[MilCom] Exercise Summer Pulse 04 - Huge Navy deployment to test emergency plan

[Larry Van Horn]

Here are some segments of a fascinating article in the San Diego
Union-Tribune June 03, 2004 newspaper. I won't quote all the article
since it is a copyrighted piece, but hopefully it is still online. I
suggest you hit their website to get more detail. Thanks to Mike
Heightchew for giving us the heads up. Both coast should have some
excellent listening in the coming months. 

Huge Navy deployment to test emergency plan 
By James W. Crawley 

Seven aircraft carriers - more than half the nation's flattops - along
with several dozen escort ships and about 40,000 sailors will be at sea
starting this week for the first demonstration of the Navy's emergency
deployment plan. 

Known as Summer Pulse 04, the exercise includes two carrier strike
groups with San Diego ties: the Stennis flotilla, which deployed from
North Island Naval Air Station last week on a regular deployment, and
the Navy's newest carrier, the Ronald Reagan, which is heading for its
new home port in San Diego. 

The seven carriers - virtually every aircraft carrier that can sail -
will be at sea during all or part of the exercise, which ends in August.
Besides the local warships, the George Washington, Kitty Hawk, Harry S.
Truman, John F. Kennedy and Enterprise strike groups will participate.
Most of the carriers will be escorted by four to six smaller ships. 

"It's pretty significant, but (the Navy) hasn't done a good job of
explaining how significant it is," said John Pike, director of
GlobalSecurity.org, an independent think tank in Alexandria. Va.  The
exercise's purpose is to demonstrate the Navy's post-Iraq deployment
scheme, called the Fleet Response Plan. 

Central to the new operating plan is the Navy's ability to "pulse" or
"surge" its aircraft carriers to one or more trouble areas
simultaneously. The plan says the Navy will deploy up to six carrier
strike groups within 30 days of receiving orders and, within 90 days,
two more carrier groups.  So, in three months, according to the plan,
the Navy could have two-thirds of its carriers steaming near a war zone.
Not only will the Navy be coordinating the movement of several dozen
ships around the world, but also keeping them supplied simultaneously
with everything from aircraft spare parts to fuel to food.  

Only two of the seven carriers, the Kennedy and Enterprise, will be sent
to sea on short notice. The other warships were already on routine
deployments or had planned training exercises for this summer.  The
Enterprise leaves today from its Norfolk, Va., base, while the Kennedy
will depart from its Florida port in a few weeks. The Truman left
Tuesday from Norfolk for previously scheduled training.  Four carriers,
including the San Diego-based Nimitz, are undergoing overhauls - lasting
weeks, months and, in one case, three years - and are unavailable for a
quick departure.  he Nimitz, which returned from deployment in November,
is being repaired and upgraded at North Island Naval Air Station and is
expected to return to service in August. 

73 all and good hunting,

Larry Van Horn -- N5FPW
Monitoring Times Assistant Editor/Milcom Columnist
Grove Enterprises Technical Support Department
Telephone: V-828-837-9200/F-828-837-2216/800-438-8155
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