Expert: Rod Powers - 5/2/2007

Question
if a war broke out who would be deployed frist,the air force and army or the navy and marines?and does the navy have their own jets on their aircraft carriers or is it only the  air force with jets?

Answer
Hi Dereck,

If a war broke out, the Joint Chiefs (Four Star Generals from each of the Branches) would develop a war plan and submit it to the President (who is "Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces). Who deploys first, would depend on the the war plan that is approved by the President.

In the past 14 years (the 1990 Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq), has been to start with airpower (Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps Aircraft), to take out enemy command & control systems, then follow up with ground forces (Army and Marine Corps).

Of course the Navy has their own jets on aircraft carriers. The Air Force doesn't fly off of U.S. Navy Carriers. Only the Navy and Marines do. The Navy and Marines primary attack/fighter aircraft is the FA-18 (Super Hornet) aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force provides air support with several aircraft, depending on the requirements, including the F-117A Stealth Fighter, the F-16 Falcon, the F-15 Eagle, the F-22 (newest fighter aircraft), the B-52, B-1, and B-2 heavy bombers, the A-10 tank killer, KC-10 and KC-135 refueling aircraft.

Now, just to complicate matters, a bit, the chances are, during a first strike, cruise missiles will be launched from Navy cruisers and Navy submarines.

Now, we'll make it even more difficult. Many of the precision bombs and missles launched from Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force aircraft are laser-guided. That means they follow a laser beam to the target. To make it work, somebody has to fire a laser beam gun at the target. Enter the special operations forces (Army Rangers, Army Special Forces, Navy Seals, Air Force Pararescue/Combat Controllers). These folks are snuck into the enemy areas, even before combat actually begins to "light up" the targets with lasers, so that the bombs can find their targets (so, for example, we blow up the intelligence or communications headquarters, without blowing up the grade school, next door).

In short, it's a coordinated effort. No service deploys before another, or is more important than another.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com