NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, CALIF. — It falls to the new air boss to manage an aviation fleet that is sundowning old platforms, and developing and fielding new platforms, from the stealth fighter to the next-generation aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, all while balancing training and deployment schedules.
continue the Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, who took over at Naval Air Forces on Jan. 22, is a month into his tenure as air boss, at a time when the Navy is dealing with myriad transitions, with the sundown of old platforms, the development and fielding of new carriers and aircraft, while balancing training and deployment schedules in a tight budget.
Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, a career pilot who took the helm of Naval Air Forces on Jan. 22, sat down with Navy Times on Feb. 26 to talk about the aviation forcesome of his priorities. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity.
Q. How will the upcoming F-35's capabilities mix in with the carrier wing?
A. You cannot have all high-tech stuff. It is very expensive to have all JSF _____ [00:08:11] and you cannot have all kind of low-end capabilities.But if you mix the two — the JSF and Super Hornet — together I think withll some of the other capabilities, with E-2D [Advanced Hawkeye], some of the things that our surface ships are bringing in terms of an ability to integrate everybody in a tactical network, the [F-35C] Lightning II will be one of the most critical [tools] _____ [00:08:31] we'll have, and we would like to get that as soon as we can in the fleet. So we are having to get…because when we bring those into the fleet we are having to do that work and extension on those Legacy Hornets. I would like obviously get out of those as quick as we can but reality is we are going to manage that inventory to get through to current buy rates.
Q. The chief of naval operations said recently he thought stealth might be overrated in future fighter jets. Do you agree?
A. There is a place for stealth and I think it gives you some capabilities to operate in environments. And I think his point was, there's some things that future adversaries coming up ways to maybe detect stealth. Well, if you combine stealth with some of our other platforms like the [EA-18G] Growler in particular and if you look back in our history there is not many of our what we call stealth platforms that would go anywhere unaccompanied. We provide an advanced airborne electronic attack in almost every case. Because we look at contingency ops and things like that.
So if you combine what we have right now, the low observable capability on F-35 with our Growlers, that gives them significant capability to operate well forward in the battle space and minimize their — number one, you have got to be able to detect the airplanes. The can probably detect them but to be able to actually get a solution to track on them that is with LO and the Growlers combines that makes it very difficult. So that gives them the ability to operate in that environment. So I would not say they are overrated. Maybe the right term to use but I think there is still value in places were LO is very applicable in our future planning and war fighting.
Q. What's the plan for the new carrier onboard delivery aircraft?
A. We are working through that right now. We will introduce the new [MV-22] Ospreys into the fleet around the turn of the [decade] century, right around 2020 or so, and they will replace our old [C-2A] Greyhound community. Now our intention is to keep that mission. It will be those Navy pilots who are very experienced at that kind of global logistics mission. I mean, They have that down and we want to keep that expertise. So those pilots will transition. We will figure out how that will work right now.
Obviously, we will piggyback initially, I would imagine, on the Marines and their training program with Osprey and then look to branch out from there. But we will man those detachments, very similar concept as we do right now with the CODs and we have two main squads that we send detachments for on each of the air wings from there. But envision that to be — It will be a Navy mission ... _____ [00:11:38] Marine Corp but I think there will be some synergies between the two, learning from what the Marines have done with Osprey right now. And we had an opportunity to demonstrate it a couple of summers ago out in the east coast and it went pretty well. We learned a lot about the benefits of having Osprey do that and then some of the other considerations you have to think about. But we are moving forward in that direction.
Q. Some are skeptical about the Navy's decision to shutter two special operations support squadrons that fly the HH-60 helicopter. How are you dealing with that?
A.So there is a little bit of the outfitting of the helo itself, but more importantly, it is the experience of the guys that are doing it. I mean, They're combined active and Reserve crews that have been doing this for years, and so there is a relationship with the special operations forces, primarily Navy SEALs, that has developed. And then when they go forward they are focused just on that mission. So they over in the central command area of responsibility and the pacific command area of responsibility proving permanent detachments to support our special forces. So that is what they have been doing year around for I guess the last…as long as I can remember.
So that experience level, and trying to somehow harness those folks, and we are looking at ways to do that, where we integrate them in with other squadrons, whether they be reserve, active or augment our fleet training squadrons in some fashion so we can keep those folks around, so that when called from a fleet squadron we can augment with some of that experience. Then again, we have to probably put a little bit more emphasis on that SOF integration training. It is not that…In terms of what the [H-60] Sierra community does, that is not the biggest chunk of the training. We have to expand that a little bit, but I think we can get there.
Clearly there is a demand. I am already hearing some future…some demands continuing for that capability. So as we look to stand down 84 and 85 this year, they are actually funded through the middle of next year, through the middle of fiscal years '16. Which means we need to start bringing them home probably about seven or eight months before that to allow the transitions of personnel to leave. So we are working through that right now. But it is a CENTCOM mission that they have asked Navy to support and just in the current environment we said that was not sustainable. And so our decision was to establish the two squadrons and then we will work to support as best we can with other forces.
Q. Have you seen any positive changes from restructuring the Blue Angels last year, to include having an executive officer?
A.So you mentioned a couple of things we did as result of the investigation. First off I will tell you that [Capt.] Tom Frosch, the new boss, he put some things in place as soon as he took over. Before ever hearing about this. So he was exactly the right guy in command of the Blues and has been instrumental in kind of moving through this process with the team. The XO position is a good thing. It is a _____ [00:33:31] that we put in there. No flying duties but he kind of rounds out the leadership triad that we did not have in the Blues, that we have in every other command. So CO, XO and CMC. It gives the boss kind of a sounding board now. Someone more like a peer. So I think that is a good thing. We have oversight of both the officer, the pilot hiring process and the boss hiring process.
It will last all the way up to CNATRA or reviewed CNATRA up to me for approval. Air Boss did for the last year's team. That is good. And we have gone through the whole sort of the indoctrination process, the creating of the enlisted folks on the team and then the _____ [00:34:12] newbie process to ensure that those are totally professionally done. So that was the last steps of the thing. So I think all those changes have been implemented and I think the team is totally on board with the way we are moving and as they finish up winter training here in _____ [00:34:30], I know they are excited about the upcoming show season and they did a great job. They are a tremendous asset for us in getting our message out and getting to the American public and representing I think the best of what we have got in naval aviation.
Q. And they have their first female aviator on board now, Marine C-130 pilot Capt. Katie Higgins. Is a female F/A-18 pilot next?
A. I think we have always looked across the talent pool as we hire for the Blue Angels and took females in the past as well. Is she a C-130 pilot onboard? Yeah. So I have flown with many women aviators who I thought would have been great initial Blue Angels or the first ones to do that. We will have one eventually. So I do not think the procedures we put in place or the things we learn from this investigation will change that or speed that up because we were on a path to do that anyway with the quality of our female aviators out there, certainly in the VFA community, I think we will eventually get to that point.
Q. What other priorities are on your list?
A.We are very much looking at…You look back at last year's safety record not the best we have had in fiscal year '14 and have taken some initial looks inside the higher risk communities: VFA, HSC and our VAQ, to kind of pull from what we learned last year. I mean, So far we are doing well this year. But I think we have got — there is awareness in the fleet primarily of some of the challenges of the fleet readiness model, that training model. I know that there are times when you are going to be less proficient and less current and applying the right risk management tools during those phases. Not to mention it is not important as you are getting very busy working up and on deployment it still applies there but I think just an awareness of that as we move through the next couple of years or certainly this year from a safety perspective.
Bottom line is that we talked a lot about the airplanes and the programs and everything else, but it is really the sailors that I worry about, and ensuring they've got the resources they need. Because these kids will do anything. They work incredible hours and I think for the most part really love what they are doing. So I just want to give them the tools they need, the training, the airplanes, the parts so that when we ask them, their squadrons to go forward that they can focus on that war fighting first and be ready to operate wherever we ask them. And if we ask them to sail into or fly in harm's way that they are ready to be successful.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
