Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdcad!amdcad!military From: bunge@wam.umd.edu (Robert David Bunge) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Carrier Ops in the Gulf Message-ID: <1991Apr3.024604.23928@amd.com> Date: 2 Apr 91 16:19:52 GMT Sender: military@amd.com Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Lines: 34 Approved: military@amd.com From: Robert David Bunge I'm wondering if anyone out in netland can answer a couple of questions about aircraft carrier operations in the Gulf during the war. 1) A recent story on CBS News said the A-6E lost favor during the conflict because it couldn't carry smart bombs and iron ones it dropped had a high miss rate. Is it true the A-6 can't deliver smart weapons? What was their status during the war? 2) It used to be common practice for a carrier to fly off some of it's S-3 Vikings to Sicily when operating in the central Med.. This relieved deck space for easier operations of other planes. Did the carriers in the Gulf do something similar with their Vikings? Perhaps basing them out of Bahrain, UAE or Oman? Since there wasn't too much of a sub threat in the Gulf, that would suggest the Vikings mostly did watchdog duty on merchant ships and other such work. 48 Vikings (four squadrons) in the Gulf is a lot of surface search. But: 3) I know I've seen pictures of Vikings dropping iron bombs and firing air-to- surface missiles, so does anybody know if the Vikings flew combat missions? I also believe the Viking have a FLIR pod, which makes me wonder if they can carry smart weapons. Can they? 4) Finally, I never saw an answer to an earlier question about the U.S.S. Lexington. Does anybody know for sure that the navy plans to replace it with another carrier in the near future? References for this question would be very nice! Bob Bunge bunge@wam.umd.edu