The battle group is now completing its training to deploy this June. Expectations are that the George Washington battle group will likely become the second such force to deploy without the benefit of live-fire, integrated training on Vieques . CVW-17 is the carrier air wing embarked on George Washington. Bill Spann, 2nd Fleet spokesman, told Defense Daily during an interview yesterday. The ships and aircraft of the George Washington battle group are limited, at those ranges, by adjacent crowded commercial air corridors.
Restrictions govern the type and size of bombs that the aircraft can use, for example.
Additionally, the number and composition of aircraft that go in on strike missions are limited. Getting the George Washington's aircraft ready to fight is one thing. But the absence of Vieques training also cuts into the readiness of the battle group's surface combatant gun crews. To date in their training cycle they have not been able to fire their guns and without Vieques that's not likely to change. Spence and the HASC are concerned that this will prove costly if the battle group is called upon to fight, as previous battle groups have, shortly after arriving at their duty stations.