The US NavyÂ’s (USNÂ’s) newest combat aircraft, the Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet, made its combat debut on 6 November, when aircraft from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln struck air-defence sites in southern Iraq.
Flying from the northern Arabian Gulf in support of the US-UK Operation ‘Southern Watch’ (OSW), aircraft from Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-115 dropped four global positioning system-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions on two Iraqi surface-to-air missile launchers at Al Kut and on a command-and-control facility at Talil. These actions were followed by further Super Hornet strikes on 7 and 10 November.
USN officers told JDW that all munitions hit their intended targets, which US Central Command said were attacked in response to anti-aircraft fire against allied aircraft patrolling the southern ‘no fly zone’. Describing the aircraft’s first strikes as "accurate and effective", Cdr Dale Horan, executive officer of VFA-115, said: "The F/A-18E is doing better than expected and we expected it to do very well."
The intensity of Iraqi ground fire has risen "significantly" over recent weeks, according to Capt Kevin Albright, who commands the Abraham LincolnÂ’s Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14), with hostile forces "really trying hard [to shoot down our aircraft]". The increased level of response to such action is in line with US Secretary of Defense Donald RumsfeldÂ’s decision last September to step up retaliation, he said. Noting that the target-set available to allied aircraft has since been altered, Capt Albright says: "We are now going after more substantive targets than two years ago. Dropping a bomb on [a command] bunker is always more significant than an S-60 anti-aircraft gun."
Aircraft assigned to CVW-14 currently contribute around 30-40% of the sorties flown during OSW, with the remainder conducted by UK Royal Air Force, US Air Force and USN assets in-theatre.