TWO ITEMS .... MMA in Mugu and carrier in Hawaii ???

[webmaster]

IP's are showing up to the RAG for their instructor tours with less than 750 hrs total.

That is the word I have been hearing from some friends who just completed their VP30 tours as pilots.... I thought I was hurting when I left my squadron with ~1350 (note, 42 month pilots left with around 1600+)....

I know there is a disconnect between purse strings and what the warfighter wants. But you take the MPRA out of the equation, and you have lost your long range/dwell ASW platform, with the quickest response time to external cuing.

I doubt the P-8A will be built in any significant numbers. There is no money for it. Look for ASW to transfer to HS, the LCS, and UAVs.

I don't buy the arguement for UAV or HS (HSL?).
- UAV is unproven. BAMs/GLOBALHAWK Maritime does not equal P3 onstation capability. ISR and ASW are two different problems.
- HS (HSL?) is exceptional for what they can do, but they don't have the active wide area search that is needed. Better off to have them pounce and protect the CSG/ESG at knife edge.

I think I fall in with the pesimistic group, that we are going to lose one of our planes and crews before they stop running our planes into the ground. I hope it doesn't happen! But let's face it, there are quite a few other platforms out there that are clamoring for upgrades/life extension that are making huge contributions right now to the war on terror, just depends on which Uncle Sugar is keen on funding, no?

BTW, what IS the latest number on MMA replacements? I originally heard 100 or so, then it dropped to 60 or something....

 

[eddie]

BTW, what IS the latest number on MMA replacements? I originally heard 100 or so, then it dropped to 60 or something....

How many P-3s are there now?

 

[McNamara]

We're always going to have to compromise what we'd like to have to get what we really need at the moment. It would be great to maintain the kind of capability that the P-3 gives us, but I don't think the MMA program will survive much longer given the current global atmosphere. At this point we're spending so much money on operations that it's tough to justify new acquisitions that aren't absolutely necessary.

 

[Hozer]

number of tubes...

There are a little over a hundred left now.
The good news is, no more update II's. The bad news is, no more bounce birds. Every one is a mission bird (more or less), and flight hours are being managed quite closely. Remember, the AIP birds (the ones the community chose to rebuild) are mostly 158XXX/159XXX buno's that have been flying over twice the projected number of hours.
Typically, forward-deployed aircraft stay in theater through squadron rotations and are swapped when their time at the depot comes due.
So, sometimes pride in ownership poses a challenge to keep aircraft groomed...
BAMS in a ASW scenario is a pipe-dream now. Big difference in using EO to track a target and shoot a hellfire vs. detect, classify, track, and attack a submarine. I guess it'll all come down to how convincing the lobbyists will be concerning the USW threat.
It'll be a mistake, any piss-ant diesel submariner would love to plug a carrier.
HS and HSL don't do much ASW now, plus they can't "search" anyway, they can only really respond to a localized target.

 

[Gatordev]

HS and HSL don't do much ASW now, plus they can't "search" anyway, they can only really respond to a localized target.

I disagree, at least on the HSL side. It's still practiced quite a bit on the Pacific side, basically in anticipation for anything that goes on w/ NK or China. Unfortunately, that does nothing for the need of a search platform. And as you and Webmaster are saying, HS and HSL just can't do that effectively.

 

[codtanker]

Spent some time in Guam this year. I would agree with the posting earlier that the island is getting far more attention from both the Air Funk and Navy as possible expansion. Carrier port, maybe, at least the land seems like it would be cheap and Anderson is big enough to support about any airwing if the Air Funk would learn how to use their ramp.