It is loud, hot, and busy on the flight deck of the Ike, a deployed US Navy aircraft carrier which has heavily armed fighter jets taking off and landing around the clock.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is a lead ship in the Navy’s response to the Houthis, and its aircraft have been involved in striking the Iran-backed rebels directly in Yemen and intercepting threats in the air. Business Insider saw operations firsthand during a visit to the nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carrier.
For the crew of the Eisenhower, keeping its planes ready — and airborne — is a robust operation and no easy feat, the carrier strike group’s commander said.
“It’s a huge effort,” Rear Adm. Marc Miguez told Business Insider during an interview on the Ike in the Red Sea this week. “We’re going at it constantly,” he said, adding that the crew is “launching airplanes every hour to hour and a half.”
Sailors work on a fighter jet on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.Jake Epstein/Business Insider
Dozens of planes may take off from the carrier during a typical day, which can include multiple launch and recovery cycles over a period that can last up to 12 hours, if not longer.
When a fighter aircraft, such as a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, lands on the ship, personnel on the flight deck — sporting different colored vests that correspond with their job duties — prepare it for the next launch; it needs to be refueled and perhaps rearmed if it released any munitions during the previous flight.
While this is happening, other crew members are managing the ship’s catapults, mechanisms that allow the ship to launch planes carrying heavy payloads, and the arresting gear, which are belts that help the aircraft quickly decelerate upon landing. Each takeoff and landing carries with it a thunderous roar.
Everything happening on the flight deck represents only a portion of what it takes to keep aircraft in the sky. The rest is happening throughout the floating city that is the Eisenhower, which more than 5,000 sailors are calling home during its deployment to the Middle East.
A fighter jet prepares for takeoff on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.Jake Epstein/Business Insider
Miguez oversees Carrier Strike Group 2, which consists of the Ike, four destroyers, and a cruiser. He said: “It’s a ton of effort to get airplanes airborne and to keep them airborne.”
That’s why readiness is key. In the months leading up to the deployment in mid-October, the carrier’s crew was practicing things such as dynamic targeting, even though it wasn’t known what the security situation off the coast of Yemen would be, Capt. Chris Hill, the Eisenhower’s commanding officer, told BI.
There are more than 70 aircraft on the Eisenhower, with the air wing made up of F/A-18 Super Hornets fighters, E-2 Hawkeye early-warning aircraft, EA-18 Growler jets for electronic warfare and surveillance, and helicopters. While most of the aircraft are on the flight deck, some are below in an area known as the “hangar bay,” where about 90 crew members from different squadrons perform maintenance.
A fighter jet takes off from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.Jake Epstein/Business Insider
The aircraft can be tasked with various missions once they’re airborne, from training to defending commercial vessels and US Navy ships from Houthi attacks. They always have to be ready to strike rebel assets in Yemen if needed, Capt. Marvin Scott, the commander of the Eisenhower’s carrier air wing, said.
Preemptive strikes, which are aimed at effectively eliminating Houthi missiles and drones before they can even become a threat to international shipping lanes, have become a regular occurrence in recent weeks. Before this shift in tactics, the US spent months shooting down Houthi threats in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after they had already been launched by the rebels.
US Central Command has announced preemptive military actions on multiple occasions over the past few days. These have destroyed a handful of unmanned surface vessels, which are drone boats that can be packed with explosives, and anti-ship missiles.
A fighter jet lands on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.Jake Epstein/Business Insider
“It’s a very flexible system,” Scott told BI of the Eisenhower’s flight operations. “We have a lot of options available to us” depending on what mission is being executed, he added.
Scott said the Navy had “significantly degraded” the Houthis’ capabilities over the past few weeks, including their ability to launch missiles and drones, thanks in part to the Eisenhower’s actions and the planes that are airborne throughout the day.
“We are poised and supported to stay here as long as it takes to defend the freedom of commerce,” he said.
Credit: Yahoo News