Just thought you’d like to know, after a fist full of weeks in the Persian Gulf, launching its aircraft towards Iraq
The USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 returned to the North Arabian Sea June 14 following its third port visit in the Middle East.
Starting June 15, CVW-9 will conduct missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and will provide close air-power support and reconnaissance to International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops on the ground in Afghanistan.
In case you don’t grasp the import of the four little alphamumerics CVW-9 here’s a quickie for you.
CVW-9 has evolved into the most lethal carrier-borne strike force in the world. The Air Wing is comprised of the Navy’s most modern aircraft, consisting of F-14A Tomcats, FA-18C Hornets, EA-6B Prowlers, S-3B Vikings, E-2C Hawkeyes, SH-60F/H Sea Hawks, and C-2A Greyhounds. The unique features of each type of aircraft in the air wing provide an arsenal of offensive firepower against air, surface, and subsurface threats. The FA-18C and F-14A are multi-role platforms that provide strike and fighter capabilities for power projection and fleet air defense.
Now, this article doesn’t say so, but it is entirely likely that elements of CVW-9 had a bomb in on this:
At least seven children have been killed in a U.S.-led coalition air strike on a religious school in Afghanistan, the coalition said on Monday, amid rising anger over civilian deaths from foreign military operations.