It's quaint that you think that MPRA will survive mere hours into any phase of conflict without AEGIS or TACAIR (one hour at a time) keeping you alive.
I never said we would. Not our role...I happily rely on the safety net provided by my TACAIR brethren (1.6 hours x 3-4 cycles at a time, thanks to this newfangled refueling concept) from the Navy or Chair Force and even your Aegis net (when I’m not completely by myself in blue water) or even accepting we are the fat kid with the big radar cross section.
Your assertion that you are somehow better war fighters because your scope is limited to three platforms and a few weapons systems is flawed at best. Anyone can memorize a few TTP’s, but being able to use them effectively requires a mindset your community generally lacks: adaptability and flexibility.
You are so used to asking permission, staying in your box, and not questioning what you see, or what others see, that you repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
The difference between most SWO JO’s and most Aviation JO’s is we will be able to independently operate with weapons release authority (offensive and defensive) as a LTJG or LT, whereas your basic SWO won’t generally see that until they are at least a DH. We train to engage different OPFOR platforms, across the spectrum of targets, and get the responsibility and authority to exercise that training much earlier in our career.
That individual combatant mindset is what sets us apart from you.
Will I ever use it? Probably not. Do my TACAIR friendo’s get to? Absolutely.
Other than the use of Tomahawks from OTH for strikes on land targets and counter piracy, the surface Navy has been relatively insulated from actual combat since the Vietnam war.
So spare me the “we are actually better in theory” bullshit.
Pickle