Gunship Diplomacy : carrier based close air support for joint expeditionary forces
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Authors
Emanuel, Taylor C.
Subjects
Joint Expeditionary Warfare, Fire Support, CAS, CAS/TIC, Artillery, NSFS, CAS/TIC Measures of Merit, AC-130, F/A-18, AV-8B, A-10, AH-64, Carrier-Based Gunship Concept, E-2C, S-3, V-22
Advisors
Wirtz, James J.
Date of Issue
1994-12
Date
December, 1994
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
This study examines whether current and future strategy, doctrine, and programmed systems are suitable to perform fire support and specifically, close air support (CAS)and close air support/troops-in-contact (CAS/TIC) missions for joint expeditionary warfare. Naval forces will provide the "enabling" power for this new come-as-you-are environment. To offset reductions in organic fire support, more frequent and sustained application of CAS and CAS/TIC will be required by joint expeditionary forces. To comparatively analyze selected CAS platforms, the study uses four air-to-ground measures of merit (MOM); (1) target detection/recognition; (2) lethality; (3) survivability; and (4) combat persistence. The results paint and bleak picture of current capability. Therefore, a Carrier-Based Gunship (CBG) concept is presented to fill this void. The concept is more important than the selection of one particular platform. For illustrative purposes, three CBG candidates were evaluated using AC-130 gunship systems and employment as a guide coupled with the four MOM as the baseline. The CBG would be situated on a forward-deployed carrier, close enough to the objective area to provide sustained CAS/TIC support for joint expeditionary forces.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
xvii, p. 139, 23 cm.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.