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In 1975, the Air Force agreed to train air crews in ocean surveillance, maritime strike, and aerial mine laying in cooperation with the Navy. In response to this buildup, interest in the Air Force’s contribution to maritime operations resurged. Soviet naval aviation also deployed land-based bombers, such as the Tu-95 Bear, Tu-16 Badger, and Tu-22 Backfire, all armed with long-range anti-ship missiles. By 1979, the Soviet navy fleet stood at 1,764 active vessels. In contrast, the Soviets built powerful new surface ships with large missile payloads, deploying weapons such as the SS-N-19 “Shipwreck” anti-ship missile aboard the nuclear-powered Kirov-class cruisers. Between 19, the US Navy’s active fleet shrunk from 1,007 to 540 ships. The Soviet buildup occurred as the US Navy was shrinking and the Vietnam War was winding down. That changed in the 1970s, as the Soviet Union built up and deployed a large, global fleet equipped with powerful, long-range anti-ship weapons. In that era, the Air Force realigned to focus on nuclear bombardment and minimized conventional maritime operations while the Navy de-emphasized surface warfare and focused on building up naval aviation. But for decades after World War II, interest in the Air Force’s maritime operations languished with a lack of significant enemy naval threats. In World War II, the US Army Air Forces conducted reconnaissance, anti-submarine warfare, mine laying, and anti-shipping attacks against the German and Japanese navies.
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Photo: Zhang Lei/China Ministry of Defense teaser graphic by Dashton Parham.Īmerican military interest in employing land-based airpower in counter maritime operations has risen and fallen over the decades, along with the perceived naval surface threat of enemies and potential adversaries. Click here or on the graphic above to view Air Force Magazine’s map of how US airpower can offset China’s expanding airpower as a PDF. Pairing LRASM with modern sensors, bomber aircraft can now conduct all-weather precision engagements against mobile maritime targets with less risk than naval vessels, and do so in hours, rather than days or weeks. Modern weapons, such as the long-range anti-ship missile (LRASM), give the US a significant capability from bomber aircraft against hostile surface vessels.
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Indeed, US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) has already carried out test exercises to demonstrate bombers’ great capability and operational flexibility against potential adversaries with significant offensive naval capability. In a modern threat environment, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, the advantages of using bombers in a maritime strike role is becoming more relevant to future military strategies, plans, and budget priorities. US Air Force bomber forces, with their speed, maneuverability, stealth and advanced weapons and sensors afford superior survivability compared to naval vessels. Modern combat aircraft can travel hundreds of miles an hour, patrol vast expanses of geography, and extend their reach with standoff weapons. Combat aircraft have been sinking ships from the air ever since. Billy Mitchell sank the decommissioned German battleship SMS Ostfriesland, shattering the conventional military wisdom that such ships were invulnerable to air attack. On July 21, 1921, US Army Air Service Brig. A B-52 can carry eight to 12 AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, as well as 20 AGM-158 joint air-to-surface missiles. A B-52 takes off from Andersen AFB, Guam.