NAVAIR, and lets be blunt, NAVAIR is only buying F-18 and F-35. Did that sneak up on anybody? Helos for sale……not seeing anything but V22 and since they won’t fit on a frigate, DD or CG we don’t want any.

Naval aviation is no longer a team. The rush to sell out the hindmost is readily apparent. But it was always thus.

P-3′s are having the wings flown off them supporting troops on the ground. The AIP birds have proven of great value in both Iraq and Afghanistan-as have helicopters. Now the wings are falling off-and it will be 6+years before the first P-8 comes on line.

The point of this quote is that Naval Aviation is a team-and needs all its capability, not just fighters. A ship with a helo deck-on deployment without a helo det is just wrong. The Navy needs helos -every bit as much as it needs F-18′s.

DoD is in the business of buying weapon systems. That they have a dual role in HADR is nice but so not the point.

NAVAIR buys things with wings and there is a special branch within that buys things with rotors. They are not the same thing and never were.

P3 have not done ought for a while now yet there they are. What exactly does a P3 do in this age? Are they on top of Papa 65, 36 days out of Petraplovosk? Nah, didn’t think so. Nothing’s moving below. Helos bring what to the SAG? 00 can SVTC with his skippers and has no need to rain on their flight deck.

Armed helos strike me as a good thing but arming helos in navy colors has been right up there with channeling Zuulll.