-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Navy Dedicated SAR Squadrons
- Thread starter Ventus
- Start date
Been doing a lot of thinking about this. CSAR not just in the South China sea but between the 1st and 2nd island chains (ie. the Philippine Sea).
That's a huge area to cover from a search perspective and range is absolutely an issue with current recovery platforms.
Organic to the Navy and Air Force, we don't really have anything to recover an aviator smack dab in the middle of that.
P-8's could most likely locate a downed aviator but they'll probably have their hands full with other missions.
I'm imagining two scenarios. Some type of sustainment package we could drop on the survivor to help them survive in the ocean until they drift in range of a more capable platform or we can get a ship close to them.
The second is a low cost potentially off the shelf civilian aircraft modified to suit our needs.
The Japanese US-2 is a really cool seaplane platform and would most likely fit the niche of what we need. However if we were going to get something a lot cheaper, off the shelf, easy to modify, using an engine we have a lot of trained personnel on. A platform that's large enough to get the job done but small enough to easily transport, we should look at the Dornier SeaStar or something similar.
With no modification, this platform has roughly a 1500 mile range. That's almost enough to get from Guam to Taiwan. Slap on a maritime ISR package and we've got a plane that can launch and recover a downed aviator (sea state dependent) outside what a Lilly-pad H-60 can do. Pop a fuel probe on the front and we're in business. Dual Pratt and Whitney PT-6's, you can pull back one engine to loiter in an area to search, put some AW's on the back, could be something worth looking into.
Considering the contributions of the PBY in WWII (2500 m range), seaplanes for this role makes sense.
The US-2 is pricier, but a highly developed SAR platform (2900 m range).
The US-2 and CH-46 SAR combo at Iwakuni in the 80s provided near and far reach capabilities to the area.
I like the idea of an air-delivered sustainment package.Been doing a lot of thinking about this. CSAR not just in the South China sea but between the 1st and 2nd island chains (ie. the Philippine Sea).
That's a huge area to cover from a search perspective and range is absolutely an issue with current recovery platforms.
Organic to the Navy and Air Force, we don't really have anything to recover an aviator smack dab in the middle of that.
P-8's could most likely locate a downed aviator but they'll probably have their hands full with other missions.
I'm imagining two scenarios. Some type of sustainment package we could drop on the survivor to help them survive in the ocean until they drift in range of a more capable platform or we can get a ship close to them.
The second is a low cost potentially off the shelf civilian aircraft modified to suit our needs.
The Japanese US-2 is a really cool seaplane platform and would most likely fit the niche of what we need. However if we were going to get something a lot cheaper, off the shelf, easy to modify, using an engine we have a lot of trained personnel on. A platform that's large enough to get the job done but small enough to easily transport, we should look at the Dornier SeaStar or something similar.
With no modification, this platform has roughly a 1500 mile range. That's almost enough to get from Guam to Taiwan. Slap on a maritime ISR package and we've got a plane that can launch and recover a downed aviator (sea state dependent) outside what a Lilly-pad H-60 can do. Pop a fuel probe on the front and we're in business. Dual Pratt and Whitney PT-6's, you can pull back one engine to loiter in an area to search, put some AW's on the back, could be something worth looking into.
The future of maritime CSAR in the Pacific is going to be unmanned, in my opinion.
What?!
The search part, maybe. The rescue? That'd be some Tony-Stark-level autonomy there.
I don't think anyone is ready for unmanned air transport. There's something to be said for a pilot with literal skin in the game, even if the vehicle is so automated the pilot is just pushing a button or giving voice commands.
Semantics perhaps, but overwater rescue would be more PR and less CSAR?
If the conflict you are talking about is Taiwan, the examples above all assumed we had mostly uncontested airspace. Not sure how that is going to apply to within aircraft / missile range of China.
Maybe to deliver supplies, or again, for search. I'm not sure how such a platform would safely recover the survivor. Happy to be shown my near-sightedness.
I think that’s certainly a desired package, but not likely in this conflict. There won’t be enough strikers or SEAD assets or munitions to go around for their primary missions, much less being dedicated to CSAR. I could see it being more of opportunity DCA/SEAD from assets that are already airborne performing other missions, but that we’ll go to pick up downed aviators at sea regardless of force packaging.
Who is going to do the initial patient care? How is the computer going to make HAC board type decisions based on number of patients, condition of patients, threat, weather, etc?
