrence fails, these new

capabilities will ensure adversaries’ rapid defeat.
2 4 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 25

Electronic Warfare (EW)/Information Operations (IO)

Warfare in every dimension of the battlespace—and even within many weapons

systems—requires external information. Commanders and their forces have many

requirements for information, including navigation, meteorology/oceanography,

mapping/charting, communications, and evaluated information-intelligence.

Because of the importance of C4I (command, control, communications,

computers, and intelligence), commanders also seek to degrade or interrupt an

adversary’s information support systems and structure.

Information Operations (IO) seek to exploit, deceive, and disrupt adversaries’

information systems, computer networks, and electronic emitters. To this end, IO

employs electronic warfare, computer network defense and attack (CND/CNA),

psychological operations (PSYOP), military deception, and operational security.

Forward-deployed IO capabilities, especially those provided by carrier-based and

maritime support platforms, will provide line-of-sight access to the enemy’s

electromagnetic spectrum. These capabilities will give commanders a wider range

of tactical options early in a crisis and will play a key role in controlling crisis

escalation and preparing the battlefield for subsequent attack.

Information operations will mature into a major warfare area. The enabling

technologies—sensors, weapons, and platforms—will also mature. Some of our

current efforts include “smart” systems for electronic reconnaissance and jamming,

refinement of CND/CNA and PSYOP concepts, and development of Navy-specific

requirements.
26 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 2 7

Ship to Objective Maneuver (STOM)

Ship to Objective Maneuver projects the Expeditionary Strike Group’s combined

arms assault force from ships at sea directly against operational objectives—some

of which may be located far inland. This represents the application of enduring

concepts from the Marine Corps’ transformational “Operational Maneuver from the

Sea” doctrine. Future Marine forces will be able to maneuver in tactical formation

from the moment they depart the enhanced sea base until they reach their

key objectives.

STOM will reduce Naval forces’ historic vulnerability during their support of

beachhead operations, as the sea base will provide the primary support for Marine

operations. Specifically, support will come from stable-in-theater staging bases

located outside the Joint operating area. In this way, STOM will greatly increase Naval

expeditionary forces’ tactical flexibility and operational tempo (OPTEMPO).

Advanced tilt-rotor technology aircraft, such as the MV-22 Osprey, will also greatly

enhance expeditionary forces’ ability to deliver troops, equipment, and supplies

from sea base to shore. Enhancements include greater speed, survivability, and

combat range. Stealthy tactical-combat aircraft, including the Navy-Marine Corps

variant of the JSF, will also dramatically improve Naval operations from mobile bases

at sea and ashore. These aircraft and surface units will support ground maneuver by

providing precise and high-volume fires at long range. New vehicle concepts now

being explored, such as the canard rotor/wing (CRW), may provide revolutionary and

transformational capabilities to our Navy/Marine Corps forces.
28 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sea Shield

Sea Shield will protect our national interests with layered global defensive power

based on control of the seas, forward presence, and networked intelligence. It will

use these strengths to enhance homeland defense, assure access to contested

littorals, and project defensive power deep inland.

As with Sea Strike, these integrated operations will be based upon information

superiority, total force networking, and an agile and flexible sea-based force.

Sea Shield will defeat adversaries’ anti-access and area-denial attempts,

regardless of whether the threats come from enemy aircraft, missiles, small surface

combatants, mines, or submarines. Highly capable and survivable aircraft, both

fixed- and rotary-winged, will extend and dominate the battlespace. They will be

based at sea and augmented by numerous unmanned platforms and maritime

support aircraft. This combined power will enable Naval forces to defend the Sea

Lanes of Communication (SLOC) and establish combat power ashore to secure

facilities and receive follow-on prepositioned sealift and airlift assets.

These assets also extend precise and persistent Naval defensive capabilities

overland. This includes protecting the Joint forces and allies who hold initial

operational objective points inland. The Sea Shield concept also includes the

protection of the U.S. homeland. Key capabilities include:

• Theater Air and Missile Defense (TAMD);

• Littoral Sea Control;

• Homeland Defense;

• and Force Entry Enabling

(not described below).
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 2 9

Theater Air and Missile Defense (TAMD)

TAMD projects a protective “umbrella” against all forms of aircraft, as well as

against ballistic or cruise-missile threats. The protection can extend over the

horizon at sea or deep inland, and from ground level to the upper atmosphere

(exoatmosphere).

The Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) will network the digital radar data

from the E-2C Advanced Hawkeye (formerly known as the Radar Modernization Plan

or RMP) and surface units throughout the battleforce. When we network CEC with

MAGTF capabilities and the new over-the-horizon surface-to-air (SM-5) missile, we

create an integrated and seamless air defense. This defense can lethally engage

long-range cruise missiles and aircraft from hundreds of miles’ range over land and

over water.

This ability to form a Single Integrated Air Picture (SIAP), using Joint track data, will

profoundly affect tactical air power. We will tremendously improve not only tactical

decision speed and accuracy at extended ranges, but also our opportunities for

engagement.

TAMD also allows us to transform our force doctrine. Commanders could, for

example, reallocate manned aircraft from defensive air-patrol duties to strike

missions. Another option would be to reallocate Aegis guided-missile destroyers

away from close-in force defense, redeploying them to distant stations for ballistic

missile defense or precision surface-fire strikes. The CVN 21 and the next generation

of surface ships would further enhance this ability for extended-range air defense,

through the development of the Volume Search Radar.

Sea-based ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems will exploit the existing

infrastructure of Naval radars and missile launchers to provide flexibility for theater

and homeland missile defense operations. We will defend against theater-range

missiles by linking our sea-based interceptor missiles with a space- and air-based

sensor network as well as with command-and-control systems.
30 NAVAL AVIATION VISION 

Directed Energy (DE) Weapons

Advancements in high-power microwaves (HPM) and lasers have created a new

class of weapons systems—Directed Energy (DE) Weapons. Such weapons no longer

exist just in the realm of science fiction—they are already a reality.

DE systems will precipitate a revolution in future engagements, employments,

and concepts of operations (CONOPS). Lasers can focus precisely on a target to

provide surgical strike capability at very long ranges, regardless of whether the laser

is based on the ground, at sea, in the air, or in space. Once aimed, lasers affect the

target from the outside by damaging the physical structure.

Conversely, high-power microwaves flood target areas with energy; this allows for

the engagement of multiple targets at the same time. High-power microwaves

affect the target from the inside through electrical disruption.

These differences notwithstanding, lasers and high-power microwaves share

some important traits. Each type travels to the target at the speed of light, each can

achieve graduated effects (deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy), and each can be

used to minimize collateral damage.

Littoral Sea Control

Littoral Sea Control assures the prompt access and freedom of maneuver of Joint

forces from the sea base. We will defeat anti-access capabilities such as “swarming”

small surface craft, quiet diesel submarines, and sea mines through a combination

of surface, subsurface, and aviation assets. The command and control of such

missions will be vastly improved through netted assets that link our attack forces

to the sensors, decision aids, and displays.

Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)

The objective of ASW is to gain maritime superiority by rapidly finding,

destroying, or (where necessary) avoiding enemy submarines. The modern diesel

submarine, far quieter than its predecessors, works well in the role of area denial. We

can expect our adversaries to use such quiet submarines in the littorals, where the

shallow waters are noisy and cluttered.

To transform ASW, we seek to develop new operational concepts that leverage

advanced technologies to improve wide-area surveillance, detection, localization,

tracking and attack capabilities.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 3 1

Mine Countermeasures (MCM)

Effective MCM ensures that U.S. Joint and combined forces can negate mines used

by enemies to hinder the free movement and supplies by sea or from the sea base

of our forces and keep the seaways open. Our transformational efforts will work to

develop new systems for mine detection and clearance, including systems organic

to forward-deployed combat ships. To detect and neutralize mines, both dedicated

and organic MCM will employ various unmanned vehicles. These sophisticated,

networked craft will patrol the surface, the air, and underwater. Other new MCM

technologies that may support future Naval operations include advanced detection

systems on patrol aircraft and UAVs. These will locate and identify sea and land

mines by using multi-spectral electro-optics or laser detection.

Next-Generation Magnetic and Acoustic Minesweeping Systems

Carried into combat by MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters and UAVs, the nextgeneration magnetic and acoustic minesweeping systems will be able to operate in

very shallow waters and the surf zones. These new capabilities, organic to deployed

Naval forces, will work in conjunction with other MCM assets;

collectively they increase our Navy’s ability to maneuver in potentially mined

areas during combat.

Manned and unmanned aircraft—by virtue of their speed, area of coverage,

versatility, and payload—will continue to be indispensable against the submarine

threat. For example, the P-3C Anti-Surface Warfare Improvement Program (AIP) and

the future Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) will participate in multiple ASW and

anti-surface warfare (ASUW) roles to assist the battle group commander.

The Navy is developing the Advanced Low Frequency Sonar to increase

dramatically the acoustic capabilities of ship-based MH-60R helicopters. The

Navy could detect exposed enemy periscopes by deploying the Automatic

Radar Periscope Detection System, which can be carried

on aircraft as well as on surface ships. Over the longer

term, our research efforts seek to develop active and

passive electro-optical techniques for integration into

manned aircraft or UAVs.
32 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Homeland Defense

Sea Shield extends homeland security to the fullest extent through a national

effort that will integrate forward-deployed Naval forces with the other military

services, civil authorities, and intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.

Working with the newly established Northern Command, we will identify, track,

and intercept dangers long before they threaten our homeland. These operations

will extend the security of the United States far seaward, taking advantage of the

time and space afforded by Naval forces to shield our nation from impending

threats. Naval aircraft such as the Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), the

E-2C Hawkeye, and the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV, in addition

to ships and submarines, could provide comprehensive situational awareness to

cue intercepting units. Additional concepts involve installing advanced sensors

on blimps and other lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicles.

Other missions include Theater Air and Missile Defense (TAMD), with Naval and

Joint forces intercepting enemy missiles in the boost or mid-course phases. Still

another mission could involve Joint operations with civil and law-enforcement

agencies to detect and interdict suspect vessels.

We are also exploring ways to process and display the vast quantities of

intelligence data related to the maritime battlespace. To create actionable

“Maritime Domain Awareness,” we must develop automated systems that will

assimilate, correlate, and display the data—then share the information with the

relevant authorities. This information could, for example, ensure timely interdiction

of suspicious vessels and aircraft.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 3 3
34 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sea Basing

Naval forces operating on the high seas enjoy a level of independence unique

among the Armed Forces. This concept is foundational to Sea Basing, the third

aspect of Sea Power 21. It refers to our ability to project Joint operational

independence and sustain our forward-deployed Naval forces at sea for extended

periods, thus minimizing the constraints that host nations place on our overseas

land bases. Joint Force Commanders will thus be more able to exploit the maritime

environment’s inherent mobility, security, and flexibility. In this way, they will seize

the initiative in sea-based operations and thus drive operational timelines.

Sea Basing will also aid our allies by reducing or eliminating their need to

maintain shore-based logistical stockpiles. This will, in turn, reduce the need to

protect these stockpiles from enemy attack. Given the shifting alliances of 21st

Century geopolitics, Sea Basing offers our Navy a tremendous advantage. We will

exploit this advantage by means of the following capabilities:

• Accelerated Deployment and Employment Times;

• Enhanced Sea-borne Positioning of Joint Assets;

• Offensive and Defensive Power Projection

(not described below);

• Integrated Joint Logistics

(not described below);

• and Command and Control

(not described below).
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 3 5

Accelerated Deployment and Employment Times

Sea Basing will markedly compress deployment and employment times. The

forwardly-deployed Navy of the 21st Century, with decreased reliance on ports and

land-based airfields, will reduce force-protection requirements and be able to

project ground combat power from the sea within days rather than weeks or

months. Our integrated combatant and auxiliary Naval forces will become a single

netted force, thereby making Naval expeditionary warfare faster and more effective.

We will achieve significantly higher closure speeds in delivering ground troops

from the secure Sea Base either to the dispersed forces ashore or directly to the

objective. To do this, we will rely on vertical-lift aircraft such as the MV-22, as well as

on rotary-winged aircraft and high-speed surface vessels. Sea Basing will allow us

rapidly to deliver and assemble a ground force even the size of a Marine

Expeditionary Brigade. The Navy is also considering ways to

combine advanced technology with “old” concepts such as

sea planes and wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vehicles.

Sea Basing will also involve development of a new generation of combat logistics

ships; their higher capacity will enhance our ability to resupply and sustain the seabased forces.

Enhanced Sea-borne Positioning of Joint Assets

Sea Basing is based upon an enduring reality—that the maritime world offers

commanders the most mobile and secure area for operations. The Joint Force

Commander can expand the battlespace beyond enemy reach by moving assets

over the oceans and seas—thus establishing an optimal position for critical

command and control, fire support, and logistics.

 Furthermore, this advantage allows the Expeditionary Strike Force to maneuver

out of harm’s way, simultaneously giving time to protect and repair combat

equipment and replenish at sea. The strike group can then resume combat

operations from the most advantageous position.
36 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

FORCEnet—The Catalyst for

Making Sea Power 21 a Reality

“FORCEnet is the operational construct and architectural framework for Naval

Warfare in the Information Age which integrates Warriors, sensors, networks ,

command and control, platforms and weapons into a networked, distributed combat

force, scalable across the spectrum of conflict from seabed to space and sea to land.”

(CNO’s Strat egic Study Group – XXI definition)

FORCEnet is the Navy’s means for transforming Sea Power 21 from operational

concept to operational reality. Dispersed human decision-makers, exploiting

current and new technologies, will leverage military capabilities and achieve

information dominance across the entire mission landscape. This will involve close

coordination with Joint, allied, and coalition partners.

FORCEnet comprises a vast architecture of networked systems, networks, and

interfaces. It is the glue that binds the information nodes of the 21st Century naval

force. Warfighters will gain access to information via a series of secure and

transparent interfaces. When joined with the operational capabilities of Sea Power

21, FORCEnet will help U.S. forces gain and maintain dominance across the entire

battlespace—from seabed to space, from sea to land.

The battlespace is our base of operations, one that moves with the force and can

be positioned anywhere in order to project power. By extending “zones of

superiority” over landing forces, Naval and Joint Force Commanders protect those

forces as they accomplish their missions and establish their own defensive zones.

By enhancing the combined power of units working together, FORCEnet effectively

extends our battlespace’s range and geographic influence.

FORCEnet will improve decision-making at every command level, both in speed

and quality. Greater situational awareness will increase commanders’ ability to

dissuade, deter or decisively defeat any enemy. Power projection, characterized by

distributed precise fires, will mass on targeted threats in the littoral regions. We will

achieve a persistent sensor-to-shooter capability, maximizing fire results while

minimizing our personnel’s risk of enemy attack. This distributed combat power—

across platforms, warfighters, and systems—will help commanders sustain Naval

assets efficiently and “in stride.”

Naval Aviation ordnance will increase its precision and lethality as FORCEnet nets

missile sensors and guidance systems. The distribution of smart-weapon sensor

information will improve battle damage assessment (BDA) and our ability to restrike. Increased efficiency of ordnance delivery also will dramatically reduce the

vulnerability of our manned and unmanned assets.

FORCEnet will also enable Naval Aviation to connect more effectively with Joint

architectures. This will bring together Joint command-and-control (C2) elements

and weapons systems in a robust, secure, and scalable way.

In seeking to integrate Naval networks and systems, FORCEnet always focuses on

our Fleet, seeking to place these integrated capabilities into the hands of the

warfighters—the “point of the spear.” Initiatives such as the Navy-Marine Corps

Intranet (NMCI) and Information Technology for the 21st Century (IT21) will ensure
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 3 7

that all afloat and shore commands stay in constant two-way communication with

the rest of the Navy. Most importantly, FORCEnet will ensure that existing and future

systems are fully interoperable and highly flexible, able to support dynamic C2 on

current Joint and coalition missions.

This emphasis on the warfighter means that aircraft cockpits and crew stations

will change as well, gaining additional combat power through advanced avionics

and other technology. Naval Aviators and crews will immerse themselves within a

common operating environment (COE), via a common operating picture (COP). This

environment will provide aircrews with the accurate and up-to-date information

needed for effective and decisive action.

Other gains will come to in-flight mission planning, rehearsal, or re-strike

planning. These will improve our ability to maintain the tempo of battle while

continually and persistently destroying elusive time critical targets. FORCEnet

will also vastly improve our capabilities in electronic warfare (EW) and littoral

anti-submarine warfare (ASW), as well as in information operations (IO).

FORCEnet will enable Naval Aviation combat forces, in concert with other Naval

and Joint forces, to achieve battlespace dominance across the full range of military

operations. Naval Aviation will play a central role in maintaining this unrivaled

superiority over the long term.
38 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Processes & Initiatives for Sea Power 21

Sea Warrior

Sea Power 21 will require a force of Naval professionals who are more

knowledgeable, skilled, and technically astute than today’s workforce. Sea Warrior

will meet that requirement through enhanced assessment, assignment, training, and

education. We will compete successfully for tomorrow’s workforce by ensuring that

our human resources policy focuses on all Navy personnel—whether professional,

active duty, reserve, or civilian.

The Revolution in Navy Training has entered a new phase with the establishment

of the Naval Personnel Development Command (NPDC), which stood up at Naval

Station Norfolk in January 2003. NPDC will oversee creation and implementation of

a new system of Naval education, one that institutionalizes and builds on initiatives

such as Sailor Advocacy and Task Force EXCEL (Excellence Through Our Commitment

to Education and Learning). The Command will continue working with the Fleet to

expand existing partnerships with academia and private industry.

Sailor Advocacy / Project SAIL

This initiative fundamentally changes how the Navy handles career management

and detailing, giving Sailors a stronger voice and greater control over career

decisions. Supported by command leadership and mentoring relationships, it also

relies on teaming between individual command retention teams and experienced

single points of contact at the Naval Military Personnel Command (NMPC).

Project SAIL (Sailor Advocacy Through Interactive Leadership) encompasses

several programs that will help Sailors match their preferences and abilities to

realistic and fruitful career choices. “Intelligent software agents” work within a

web-based architecture to provide personnel with all needed information,

including real-time job descriptions and locations. Users can even apply online for

available positions. Other features allow users to exchange e-mail with detailers to

obtain additional information, plan careers, and negotiate assignments. Through this

high-technology initiative, we will be able to do a better job of matching the right

person with the right job at the right time.
N A ON VISI 
Professional Development

Personal Development

Leadership

Certifications and

Qualifications

Performance

Recruit Apprentice Journeyman Master

EXCEL

40 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Revolution in Training

The Navy established Task Force EXCEL as the catalyst for the CNO’s Revolution in

Training. This revolutionary concept will optimize mission accomplishment as well

as Sailors’ personal and professional advancement. Through Task Force EXCEL

initiatives, the Navy will maintain a continuous stream of successful leaders for the

21st Century and beyond.

Task Force EXCEL initiatives will incorporate rating-based Sailor Continuums that

will change promotion and detailing by serving as career roadmaps, identifying all

opportunities for training and education. A rating continuum will incorporate

professional development, personal development, qualifications and certifications,

leadership, and performance. This initiative will dramatically increase the use of

onboard training/simulation packages, as well as computer-based distance-learning

programs. Professional development efforts will integrate relevant industry-related

credentials and appropriate college-level credits. The Navy has already begun to

develop continuums for the enlisted aviation ratings AD, AS, AM, AW, and AZ.

Task Force EXCEL initiatives will draw on the science of learning to prepare Sailors

and Marines to operate in the network centric warfare environment of the 21st

Century. A key asset in this effort will be research in human performance, both in

basic research and technology-base development.

In support of Task Force EXCEL initiatives, the Navy will make training

performance-based. Researchers will use job performance aids, electronic

education or “e-learning,” combat-systems adjustments, manpower adjustments,

and personnel selection. The goal will be to determine exactly what knowledge,

skills, and abilities our personnel require, then combine these findings with our

existing knowledge of human learning and performance. The individually tailored

training created through this process will support each Sailor’s optimal job success.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 4 1

Sea Power 21 will require complex weapons systems; these will, in turn, require

better-trained Sailors to operate them. Better training will require more advanced

simulation and training technology. The Navy will pursue promising research and

development efforts in the following areas to make Task Force EXCEL successful:

• Modeling and Simulation: Acquire better techniques to represent dynamic

human performance and to automate instruction. These include improvements

to the behavioral realism of computer-generated forces, the development of

intelligent agents to support training, and better training in virtual

environments.

• Instructional Strategies: Develop scenario-based and on-the-job training, as

well as strategies for mentoring, coaching, and knowledge management.

• Advanced Distributed Learning: Develop the learning technologies and

assessment tools for individuals and large distributed teams.

• Performance Enhancement: Improve readiness and computer support for

advanced job assistance; such technologies will include interactive electronic

technical manuals and intelligent tutoring. This will involve developing

techniques to measure training effectiveness and human performance, as well

as assisting in the design of human-centered systems.

• Basic Research/Laboratory and Field Research: Undertake basic research to

acquire foundational knowledge in human systems applications. Through

laboratory and fieldwork, training systems will be designed and procured using

new and innovative technologies.
SEA WARRIOR IMPACT

• Continual 

professional growth 

and development

• Improved selection 

and classification

• Interactive, webbased, incentivized 

training

• Networked, highimpact training

SOURCE: CNO’s article 

“Sea Power 21: Projecting 

Decisive Joint Capabilities,” 

U.S.N.I. Proceedings, 

October 2002.

42 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Naval Aviation Training Strategic Advisory Group (NATSAG)

NATSAG serves as the Operational Advisory Group for Naval Aviation Training, to

identify and act on crucial issues that cut across disciplines. These issues include

science and technology efforts, integrated Fleet training, aircrew, technical training,

manpower, and training-range issues. The NATSAG process formalizes the way we

set priorities and resource requirements, as well as how we resolve near-term

training issues. NATSAG’s efforts relate strongly to Naval Aviation’s current vision,

mission, goals, and objectives. This includes developing a clear training continuum

for each officer and enlisted member of Naval Aviation—pilots, Naval Flight Officers

(NFOs), aircrew, and maintenance personnel.

Additional objectives include:

• To introduce advancements in technology, education and simulation;

• To identify and prioritize “street to Fleet” training continuum requirements for

aircrew and maintenance personnel;

• To identify and prioritize Science and Technology (S&T) issues;

• To introduce and refine strategies, master plans and roadmaps that foster

performance-based training and support optimal readiness.

Ongoing NATSAG efforts in support of Sea Warrior initiatives include:

• Naval Aviation Production Process Improvement: This will reduce training

time, thereby meeting the Fleet’s requirements for trained pilots and NFOs.

• Aviation Maintenance Training Continuum System (AMTCS): Using electronic

classrooms and web-enabled electronic courseware, this system delivers

training to all aviation-maintenance personnel “from the Schoolhouse to the

Fleet.”

• Chief of Naval Aviation Training 21 (CNATRA 21) Roadmap: This leverages

technology to ensure that the Navy continues to possess the best training

aircraft and simulators.

• Fleet Aircrew Simulator Training (FAST) Plan: This will deliver networked,

tactically relevant simulators to the Fleet.

Naval Air Reserve

Sea Warrior ensures that the Naval Air Reserve capitalizes on our personnel’s

training and experience. This will provide a force-level surge capability for

escalated homeland defense and forward deployments. Our fully integrated Reserve

forces will seamlessly parallel and complement active units to augment personnel

and hardware as quickly as possible. Naval Air Reservists’ knowledge and skills will

also expand our home forces’ capacity for flight and ground instruction, enabling

Naval Aviation to meet the increased demand for trained warfighters.

The Reserves will continue to serve as a proven source of flexibility—one which

offers support capability at reduced cost, relieves stress on active personnel tempo,

and can be mobilized for wartime and contingency operations. Like FORCEnet,

Naval Reserve capabilities potentially encompass the entire breadth of Navy

operations. This operational and organizational agility will help bridge uncertainty

as the Navy realizes its vision for the future.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 4 3
SEA TRIAL IMPACT

• Fleet-led, enduring 

process of innovation

• Accelerated concept 

and technology 

development

• Enhanced 

headquarters / Fleet 

alignment

SOURCE: CNO’s article 

“Sea Power 21: Projecting 

Decisive Joint Capabilities,” 

U.S.N.I. Proceedings, 

October 2002.

44 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sea Trial

Sea Trial streamlines and integrates the Navy’s experimentation process, putting

the Fleet at the heart of innovation. This initiative aims to speed prototyping, enrich

concept development, and coordinate experimentation more fully. We will “push”

forward the basic research, science, and technology, and “pull” from documented

warfighting requirements in order to develop and acquire new systems. Our

research, science, and acquisition communities will monitor and support promising

technologies, then incorporate these technologies into advanced systems that we

will deliver to our warfighters in the Fleet.

The Fleet’s Role

The Fleet leads Sea Trial: under the guidance of the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces

Command (CFFC), the Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) will serve as

Project Coordinator. By integrating the Fleet with technological and conceptual

centers of excellence, we will significantly advance the Navy’s ability to project

combat power.

These centers of excellence include the systems commands, or SYSCOMs, as well

as the testing and evaluation facilities. NAVAIR’s Warfare Centers, for example,

possess extensive facilities for demonstrating the promise of new aviation

technologies. Reconfiguration of test aircraft and weapons, as well as high-fidelity

modeling and simulation, allow the Fleet to see a wide array of future capabilities.
CONCEPT WARGAME INTEGRATE VALIDATE DEPLOY

SEA

TRIAL ADVANCED 

CONCEPTS

/TECHNOLOGY

CONCEPT 

A N A LYS I S

/PROTOTYPING

FLEET 

WARGAMES

/EXERCISES

JOINT 

EXERCISES

SEA SHIELD

SEA BASE

SEA STRIKE

CONCEPT PULL

TECHNOLOGY PUSH

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 4 5

The Warfare Centers’ airspace and weapons ranges also support early Fleet

experimentation, demonstration, and validation of systems, weapons, and aircraft

still under development. These test articles, for example, participate in Fleet Battle

Experiments (FBE).

Naval Aviation will support Sea Trial in a variety of ways, both within the

Navy and through Joint programs. Within the Navy, this will include funding

Office of Naval Research (ONR) programs. Our partnerships include Joint programs

with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Joint-service

technology and acquisition programs. Ongoing rapid prototyping and technology

insertion efforts will continue through the Advanced Technology Review Board

process; this provides a formal means to review capabilities, requirements, and

technology approaches.
Capability

Development

Capability

Refinement

Capability

Implementation

Capability

User Feedback

Analysis

Modeling & 

Simulation

Demonstrations

Experiments

Exercises

Fielded

Mission

Capability

& Assessment Results

Refinements

Organization CO-EVOLUTION

Weapons Systems

CONOPS/Doctrine

Logistics

Personnel

Command Arrangements C4ISR Systems

Training/Education

46 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Research Partnerships

ONR established the Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) program to balance

near-term and long-term requirements. Under this new process, the Department of

the Navy applies approximately half of its Science and Technology (S&T) budget to

over 200 programs that address the Fleet’s near-term operational requirements.

Aviation Program Managers, acting as transition sponsors, are closely linked to

individual FNC programs to ensure that the Fleet receives these capabilities more

quickly.

ONR also conducts exploratory and advanced development research in multiple

fields of research. These include aeronautics; avionics; air vehicle propulsion; solid

and air breathing propulsion for missiles, gun propulsion, projectile guidance and

control for missiles and guns; warheads; fuse, safe, and arm devices; fire control; and

targeting.

The Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) process, run jointly by

DARPA and ONR, allows the Fleet to evaluate advanced technologies that offer

significant advantages to Naval warfighters. First, the Fleet can test mature

technologies for operational performance and their ability to address immediate

military problems. Second, these demonstrations provide a basis to evaluate and

refine operational requirements, develop a corresponding CONOPS, and ultimately

produce a sound understanding of the technology’s military usefulness. Finally, the

ACTDs seek to provide “residual” operational capabilities as an interim solution

prior to procurement.

Co-Evolution and Spiral Development

The illustration below displays how Naval Aviation will make operational reality

out of the Naval capabilities that support Sea Strike, Sea Shield, Sea Basing, and

FORCEnet. This approach emphasizes “co-evolution,” or simultaneous development

of the ways in which we organize, equip, and fight. This approach also emphasizes

“spiral development”; researchers seek incremental advances that will build upon

one another, thereby achieving greater results.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 4 7

This will improve technology insertion, eliminate systemic problems with

interoperability, and focus on improving combat capabilities. The process includes

development of associated command concepts; doctrine; tactics, techniques, and

procedures (TTP); organizational arrangements; personnel; information flows;

systems; material; education; training; and logistics.

Through the Sea Trial initiative, the Fleet

will be able to capitalize more effectively

upon the unique expertise and capabilities

found in the Navy’s systems commands and

testing-and-evaluation centers. By creating a

closer link between technologies’

development and their operational

implementation, Sea Trial will enable

tomorrow’s Fleet to maintain its dominance

in a rapidly changing world.

The NAVAIR Ranges

NAVAIR’s Ranges are uniquely organized to support the Sea Trial concept,

serving to enable the testing and experimentation process. They also foster the

development and insertion of advanced Naval Aviation technologies and concepts.

Under a unified national command structure, the Atlantic and Pacific RDT&E ranges

provide the Fleet’s planning personnel with a single point of entry for training

and experimentation.

These engineering capabilities give the Fleet a vision of the possible and support

the Fleet’s Sea Trial and Joint Environment Experimentation across multiple warfare

areas. Modeling and Simulation (M&S) facilities allow creation of “virtual

environments,” while the open-air ranges permit testing and evaluation (T&E) in live

situations. The Atlantic and Pacific Ranges host Fleet Readiness, Training and

Qualification exercises, including all phases of the interdeployment training cycle.

The Ranges’ facilities and other assets, including High Performance Computing,

support major Fleet Battle Experiments such as Millennium Challenge 02, providing

networked sensors, test communications, Time Space Position Information (TSPI),

threat systems, and exercise-data collection.

With direction from the Commander, Fleet Forces Command (CFFC), NAVAIR Range

engineers are working with Fleet Exercise and Experiment planners to develop the

Training Range Strategy (TRS), which will become the Roadmap for all future Fleet

Exercise planning. NAVAIR is working with the Navy’s sister services to eliminate

redundant range infrastructure and thereby free more funds for warfighting.

Initiatives such as the Chesapeake Regional Range Cooperative (CRRC) have not only

reduced total operating costs but also significantly increased NAVAIR Range use.
SEA ENTERPRISE 

IMPACT

• Greater process 

efficiencies

• Divestment of noncore functions

• Organizational 

streamlining

• Enhanced 

investment in 

warfighting 

capability

SOURCE: CNO’s article 

“Sea Power 21: Projecting 

Decisive Joint Capabilities,” 

U.S.N.I. Proceedings, 

October 2002.

48 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sea Enterprise

Sea Enterprise will enhance warfighting effectiveness by instituting better

business practices throughout the Navy, in support of Defense Dept. goals for

military transformation. The Navy will enhance spiral development as it aligns its

organization, refines requirements, harvests efficiencies, and reinvests savings. In

assessing its organization, the Navy will employ process-mapping techniques and

other lessons from the business revolution. These assessments will target and

prioritize areas for improvement then fund them accordingly. Such changes will

strengthen Naval Aviation’s culture of productivity, as well as help to balance future

investments against current operational needs.

Increased inter-service integration also holds great promise. The Navy and Marine

Corps’ tactical aviation (TACAIR) integration plan, for example, will save both

services billions of dollars, enhance interoperability, and integrate personnel more

fully. We will share technologies and systems wherever possible—the Navy is

already working with the Coast Guard on the latter’s Deepwater Integrated Systems

Program, with the Air Force in the development of new munitions, with the Army in

the development of high-speed vessels, and with the Marine Corps on a new

combined intelligence structure.

Long-term plans for aircraft recapitalization require Naval Aviation to make best

use of scarce resources. To avoid the high operating costs associated with the aging

Fleet, we must replace legacy platforms at a rate of 210 aircraft and 10 ships per

year. This rate of replacement will maintain near-term readiness at levels permitting

rapid crisis response. We will achieve this by implementing initiatives from

Department of Defense agencies such as the Business Initiatives Council (BIC). These

initiatives include divestiture or disinvestments of legacy systems and expensive

platforms, such as the F-14 Tomcat and the S-3 Viking, that are no longer critical to

the Navy’s mission or transformation. New aircraft designs, such as the V-22 Osprey

and the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), will have far lower operating costs than the legacy

systems they replace.
IDENTIFY HARVEST REINVEST REALIZE

PROCESS 

MAPPING

TARGETING 

EFFICIENCIES

ASSET 

REALLOCATION

ENHANCED 

CAPABILITY

HEADQUARTERS

SUPPORT

SEA ENTERPRISE 

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 4 9

Naval Aviation acquisition must transform in order to gain new capabilities more

quickly. In addition to divestiture and new development, this requires aggressive

action to reduce overhead, streamline processes, improve networking, and

scrutinize procurement and contracting plans. Our approach to change must be

“holistic,” taking into account both current fiscal realities and our operational

commitments. Guided by an adaptable organization, we will combine our “fully

netted” forces with affordable technology and innovative operational concepts.

Our strategies include:

• Force-level planning and analysis options to optimize aircraft affordability.

• Warfare analysis to determine the mission effectiveness of proposed alternative

investments.

• Analysis to identify operations and support (O&S) cost drivers and to identify

cost-effective profiles for modernization and recapitalization.

• Fleet-responsive review and analysis of logistics processes.

• Initiatives such as Navy/Marine TACAIR Integration to provide the optimal

balance between efficiency and warfighting effectiveness.

• Achieving the right investment portfolio of Sea Strike, Sea Shield, Sea Basing, and

FORCEnet capabilities. This includes understanding the investment/risk

tradeoffs of buying more of one capability and less of another.

The Sea Enterprise revolution is ongoing—we will continue to improve Naval

Aviation’s efficiency and performance. This initiative will enable economies in

acquisition, research, and Fleet/field support (including non-operational activities).

The Navy will thereby focus more resources on its main mission: building the

dominant Fleet envisioned in Sea Power 21.
50 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
SEA POWER 21

WEAPONS

• JASSM

• JSOW, AARGM/QB

• JDAM, HART 

• DAGR/LOGIR

• JCM

• AMRAAM P3I

• AIM-9X

PLATFORMS

• CVN-21

• EA-18G

• F/A-18E/F

• JSF

• UCAV-N

• BAMS UAV

• E-2 Advanced 

Hawkeye

• E-6B

• MMA

• MH-60R/S

• KC-130J

• MV-22

• CH-53E

• AH-1Z

• UH-1Y

SENSORS

• ATFLIR AESA 

Phase II

• SHARP P3I

• AEA Digital Sys

• MMA

• JMOD II

• SH-60R MMRS (SAR/PD)

• RMP P3I

• AQS-22 

NETWORKS

• Wide Band Network (WBN)

• JSIP-N/Follow-On

• CDL-N

• JMPS

• CEC/JCTN

• TBMCS

• JC-2, IT-21, NMCI

• LINK 4/11

• JWACS SIPRNET/NIPRNET

Sea Shield

• Theater Air & Missile Defense

• Littoral Sea Control

• Homeland Defense

• Force Entry Enabling

Sea Strike

• Time Sensitive Strike

• Persistent ISR

• EW/IO

• STOM

• Covert Strike

Sea Basing

• Accelerated Deployment & Employment Time

• Enhanced Sea-borne Positioning of Joint Assets

• Offensive and Defensive Power Projection 

• Integrated Joint Logistics 

• Command and Control

Naval Aviation Capabilities

AIR

SEA

SPACE

WARFIGHTER

SENSORS NETWORKS

DECISION AIDS WEAPONS

SEABED

FORCENET

SHORE

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 5 1

Roadmaps

The following section contains roadmaps and descriptions of aircraft carriers,

networks and systems, sensors, weapons, and platforms that incorporate

technologies key to making Sea Power 21 an operational reality. Naval Aviation’s

recapitalization and modernization plan will emphasize replacement of legacy

platforms and systems with new technologies.

The roadmaps and descriptions alike have resulted from extended and careful

discussions within Naval Aviation. They represent the combat experience of the

Fleet warfighters, the strategic planning of the Air Warfare Division (N78), and the

technological expertise of NAVAIR. The roadmaps also reflect the Navy’s close

partnership with industry, which will continue to grow, ensuring that increasingly

efficient advanced warfare technologies will remain available into the future. The

Navy will also ensure its acquisition policies, doctrines, and leadership remain

flexible, in order to focus on the Fleet and its needs. In this way, Naval Aviation will

realize the full promise of Sea Power 21.
52 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Aircraft Carriers

The aircraft carrier is the bedrock of Naval Aviation and the centerpiece of U.S.

forward-deployment strategy. Since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. Presidents

have repeatedly responded to international crises with the query, “Where are the

carriers?” From World War II onward, aircraft carriers and their embarked air wings

have enabled forward presence and ensured global access.

In the last ten years alone, large-deck carriers have been called upon to respond to,

and engage in, over 20 separate international crisis situations. These have ranged

from deterring Iraqi aggression in support of Operation Northern and Southern

Watch to air strikes in Bosnia as part of Operation Deliberate Force. More recently, in

Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, carrier-based air wings flew strike

and other missions against Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorist forces in Afghanistan and

targets associated with Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

The flexibility, self-sustainability, and overwhelming striking power of the

large-deck carrier have been repeatedly validated in the crucible of real-world

operations around the globe. The wisdom of the large-deck carrier’s design, and its

inherent capabilities, give these carriers the persistence, power, and presence to be

fundamental to our national defense strategy.

Over the past 45 years, numerous studies have repeatedly shown the large-deck

carriers’ affordability and operational advantages. Our nuclear-powered carriers are

highly survivable due to their speed (in excess of 30 knots), size, and construction.

They are difficult to target, have the large space needed to absorb the energy from

hits, and incorporate more survivability enhancements than any other type of ship.

The large-deck carrier also outperforms smaller carriers by a wide margin in all key

capabilities—strike, sustainment, employability (speed, endurance, safety, and

survivability), and enablers. These enablers are the electronic attack, airborne early

warning, organic ISR, and other combat capabilities that reside in the carrier air wing.
2015

CVN 21

• 800 Fewer Billets

• 300% More Power

CVN 77

• 60-210 Fewer Billets

• $1.1-2.0B TOC Reduction Selected Backfit

TODAY 2020

Integrated 

Warfare 

System

Design 

Improvements

Commercial 

Ship 

Technologies

• N e w P r o p u l s i o n P l a n t

• New Electrical 

Generation and 

Distribution

• Advanced Arresting 

Gear (AAG)

• Advanced Flight-Deck 

Design

• Electro-Magnetic 

Aircraft Launch 

System (EMALS)

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 5 3

In short, our large-deck carriers represent far greater capability than small-deck

carriers, at a fractional increase in cost. A clear lesson, learned and relearned over the

past 50 years, is that the U.S. will need the large-deck carrier as long as there

are oceans.

As a result of extensive analysis, the Navy has determined that it requires at least

12 carriers (with an optimum force of 15) to provide the forward presence and surge

capability needed for 21st Century operations. The current force is built largely

around the nuclear-powered NIMITZ-class aircraft carrier, first launched in 1975. The

Navy has eight NIMITZ-class carriers in service and will add two more to the Fleet

over the next six years. The first will be CVN 76, to be commissioned as USS RONALD

REAGAN in 2003. The second, CVN 77, has been designated the GEORGE H.W. BUSH

and is scheduled for commissioning in 2008.

The GEOR GE H.W. BUSH, the last of the nearly 40-year-old NIMITZ-class design, will

incorporate numerous design improvements to reduce manpower as well as

increase our Sailors’ quality of life. In line with the Navy’s goal of seeking business

efficiencies, many of these improvements come from recent developments in

commercial shipping.

While CVN 77 will modernize the large-deck carrier, its design cannot support its

intended preeminence in the 21st Century Carrier Strike Group and the Global

CONOPS. The NIMITZ-class design, developed in an age of inexpensive manpower

and before the information-technology explosion, has been stretched to the limit.

Service Life Allowances in numerous areas constrain the class’s future growth—

these include weight and center of gravity, electric load margin, aircraft capacity,

material handling, and future weapons requirements.
54 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 5 5

Construction on CVN 21 is slated to begin in 2007. This represents the next step in

the Navy’s evolutionary carrier strategy. CVN 21 will incorporate an enhanced reactor

design and electrify all ship auxiliary systems outside of the main propulsion plant,

eliminating steam/hydraulic and pneumatic piping, all while reducing lifecycle costs.

The CVN 21 program’s approach to design and spiral development reduces risk by

introducing new technologies and capability at an affordable pace. CVN 21 will

restore growth and electrical margins no longer available in the 40-year-old NIMITZ

design and will support Naval Aviation’s transformational capabilities.

Some of the most important improvements in the CVN 21 series relate to power

generation. The improved reactor and zonal electric distribution system increase

electric power generation capacity by 300% over the NIMITZ design. The

electrification of the CVN 21 class enables transformational systems such as the

Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). The new carriers will also include

an advanced arresting gear system, a redesigned hull, and a more efficient flight

deck. These changes will further reduce supercarriers’ costly manning requirements,

to about 60% of the crew complement of a NIMITZ-class carrier.

Significant research and development effort still remains to obtain required

capabilities for flight operations and survivability, thus ensuring that this futuristic

warship takes full advantage of cutting-edge technologies coming available

between now and Fleet introduction.

Often described as four and one-half acres of sovereign U.S. territory, the aircraft

carrier has repeatedly proven its worth in carrying out national policy around the

globe. From the Battle of Midway to combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the

carriers have repeatedly been first on the scene and consistently ready to fight upon

arrival. The carriers have remained relevant and effective thanks to their increasing

sophistication and that of their embarked air wings. Advanced CVN 21 carriers,

armed with aircraft such as the Super Hornet, Joint Strike Fighter, and Unmanned

Combat Air Vehicles, will continue to maintain the United States’ primacy of the seas

into the foreseeable future.
56 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Future Air Wings

As we anticipate the era 2020-2025, we foresee that the next-generation aircraft

carriers will require next-generation air wings. This will require aircraft whose

technological evolution matches that of the CVN 21 carriers. By mid-century, the

aircraft carrier and its air wing will be operating in a type of network centric

environment that we can only begin to imagine today.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 5 7

We expect the types and numbers of the platforms in the notional air wing of the

future to comprise:

• 44-50 strike fighters (F/A-18, JSF)

• 12 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles, Navy (UCAV-N)

– Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)

– Strike/Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD)

• 4-6 next-generation Airborne Electronic Aircraft (AEA)

• 4-6 E-2C Advanced Hawkeye aircraft

• 10 MH-60R/S helicopters

Additionally, two C-2A Carrier Onboard Delivery aircraft will support the air wing

and approximately 12 MH-60R/S helicopters will be deployed on other ships of the

Carrier Strike Group. Working together, the CVN 21 carrier and its next-generation

air wing will be a dominant force in the world of tomorrow—no matter what or

where the threat may be.
TODAY FYDP 2010

 Platform-Centric Network-Centric 

Link-16 (JTIDS)

JSIP-N DE

Link-16 (MIDS)

Link-16/WBN

JSIP-N JCA

Wide-Band 

Network (WBN) 

JSIP-Follow on

FTI CDL-N

(SHARP/ATARS/UAV) CDL-N

TAMPS TAMPS/JMPS JMPS

CEC IOC CEC CEC/JCTN

JC-2 / IT-21 / NMCI / Link 4/11 

JWACS SIPR NET/NIPR NET

TBMCS E-6 VLF, MCS, EAM Relay

58 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Networks and Systems

Networks and systems designed to be interoperable with Joint forces will be

fundamental to FORCEnet and battlespace dominance. These systems will lead to

greater combat power through fusion of critical sensor images, signals, and data; and

through timely distribution of processed information to warfighters.

The chart and associated paragraphs below describe how the Navy will transform

the numerous planning and data-link systems that will contribute to FORCEnet.

The Joint Service Imagery Processing System (JSIPS) & JSIPS-N (Navy) will be

installed on all aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, and command ships. The

system is a ship- and shore-based processing facility that receives and exploits

various types of imagery from national and tactical reconnaissance programs. Data

include transmissions from infrared, electro-optical, and synthetic aperture radar

(SAR).

The Navy version, JSIPS-N, provides near-real-time imagery in support of Fleet

and CVN battle-group intelligence and strike-mission planning. It also supports

primary exploitation and dissemination of intelligence from tactical organic and

theater imagery.

The Common Data Link-Navy (CDL-N) will be installed in aircraft carriers,

amphibious warships and amphibious command ships. The surface-mounted

terminal receives signal and imagery intelligence data from remote sensors. It

transmits link and sensor control data to airborne ISR platforms.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 5 9

The CDL-N system also links airborne ISR sensors and the shipboard processors of

the JSIPS-N and the Battle Group Passive Horizon Extension System-Surface Terminal.

The transmission takes place via an airborne CDL terminal to airborne sensor systems.

The F/A-18E/F will use the CDL-N to transmit tactical imagery from its onboard

SHAred Reconnaissance Pod (SHARP) system.

Naval Mission Planning Systems (NavMPS) is a suite of applications that will

benefit from and contribute to persistent ISR, as it helps personnel to plan and

execute tactical air operations. The suite includes the Tactical Automated Mission

Planning System (TAMPS), the Navy Portable Flight Planning Software (N–PFPS), and

the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS).

These systems and follow-on integrations offer important new features that

extend the Navy’s ability to plan and execute TACAIR operations. Aircrew will be

able to plan and fly their missions using navigational databases, certified aircraft-fuel

performance, and charts from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA). The

systems also enable the planning and use of precision weapons such as SLAM, JSOW

and JDAM. Other features include the ability to plan at force level. Users will be able

to parse and deconflict multiple aircraft. JMPS will also clarify to the common

operational picture (COP) by means of JC2 interoperability.

The Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system has significantly

improved the CVN battle groups’ air defense against the most sophisticated aerial

threats. This system integrates the sensor data of each cooperating ship and aircraft

into a single composite track picture—one of real-time, fire-control quality.

CEC extends to well beyond the radar horizon the range at which a ship can

engage hostile missiles and aircraft. It does this by simultaneously distributing, to

each ship within a battle group, the sensor data on airborne threats. Battle groups

thereby greatly improve their ability to defend themselves, as well as their ability to

provide area and local defense. When used in conjunction with the FORCEnet

architecture, CEC will improve targeting against enemy air and land threats, as well

as against time critical targets. The Networks and Systems Roadmap shows the

Navy’s intended transformation for CEC and other airborne systems.
LANTIRN

Nighthawk

APG-65/73

ATFLIR

APG-73 RUG 1

AESA

ATFLIR

AESA Phase II

TARPS

H-60 FLIR

ALQ-99

SHARP

ICAP-3

SHARP P3I

AEA Digital Sys

P-3 AIP

EP-3 ARIES II/SSIP

S-3 ISAR

AIP PCU

SSIP / LMOD 1

MMA

JMOD II

MH-60R MMRS 

(ISAR/PD)

E-2C APS-145

AQS-13F Sonar

Advanced 

Hawkeye

AQS-22

Advanced 

Hawkeye

P3I

AQS-22

TODAY FYDP 2010

Littoral Optimization / Stand-Off / Survivability

60 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Sensors

Sophisticated sensors, mounted on platforms operating in all dimensions of the

battlespace, will be the eyes and ears of the Fleet. The linked sensors aboard highly

survivable and flexible platforms will provide the Navy with the knowledge

dominance to exploit fully the capabilities addressed in Sea Strike and Sea Shield.

The following chart shows Naval Aviation’s roadmap for transforming its sensor

systems. The paragraphs immediately below briefly discuss selected systems.

The Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared Radar (ATFLIR) is an infrared

autonomous precision-targeting system to be incorporated into the F/A-18E/F

Super Hornet. It will permit that aircraft to acquire, recognize, and track targets with

coordinates sufficiently accurate for use with the Global Positioning System. ATFLIR

replaces the Targeting FLIR, Navigation FLIR, and laser designator tracker pods with a

single pod. This new pod, far superior in target recognition and image magnification,

frees up an additional weapons station and significantly increases standoff range. The

system can detect, classify, and track air-to-air and air-to-surface targets in daylight or

nighttime operations. The advanced architecture and solid-state electronics will

make ATFLIR far more reliable than its predecessors, as well as easier to maintain

and repair.

The F/A-18E/F’s Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) program increases

air-to-air performance in addition to providing other functions in Electronic Warfare.

Phase I will enhance air-to-air performance in a hostile electronic countermeasures

environment as well as in air-to-ground targeting. Phase II will significantly improve
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 6 1

electronic warfare functions such as target-hostile emitters, as well as

aircraft electronic protect and electronic attack functions. Both phases

allow air-to-ground autonomous targeting at standoff ranges.

The Navy plans to upgrade AESA to include reconnaissance features,

through the use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology as well as

improved hardware and software.

The proposed SHAred Reconnaissance Pod (SHARP) will increase the

Carrier Strike Group’s ability to conduct tactical air reconnaissance. This

organic system, installed on the centerline of the F/A-18E/F, operates in

day/night and all-weather conditions. It will employ a suite of sensors to

collect infrared, visible, and SAR digital imagery at medium and high

altitudes. These advances will greatly contribute to the Super Hornet’s

precision-strike power, to deliver weapons guided by the Global

Positioning System (GPS) and digital images.

The Joint Signals Intelligence Avionics Family (JSAF) Block Modernization Program

(JMOD) is a state-of-the-art “block-mod” program for the EP-3 Aries II aircraft. JMOD,

an open-architecture system for intelligence collection and dissemination, builds on

the connectivity of the Sensor System Improvement Program (SSIP).

The program is designed to refresh the Fleet’s technology rapidly, through

incremental upgrades completed during scheduled depot-level maintenance; it will

provide the Aries with a system able to exploit threat emissions beyond the year

2020.

The Radar Modernization Program (RMP) on the E-2C Advanced Hawkeye

represents a two-generation technological leap that will extend the battlespace far

over the horizon. The advanced digital radar will be able to detect targets well

beyond the horizon line, whether over land or over water. Integration with CEC will

permit an unprecedented capacity for precision targeting.

The radar modernization also “buys back” battlespace by providing precision air

surveillance and increased reaction time; thus making it critical to network centric air

operations. This system, when coupled with CEC, will fully integrate the

E-2C Advanced Hawkeye into the dual role of Theater Ballistic Missile and

Cruise Missile Defense (TBMD/CMD).

In conjunction with the Aegis and upgraded Standard Missiles (SM-2 Block IVA

and SM-3), this will allow the battle group to deploy an organic, theater-wide

cruise missile and theater ballistic missile defense. Such a defense will provide

an “umbrella” to protect high-priority defended areas as well as U.S. and

coalition forces.

The AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency (dipping) Sonar (ALFS) will be installed in the

MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter. An active/passive sonar with 2500 feet of cable,

ALFS quadruples the area coverage of the existing system.
62 NAVAL AVIATION VISION 
 NAVAL AVIATION VISION 6 3

Weapons

The Navy possesses over a dozen types of strike weapons in the categories of

precision guidance, defense suppression, free fall, and air-to-air. These weapons will

bring the precision, lethality and standoff capability to realize the overwhelming

offensive and defensive power of Sea Strike and Sea Shield.

Precision weapons will greatly increase the number of aim points per sorties and

minimize collateral damage. Lethal weapons will deny sanctuary to the enemy by

destroying a wide category of moving and hardened targets. Standoff weapons,

released outside of point air defense zones, will silently glide to impact, thereby

minimizing the vulnerability of our launching platforms to enemy air defenses yet

delivering a stealthy and lethal attack.

Beyond 2010, new weapons could include technologies in high-power

microwaves, directed energy, and hypersonics.

The focus of the following roadmaps is to show current and future air-to-air and

air-to-ground weapons and how the Navy plans to consolidate or “neck down” its

existing inventory of weapons types. Weapons used for surface and subsurface

operations are not mentioned in these roadmaps.

This reduction process will substantially aid Naval Aviation by saving investment

funds, reducing training requirements, and improving carrier operations. When

combined with advanced technology these changes greatly increase the

effectiveness of Naval air strikes and air-to-air combat.
64 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)

The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), the next generation of cruise

missiles, ultimately replaces the SLAM-ER (expanded response) series. A powered

weapon weighing 2000 pounds, JASSM has a range of over 200 miles. Features

include advanced stealth characteristics, state-of-the-art mission planning, precise

guidance, and the ability for lethal penetration.

The Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)

The Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is a family of armaments that permit Naval

aircraft to attack targets at increased standoff distances. The weapons employ both

the Global Positioning System and the Inertial Navigation System (INS) to provide

precision guidance. All JSOW variants share a common body but can be configured

for use against area targets or for bunker penetration. Future improvements may

include seekerless unitary warheads. These will be able to hit moving targets by

fusing data from airborne targeting platforms. Other improvements will provide

real-time intelligence prior to launch, as well as transmission of weapons impact

assessment (WIA) prior to detonation.

Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile/Quick Bolt (AARGM/QB)

AARGM/QB is a follow-on program to HARM. This weapon uses offboard targeting

information, an advanced Anti-Radiation Homing Receiver, and a secondary

GPS/INS/Active Millimeter Wave seeker to increase lethality against SAM radars that

shut down. It also improves the capability for battle damage assessment (BDA).

Phase II of the program provides a replacement motor which, though smaller in size,

increases the missile’s range and speed. This enhancement permits stealth aircraft to

carry HARM internally.

Hornet Autonomous Real-Time Targeting/Precision Guidance Kit

(Joint Direct Attack Munition) - HART/PGK (JDAM)

The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) with a Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) and

ATFLIR is being used as the first spiral development to the Hornet Autonomous

Real-Time Targeting (HART). This system can be attached to 500-, 1000-, and 2000-

pound general-purpose bombs. The Navy plans upgrades including an autonomous

seeker with improved terminal guidance for reduced circular error probable (CEP).
SLAM-ER SLAM-ER

JSOW A

HARM Block V

HELLFIRE

2010

JASSM

JCM

JSOW

AARGM/QB

HART, RKTS

JDAM, LGB

DAGR/LOGIR

FYDP

GBU-24

LGB, JDAM

JSOW A, C

HARM Block VI

TODAY

MAVERICK GBU-24

LASER GB GP BOMBS

TOW HELLFIRE

LASER GB JDAM

2.75" & 5" Rocket D AG R / LO G I R

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 6 5

Joint Common Missile (JCM)

JCM is the follow-on to the TOW/Maverick/Hellfire weapons, which are currently

in inventory. Initial operational capability is planned for FY08. JCM will enhance

Naval Aviation’s effectiveness in littorals, military operations in urban terrain

(MOUT), and close-air-support environments. It will be one of the prime weapons

for the AH-1Z helicopter and the F/A-18E/F Super H ornet. JCM will provide reactive

targeting to enhance prosecution of assigned threat sets.
AIM-120 

AMRAAM P 3 I

AIM-9X IOC AIM-9X

TODAY FYDP 2010

AIM-7 Sparrow

AIM-9 Sidewinder

AIM-120 AMRAAM

AIM-54 Phoenix

AIM-120C

P 3 I Phase III 

IOC

66 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

AIM-9X Sidewinder

The AIM-9X Sidewinder is a major modification to the AIM-9M Sidewinder

short-range air-to-air missile. This will provide U.S. fighters with air superiority

against tomorrow’s advanced threats. The program upgrades the missile with a

focal-plane-array guidance-control section, a highly maneuverable airframe, and

signal processors that enhance capabilities for kinematics and infrared

countermeasures. The Joint Helmet Mounted Queuing System (JHMQS) provides

“first look, first shoot” capability to Naval Aviators.

AIM-120C Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM)

The AIM-120C modernizes the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air

Missile (AMRAAM) program. This Pre-Planned Product Improvement Program (P3I)

includes clipped wings for internal carriage, propulsion enhancements, increased

warhead lethality, and enhanced electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM).
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 6 7
TODAY 2015-2025

EA-6B EA-18G

S-3B

F-14

F/A-18 A/C

JSF

UCAV-N

F/A-18 C

F/A-18 E/F

E-2C E-2 Advanced Hawkeye

P-3C/EP-3E

MMA (notional)

BAMS (notional)

E-6A/B E-6B

68 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Navy Aircraft

Multimission-capable, manned aircraft will dominate Naval Aviation’s order of

battle for the foreseeable future. The strike/fighter, electronic attack, command and

control, maritime support, and rotary wing aircraft on our roadmap will assure the

capabilities of Sea Strike, Sea Shield, and Sea Basing. This arsenal of sea-based,

sophisticated aircraft will represent the leading edge of warfighting capability.

From Time Sensitive Strike to Homeland Defense, these aircraft will take the fight

to the enemy anywhere on the globe. These multiroled platforms—designed with

technological growth in mind—are highly flexible, survivable, affordable, effective,

and interoperable.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 6 9

The following roadmap and paragraphs describe Naval Aviation’s transformational

aircraft and also illustrates the reduction in the type/model/series to realize our

Naval Aviation vision.

The roadmaps below represent an overview of key areas of significant

transformational capability under Sea Power 21. They should not be considered an

exhaustive list of upgrade or modernization programs.
70 NAVAL AVIATION VISION 
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 7 1

Strike/Fighters

Future Naval air wings will contain F/A-18s, Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), and

Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs).

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet provides a number of critical enhancements to keep

the Navy’s strike fighters a lethal force well into the 21st Century. These upgrades

include critical growth capability, enhanced survivability, and weapon bring-back

improvement. Avionics upgrades include the Advanced Electronic Scanned Array

(AESA) radar, the Advanced Targeting FLIR (ATFLIR) and the SHAred Reconnaissance

Pod (SHARP) system. The Super H ornet will also assume the organic tanking mission

of the S-3B.

Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program will develop and field a tri-service family of

next-generation strike fighter aircraft, emphasizing affordability and survivability.

The aircraft will complement the Super Hornet thanks to the JSF’s all-aspect stealth

strike design and 700nm radius of action without refueling. The JSF will enhance the

air wing’s capacity and flexibility for power projection; when employed from a

carrier, it will enhance the striking capability of the Joint Task Force (JTF).
72 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 7 3

Electronic Aircraft

The EA-6B has served long and well as the Joint electronic attack and suppression

aircraft, but the Prowler is reaching the end of its service life. An analysis of

alternatives for Airborne Electronic Attack was completed in December 2001.

Based on this analysis, the Navy will initiate spiral development of the EA-6B

Improved Capability III (ICAP III) Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) system as part of a

Joint solution to electronic attack. This technology will transfer to next-generation

AEA platforms including the Navy EA-18G.

Command and Control Aircraft

The E-2C will remain the foundation of the Carrier Strike Group’s airborne

command and control capabilities, but will continue to harness new technologies

in order to increase Naval Air’s lethal striking power. We have described the

E-2 Advanced Hawkeye (formerly the Radar Modernization Program or RMP) under

the Sensors Roadmap. The E-2C is critical to network centric air operations. To

achieve a seamless transition to a full Joint architecture, the Navy has designed its

weapon systems to be fully interoperable with the Airborne Warning and Control

System (AWACS) and ground-based systems.

Maritime Support Aircraft

The Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) is projected to replace the P-3C Orion

and EP-3E Aries aircraft, both of which are approaching the end of their service lives.

The transformational bottom-up design of the MMA will integrate its onboard

mission suite with UAV- and satellite-based systems and sensors. The platform will

advance its predecessors’ ASW and ISR superiority by incorporating evolving

advances in networks, sensors, and communications. MMA will assure access to the

battleforce across the broad littoral, thus critically advancing the Navy’s ability to

project power ashore.
74 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Rotary-Wing Aircraft

MH-60R (Seahawk) and MH-60S (Knighthawk) Multi-Mission

Combat Helicopters

The MH-60R Multi-mission and the MH-60S Multi-mission Combat helicopters

are the two pillars of the CNO’s Naval Helicopter Concept of Operations for the

21st Century. Under the “Helo CONOPS,” the Seahawk and Knighthawk will deploy

aboard aircraft carriers as companion squadrons under the leadership of the

Air Wing Commander.

The MH-60R will provide surface and subsurface warfare support to Sea Shield by

means of its sensors and weapons suite—this includes Airborne Low Frequency

(dipping) Sonar, Electronic Support Measures, Advanced Forward Looking Infrared,

precision air-to-ground missiles, fixed forward-firing machine guns, and lightweight

torpedoes. The MH-60S will partner with the MH-60R for surface warfare missions

carrying the same Forward Looking Infrared and air-to-ground weaponry.

The MH-60S will have flexibility for reconfiguration, serving in Combat Search and

Rescue as well as providing Naval Special Warfare support to Joint Theater

operations. The platform will perform Anti-Mine Countermeasures using any one of

five advanced sensor/weapons packages to provide detection, localization and

neutralization to these anti-access threats. The MH-60S will anchor the Fleet logistics

role in Carrier Strike Group and Amphibious Ready Group operations.

The MH-60R/S platforms possess 85% commonality to provide ease of maintenance

and maximum flexibility for training.
SH-60B/F

UH-3H

CH/HH/UH-46D

HH-60H

MH-53E

MH-60R/S

HH-1N

TODAY 2015-2025

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 7 5
76 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

A key transformational initiative in support of Sea Power 21, UAVs possess broad

capabilities and are powerful force multipliers. They provide Battle Group

Commanders with enhanced situational awareness, improved tactical and persistent

ISR, and a shorter “kill chain.” Strike UAVs of the future will achieve even greater

penetration, stealth, and lethality. No single system can meet this challenge, so our

strategy focuses on multiple solutions within a “family” concept and exploits

off-the-shelf equipment. This approach will integrate UAVs into Navy, Marine, and

Joint warfighting concepts of operations (CONOPS). The Tactical Control System

(TCS), a Navy-led Joint program for air-vehicle control and data dissemination, will

integrate UAVs into the Joint combat architecture. Naval Aviation is simultaneously

executing short- and long-term plans in the following mission areas:

Tactical Surveillance and Targeting

Small UAVs will aid small-unit operations and Force Protection. Larger and more

powerful systems will support missions at sea, on the littorals, and on land.

• The Dragon Eye UAV is a key part of the Marines’ Interim Small Remote Scouting

System, providing “over-the-hill” reconnaissance day and night. A production

decision is expected in summer 2003.

• The Pioneer Improvement Program (PIP) upgrades the Marines’ Pioneer UAV to

ensure long-term viability out to FY10.

• The Fire Scout Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical UAV (VTUAV) will complete

engineering, manufacturing, and development (EM&D) shipboard testing in

FY04. The experimental vessel HSV-X2 will serve as a surrogate for the Littoral

Combat Ship (LCS). The Navy is reviewing ways to field a Tactical UAV by FY07.
Persistence 

Surveillance

Penetrating 

Surveillance Strike/SEAD

Global Hawk 

Demo BAMS UCAV-N

2003 2005 2008 2015 2020

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 7 7

Long Dwell/Standoff ISR

The Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV will play a key

role in Network Centric Operations and Sea Power 21. As a node in

FORCEnet, the BAMS UAV will provide high altitude, persistent,

multi-INT ISR. This capability will serve as an enabling force for the

Fleet Commander.

BAMS UAV will support a spectrum of Fleet missions, serving as a

distributed ISR node in the overall Naval environment. Missions

might include ISR queuing, strike support, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and

communications relay. The platform will be the Fleet Commander’s “low hanging

satellite,” a hub for information collection. The UAV will operate independently or

collaborate directly with other manned, unmanned, and space-based platforms.

Penetrating Surveillance/SEAD/Strike

Naval Aviation has begun work on the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle-Navy

(UCAV-N). This will be a carrier-based, multi-mission aircraft able to perform

surveillance/reconnaissance, strike, and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD)

missions against the most heavily defended targets. UCAV-N will provide the

targeting and Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) to complement the Navy’s

long-range standoff weapons. The Navy and the Air Force are currently planning

to establish a Joint UCAV program.
78 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Marine Corps Aircraft

The following roadmap and descriptions illustrate how the Marine Corps is

changing and downsizing its aviation fleet in order to transform its force. They

should not be considered an exhaustive list of upgrade or modernization programs.

Tactical Aircraft (TACAIR)

Navy/Marine TACAIR Integration will provide increased efficiency and warfighting

effectiveness in future operations through better use of resources.

The Marine Corps plans to replace its tactical AV-8B and F/A-18A/C/D aircraft with

the Joint Strike Fighter’s Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant. This move is

fundamental to transforming TACAIR in the Corps. STOVL JSF truly represents

“leap-ahead technology.” By combining the F/A-18’s multi-role attributes with the

AV-8B’s basing flexibility, the USMC will gain a low-signature, state-of-the-art aircraft.

STOVL JSF will play a role in all six functions of Marine aviation, while having the

ability to operate from twice as many Naval platforms and five times as many

runways as conventional aircraft. The JSF will reduce the logistical “footprint” by over

50% relative to the F/A-18 and the AV-8, while dramatically reducing deployment

time and lift requirements. The Marines’ Airborne Electronic Attack aircraft has not

yet been determined, but may be an electronic version of JSF.
2015-2025

KC-130J

AH-1Z

UH-1Y

MV-22

JSF

CH-53E

Joint EA Solution

TODAY

KC-130F/R/T

AH-1W

UH-1N

AV-8B

F/A-18 A/B/C/D

CH-53E

CH-53D

CH-46E

EA-6B

NAVAL AVIATION VISION 7 9
80 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Assault Support Aircraft

The MV-22 Osprey is a tilt-rotor Vertical/Short Take-Off or Landing (V/STOL) aircraft

designed as the medium-lift replacement for the Vietnam-era CH-46 and CH-53D

helicopters. The Osprey can operate either as a helicopter or a turboprop aircraft,

and incorporates advances in composite materials, airfoil design, fly-by-wire

controls, and digital avionics. The MV-22 is overwhelmingly superior to the CH-46

it replaces—possessing twice the speed, five times the range, and three times

the payload.

The KC-130J Hercules is a multirole, multimission tactical tanker and transport

aircraft, well suited to the mission needs of the forward-deployed Marine Air-Ground

Task Force. As the replacement for the KC-130F/R, the J-model will provide increased

speed and range, an improved refueling system, night systems, and increased

survivability.

The H-1 upgrade program involves conversion of both the AH-1W and the UH-1N

from a two-bladed rotor system to a four-bladed system. The aircraft have also

received new designations: AH-1Z and UH-1Y, respectively. The Navy intends the

upgrade program to resolve existing safety issues, significantly enhance combat

capability, zero airframe time, and achieve 85% commonality between aircraft.

Major modifications include a new rotor system, new composite main and tail rotors,

an upgraded drive system, and structural modifications to pylons.
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 8 1
82 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 8 3

Summary

Naval Aviation is and will remain a potent and ready force. Over the last century, it

has offered our leaders additional options for immediate response to international

crises. We are confident that it will continue to fill this role well into the future.

Should deterrence fail, the Navy and its aviation arm assure access for the Joint Force

as they enter the conflict.

The Naval Aviation roadmaps noted within this document will support the Navy’s

overall transformation. These changes will better enable the Navy to project its own

power onto the littoral battlefield, as well as ensure other Joint Forces’ sustained

access.

This transformation will also further similar initiatives within our sister services: the

Navy’s ability to project offensive and defensive power ashore will aid the Army and

the Air Force’s efforts to become lighter and more expeditionary, less dependent

upon overseas bases.

Whatever crises may face our nation in the 21st Century, we are confident that the

President of the United States—as well as nervous enemy leaders—will continue to

ask the age-old question, “Where are the carriers?!” Naval Aviation’s vision is that the

answer will always be: “On station and ready for action!”

The Navy will soon follow this Vision statement with a comprehensive Naval

Aviation Investment Plan. This plan will address the force level investment to

meet its military requirements today and well into the future. The development

team includes the Naval Aviation Strategic Partnership; the Commander of Naval

Air Forces (CNAF); the Director, Air Warfare Division (N78); and the Commander,

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
84 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 8 5

Appendix A:

Acronyms and Abbreviations

AARGM Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile

ACTD Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration

AEA Airborne Electronic Attack aircraft

AESA Active Electronically Scanned Array

AIP Anti-Surface Warfare Improvement Program

ALFS Advanced Low Frequency (dipping) Sonar

ARG Amphibious Ready Group

ASW Anti-submarine warfare

ASUW Anti-surface warfare

AMRAAM Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile

ATARS Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System

ATDLS Advanced Tactical Data Links Systems

ATFLIR Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared Radar

ATRB Advanced Technology Review Board

AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System

BAMS Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft

BDA Battle Damage Assessment

BIC Business Initiatives Council (part of Dept. of Defense)

BMD Ballistic Missile Defense

C4I Command, control, communications, computers, and

intelligence

CDL-N Common Data Link-Navy

CEC Cooperative Engagement Capability

CFFC Commander, United States Fleet Forces Command

COMLANTFLT Commander, United States Atlantic Fleet

CMD Cruise Missile Defense

CNAF Commander, Naval Air Forces

CND/CNA Computer network defense and attack

CNO Chief of Naval Operations

COE Common operating environment

COP Common operating picture

CSG Carrier Strike Group

CVN Designation for nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

CVN 21 Designation for Next-Generation Aircraft Carrier

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DCGS-N Distributive Common Ground Station-Navy

DOD Department of Defense

EM&D Engineering, Manufacturing & Development

EMALS Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System

ESG Expeditionary Sensor Grid; Expeditionary Strike Group

EW Electronic warfare

FBE Fleet Battle Experiment
86 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 8 7

FLIR Forward Looking Infrared Radar

FNC Future Naval Capabilities

GCCS-M Global Command and Control System-Maritime

GPS Global Positioning System

HART/PGK (JDAM) Hornet Autonomous Real-Time Targeting/Precision Guidance Kit, HART/PGK (JDAM) (formerly the Precision Joint

Direct Attack Munition)

ICAP III Improved Capability III (for the EA-6B’s AEA system)

IO Information operations

IOC Initial operational capability

INS Inertial Navigation System

IPB Intelligence preparation of the battlespace

ISAR Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar

ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

IT21 Information Technology for the 21st Century concept

IW Information warfare

JAASSM Joint Advanced Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile

JASSM Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile

JC2 Joint Command and Control (formerly Global Command

and Control System-Maritime, GCCS-M)

JCM Joint Common Missile

JDAM Joint Direct Attack Munition

JF Joint Force

JMOD Joint Airborne SIGNINT Architecture Modernization

JMPS Joint Mission Planning System

JSF Joint Strike Fighter

JSIPS-N Joint Service Imagery Processing System-Navy

JSOW Joint Standoff Weapons System

LANTIRN Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared at Night

LCS Littoral Combat Ship

LGB Laser-guided bomb

MAGIS Marine Air-Ground Intelligence System

MAGTF Marine Air Ground Task Force

MCM Mine countermeasures

MCP Mission Capability Package

MIDS-LVT Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low

Volume Terminal

MMA Multimission Maritime Aircraft

NAVAIR Naval Air Systems Command

N-PFPS Navy Portable Flight Software

NavMPS Naval Mission Planning Systems

N78 Air Warfare Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations

NAWC Naval Air Warfare Center

NAWCTSD Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (part of

the Naval Air Systems Command)

NCO Network Centric Operations; Net Centric Operations

JFN Joint Fires Network

NIMA National Imagery and Mapping Agency

NMPC Naval Military Personnel Command

NMCI Navy-Marine Corps Intranet

NWDC Navy Warfare Development Command

O&S Operations and support
88 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

ONR Office of Naval Research

OPTEMPO Operational tempo

PJDAM Precision Joint Direct Attack Munition (now the Hornet

Autonomous Real-Time Targeting/Precision Guidance Kit,

HART/PGK (JDAM))

Project SAIL Sailor Advocacy Through Interactive Leadership

PSYOP Psychological operations

QDR Quadrennial Defense Review

R&D Research and development

RMP Radar Modernization Plan

S&T Science and technology

SAM Surface-to-air (missiles)

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar

SEAD Suppression of enemy air defenses

SHARP SHAred Reconnaissance Pod

SIAP Single Integrated Air Picture

SIGINT Signals Intelligence

SLOC Sea Lanes of Communication

SSIP Sensor System Improvement Program
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 8 9

STOM Ship to Objective Maneuver

STOVL Short Takeoff / Vertical Landing

TACAIR Tactical aircraft

TAMD Theater Air and Missile Defense

TAMPS Tactical Automated Mission Planning System

Task Force EXCEL Excellence Through Our Commitment to Education and

Learning

TBMD Theater Ballistic Missile Defense

TCS Tactical Control System

TCT Time Critical Targeting

TDLJMS Tactical Data Link Joint Message Standard

TES-N Tactical Exploitation System-Navy

UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle

UCAV Unmanned combat air vehicle

UCAV-N Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle-Navy

USAF United States Air Force

USMC United States Marine Corps

USN United States Navy

V/STOL Vertical/Short Takeoff or Landing
90 NAVAL AVIATION VISION
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 9 1

Appendix B:

Image Credits

Cover D esign by Ken Collins, Cover Painting by C hris Jantsch: “Naval Aviation’s Future” is an atmosphere

of clear skies with some high clouds to add dimension and calm seas. The right (front cover) shows a

conceptual CVN-21 with E-2 Advanced Hawk eye, EA-18G, and JSF on the flight deck, one JSF taking off,

and one F/A-18F on approach; three F/A-18E fly overhead and one MH-60S stands off to port. The left

(back cover) sho ws an LHA with UH-1Y and AH-1Z on deck and three

CH-53E approaching a coast, while three MV-22, two JSF, a P-3C, and a BAMS UAV fly overhead.

i 010322-N-0271M-003 At sea aboard USS KITTY HAWK (CV 63), March 22, 2001–U.S. Navy Photo

by Photographers Mate Airman A pprentice Lee McCaskill

iii 000414-N-7750C-004 At sea aboard USS D WIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69), A pril 14, 2000–

U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class D avid E. Carter II

v 021109-N-0271J-283 At sea aboard USS NIMITZ (CVN-68), November 9, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo

by Chris Jantsch

02 020127-N-6442M-005 At sea aboard USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74), January 27, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Craig McC lure

04 010911-N-1350W-077 After math fr om ter rorist attack of the Pentagon, September 11, 2001–

U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Rober t Houlihan

07 011027-N-6536T-009 Undisclosed location, Oc tober 27, 2001–U.S. Navy Photo by

Photographer's Mate Airman Apprentice Elizabeth Thompson

Superimposed Photo: Edwards AFB, CA, January 31, 2001–Lockheed M artin photo by

Judson B rohmer

08 DN-ST-83-05139 U.S. Navy Photo–U nrecorded date

10 000505-N-0000K-020 At sea aboard USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75), May 5, 2000

12 030213-N-9760B-003 Mt. Fuji, Japan, February 13, 2003–U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's

Mate 2nd Class (AW) Elizabeth L. Burke

15 011119-N-9769P-018 At sea aboard USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74), Novemb er 19, 2001–

U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jayme T. Pastoric

17 020921-N-9964S-004 At sea aboard USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75), September 21, 2002–

U.S.Navy photo by Photographers Mate 3rd Class (AW/SW)

Christopher B. Stoltz
92 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

18 Photo Collage U.S. Navy Photos b y Photographer's M ate Airman Apprentice Lee

McCask ill, Photographer's Mate Airman Jo Wilbourn, and

Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Tina M. Acker man

20 U.S. Mar ines Photo–U nrecorded date

23 020319-N-3297C-004 Afghanistan, March 19, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo by

LCDR Christopher W. Chope

24 Photo Cour tesy N orthrop-Grumman

26 990422-M-6446A-009 Kernel B litz '99–U.S. Mar ines Photo by Edwar d Aspera, Jr.

990120-N-4004O-508 (Super imposed photo) Unrecorded date–U.S. Navy Photo by PH1(SW )

Benjamin D. Olv ey. Photo retouched by Chris Jan tsch

28 020424-N-6492H-535 USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67), unrecorded date–U.S. Navy Photo by

PH1(NAO) Jim Hampshire

Superimposed photo NAVAIR Atlantic Ranges , unrecorded date–U.S. Navy Photo by

Randy Hepp. Image retouched by Chris Jantsch

30 030323-N-5319A-002 U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's M ate 1st Class B rien Aho

32 021001-N-0271J-001 Solomons Island, MD, October 1, 2002–U.S. Navy Photos b y

Chris Jantsch

020816-C-7777A-501 (Super imposed photo) Aboard Coast Guar d Cutter Kingfisher,

Jacksonville, FL, A ugust 16, 2002–USCG photo by Crystal K. Norman

34 030117-N-9851B-016 At sea aboard USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75), January 17, 2003–

U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class (Air Warfare)

John L. Beeman

36 Illustration by Bill Jones and AIR-4.0X

38 021114-N-5862D-012 Aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, November 14, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo

by Chief Photographer’s Mate Chris Desmond

39 020721-N-3580W-005 Aboard USS HOPPER (DDG 70), July 21, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo by

Chief Photographer's Mate Johnny R. Wilson

Superimposed Photo Naval Air Sta tion Patuxent River, MD, August 13, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo

by Vernon Pugh

43 020511-N-1058W-515 At sea aboard USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75), May 11, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Dwain Willis

44 990825-N-5961C-001 Off the coast of St. Clemente Island, CA, August 25, 1999–U.S. Navy

Photo by Phot ographer’s Mate 1st Class Spike Call

45 DN-ST-87-04719 At sea aboard USS IOWA (BB-61), Novemb er 1, 1986–U.S. Navy Photo by

Photographer’s Mate Hilton

46 021016-F-7203T-012 Embase La Mina, Chile, October 16, 2002–U.S. Air Force Photo by

Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 9 3

47 Superimposed Photo NAVAIR Atlantic Ranges , unrecorded date–

U.S. Navy Photo by R andy Hepp

48 020930-N-7265L-002 Naval Air Sta tion North Island , CA, S eptemb er 30, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by Photographer ’s Mate Airman Rebecca Moat

50 021111-N-0271J-001 At sea aboard USS NIMITZ (CVN-68), November 10 & 11, 2002 and NAS

Patuxent River, MD–U.S. Navy Photos by Chris Jantsch

52 020220-N-9312L-548 Oper ation Enduring F reedom, February 20, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo by

Photographer's Mate Airman Tina Lamb

54 000316-N-0000O-001 Newport News, VA, M arch 16, 2001 –U.S. Navy Photo by Chris Oxley

59 010730-N-6234S-010 The Pacific O cean (July 30, 2001)–U.S. Navy Photo by

Chief Photographer's Mate D aniel Smith

60 980500-N-1523C-006 New York City, NY, May 1998–U.S. Navy Photo by Senior Chief

Photographer’s Mate Terry A. Cosgrove

62 020907-N-0606M-004 At sea aboard USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73), September 7, 2002–

U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Nick Magdaleno

64 021111-N-0271J-608 At sea aboard USS NIMITZ (CVN-68), November 11, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by C hris Jantsch

67 NAS Patuxent River, MD, February 21, 1997–U.S. Navy Photo Courtesy

Boeing (McDonnell Douglas)

68 030219-N-5884W-028At sea with USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70) Feb. 19, 2003–U.S. Navy photo by

Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Carol Warden

70 Photo Collage Naval Air Sta tion Patuxent River, MD, unrecorded dates–U.S. Navy

Photos by Vernon Pugh and Randy Hepp

72 010425-N-9964S-004 Oper ation Souther n Watch, Unrecorded date–U.S. Navy Photo by

Photographer’s Mate Christopher B. Stoltz

74 At sea aboard USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73)–Unknown

76 Composite of photograph and computer-generated model by Aldo

Spadoni, courtesy of N orthrop-Grumman

78 990518-M-1903W-001 Adr iatic Sea, May 18, 1999–U.S. M arines photo by Lance Corporal Justin

Tyler Watkins

81 000228-N-1917H-001 At sea aboard USS ESSEX (LHD 2), Februar y 28, 2000–U.S. Navy Photo by

Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jamie D. Hernandez

82 020328-N-9312L-142 At sea aboard USS JOHN C. STENNIS (CVN 74), March 28, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by Photographer's Mate Air man Tina Lamb

84 020731-N-5067K-001 At sea aboard USS BENFOLD (DDG 65), July 31, 2002–U.S. Navy Photo by

Photographer's Mate 2nd Class (SW/PJ ) Michael D. Kennedy
94 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

86 011204-N-4432A-501 In the Arabian Sea, Decemb er 4, 2001–U.S. Navy Photo by

LCDR Dave Adams

88 021002-N-7265L-011 At sea aboard USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70), October 2, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd C lass Inez Lawson

90 030325-N-0271J-801 Naval Air Sta tion Patuxent River, MD, Mar ch 25, 2003–U.S. Navy Photo

by Chris Jantsch

92 021109-N-0271J-060 Naval Air Sta tion Nor th Island, November 9, 2002

–U.S. Navy Photo by Chris Jantsch

94 021109-N-0271J-244 At sea aboard USS NIMITZ (CVN-68), November 11, 2002 –U.S. Navy

Photo by C hris Jantsch

96 020306-N-6492H-510 At sea aboard USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67), March 6, 2002–U.S. Navy

Photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Jim Hampshire
NAVAL AVIATION VISION 9 5
96 NAVAL AVIATION VISION

Naval Aviation Vision

Project Leads

Mick Taylor, Principal Deputy for Air Warfare Plans, Analysis and Assessments N783B

Greg Makrakis, Naval Aviation Planning Team L ead, AIR-4.10D

Project Coor dinators

Bob Ghisolfi

Suzy Lang-R utt

Editor

Eric Badertscher

Writers

Denise Larsen

Mik e Cosgrove

Mik e Classick

Data & Anal ysis

Rick Meana

Art & Design

Chris Jantsch

Cover

Cover Painting by C hris Jantsch, “Naval Aviation’s Future”

Photogr aphy

All individual photographs are Official U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, and Depar tment of D efense Photos.

Applic able photo credits are listed in Appendix B.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Naval Air S ystems Command–Command Strategic Leadership Support Team, SyTech

Corporation, and Titan Systems Corporation.

Copies can be obtained thr ough:

Rick Meana

Offic e of the Director, Air War fare (N78)

Room 5C453

Department of the Navy

The Pentagon

Washington, DC 20310

703-614-2646