Bevo said:
Everyone is happy to be rid of the ASW mission. We will happily wave to you guys in the dip areas while we head out to East County though. The idea of forward firing guns gets a different answer every week. I know that some of the HCS guys have the GAU-17, and they can rig it so it is hands off for the crewman. He just locks it to a forward position and the pilots control it. I would like that option. The GAU-17 is a bad-ass weapon.
I'm happy to say that the only time I've been in the dips was on a Natops check in the RAG or when returning to mom after dropping someone off one night. As for forward firing...I can tell we're not going to get anywhere arguing back and forth, but the -17 isn't a FFG. Obviously you've made it to fire forward, but I'm talking about a new weapon system. NAVAIR has repeatedly not gone in that direction, and is leaning towards LOGIR. That was 6-8 months ago, so maybe things have changed, but I seriously doubt anything has changed that quickly in the Navy.
Strike=Overland in the HS world. We have 2 warfare areas that we qualify in, sea combat and strike. There are some skill sets that transfer between both, but in my community, if you talk about a flight in the "Strike Syllabus", everyone knows that you are going through the mountians out to the desert. It may just be just nav training, a CSAR ex, or a NSW mission, but it's all strike.
Nobody would call the flights that we did in Iraq on my last cruise "Strike Flights". However, it was the skillset that HS pilots have from going through the "Strike Syllabus" that allowed us to flex and do was was asked of us.
What I'm saying is that there's a bigger world out there than just HS. Strike does not equal overland. Ask the TacAir guys. They're not going to say what they practice is overland warfare (exclusively) when they say strike. As such, LAMPS can fullfil a "Strike" mission if tasked, it's just going to be over water. I'm not saying HS doesn't classify it differently, in house. I'm just saying it's not as limiting a term as you're making it out to be.
Ah, the wonderful world of SSC. Yup, you will be a player in that. How could I forget? The Romeo will be the best helo in the fleet for SSC. You get all the 3W2 time that you want.
With the exception of the P-3, I agree. It's interesting that you guys classify it differently than we do. I don't remember what the code is, but it was different. I wonder if it has something to do w/ the airwing.
It's role in VBSS will probably be as a comm platform and maybe a sniper platform at the most. It's not like you are going to be able to fit a squad of SEALs in the back of that thing. That will be the Sierra's job.
No, the Romeo wouldn't be able to fit a team in the back, just like the Bravo doesn't fit one now, but... The Bravo was constantly supporting VBSS before OIF (not sure what they do now). It's always been the comm and sniper platform either in lieu of or in concert with HS. Nothing new there.
You are going to have to explain how/why someone would ever want to use a Romeo as a Strike Control aircraft for the Army. Sure it has radios, but without an ASE package, it would be a sitting duck for an IR MANPAD.
You're kidding right? I can't really go into details here, but think about it. A platform w/ radar and radios? This is nothing new to the Bravo, let alone the Romeo. Again, my point of my original post was to show there's more going on than just what HS perceives.
As for ASE, it's probably hard for you to answer this question w/ OPSEC, but besides the gear being newer and probably better integrated (ie, it's an actual "ASE package" instead of the components kluged together), big picture-wise, what's different between a Hotel and the Bravo/Romeo other than the HIRS. I know the system is better implemented and perhaps more effective, but a new gen MANPAD is an equal opportunity killer. This is more of a rhetorical question for here. Again, I understand the bad guys' Pk is probably lower for you guys in the Hotel.
I think that they went out with HS-2. It's kind of a strange deal that those guys are running, but I guess they want to get them used to the idea. Did the CO of that HSL squadron deploy with them?
Yup. It was the whole squadron. They supported the Tsunami relief, so whatever CVW that was.