Why the US Gator Navy Needs the EV-22
The Osprey variant would greatly enhance the survivability of U.S. amphibious forces in the face of A2/AD threats
By Ben Ho Wan Beng
June 18, 2016
A recent report has argued for the use of amphibious forces to circumvent China’s ominous anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) edifice in the western Pacific during a high-intensity conflict. One of the key points of Exploiting Amphibious Operations to Counter China’s A2/AD Capabilities, published by the Center for a New American Century (CNAS), is that Chinese islands within the First Island Chain could be captured via amphibious assault. Friendly A2/AD forces would thereafter be established on these lodgements, hence turning the access-denial concept on the People’s Republic itself.
On a related note, Robert Farley wrote for The Diplomat earlier this month expressing qualms over the survivability of U.S. Navy (USN) amphibious forces in the face of burgeoning Chinese A2/AD systems if the former were to be utilized as per the CNAS article. That said, the key question is how could the vulnerability of American amphibs be reduced if they were to be deployed in a major theater war against China? The airborne early warning (AEW) version of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft could provide a solution to that problem. This variant of the part-airplane, part-helicopter platform is currently only on the drawing board, but the U.S. defense establishment would do well to bring it on board the Gator Navy, as doing so would mitigate the critical AEW gap the amphibian-centric Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESGs) are facing.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/why-the-us-gator-navy-needs-the-ev-22/READ MORE
