The global war on terrorism has placed enormous strain on US Navy strike fighters over the past 18 years, with headlines going so far as to call it a 'crisis' that was hitting fleet squadrons. The relentless deployments to occupy close air support 'wagon wheels' in support of US and coalition troops on the battlefield, coupled with underinvestment in sustaining the aviation assets, led to a significant maintenance backlog and unacceptable numbers of Super Hornets either cannibalised or parked-up, unable to get a slot in deep maintenance schedules. In November 2017, Vice Admiral Mike Shoemaker said nearly one in three Hornets were non-operational and awaiting maintenance. Later the same year, the navy secretary stated that only 31 % of the total inventory of 546 Super Hornets in the fleet were fully mission capable or considered fit for deployment. During a low point in the so-called strike fighter crisis, desperate measures were called for. To facilitate deployments in 2018 for the carrier strike groups (CSGs) of the USS Nimitz (CVN 68), USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), 94 Super Hornets had to be submitted for overdue maintenance at the naval fleet readiness centres. Compounding the issue, carrier air wing (CVW) deployment durations increased in frequency, from an average of 6.4 months between 2008 and 2011 to 8.2 months betweer 2012 and 2014. Clearly, something needed to be done to address the burgeoning issues.
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