Carrier onboard delivery

File:US Navy 110722-N-BR887-022 Sailors move more than ten thousand pounds of mail delivered by two C-2A Greyhound aircraft assigned to Carrier Logistic.jpg

USS George Washington (CVN-73) crew unload mail from two C-2A Greyhounds in 2011

Carrier onboard delivery (COD) is the use of aircraft to ferry personnel, mail, supplies, and high-priority cargo, such as replacement parts, from shore bases to an aircraft carrier at sea. Several types of aircraft, including helicopters, have been used by navies in the COD role. The Grumman C-2 Greyhound has been the United States Navy's primary COD aircraft since the mid-1960s.

History

Early United States Navy (USN) recognition of need for a cargo plane capable of carrier landings resulted in airframe conversion of Grumman TBM-3 Avenger torpedo bombers to unarmed seven-passenger COD aircraft designated TBM-3R. Replacement of TBM-3Rs began in the late 1950s. Grumman built a cargo variant of its twin-piston-engined Grumman S-2 Tracker anti-submarine warfare bomber as the C-1A Trader. The Navy in 1963 briefly experimented with the C-130 Hercules for COD. In the late 1960s Grumman began production of a cargo variant of its twin-turboprop E-2 Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning aircraft known as the C-2A Greyhound. Five Lockheed US-3A Viking aircraft were also used from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The C-2 has remained the U.S. Navy's primary COD vehicle since that time.

Several U.S. Navy "Fleet Logistics Support Squadrons" provided COD services aboard carriers since the World War II, including VR-5, VR-21, VR-22, VR-23, VR-24, VRC-30, VRC-40, and VRC-50.

An MV-22 Osprey of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 165 prepares to land on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during testing. The V-22 is a possible candidate for COD missions.

On 6 October 2012, a MV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft from squadron VMM-165 landed and refueled on board the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). This operation was part of an evaluation of the feasibility of the MV-22 as a potential replacement for the current C-2 cargo transport aircraft. Further cargo handling trials took place in 2013 on Harry S. Truman.

In April 2014 Lockheed Martin announced that they would offer refurbished and remanufactured S-3s as a replacement for the decades-old Northrop Grumman C-2A Greyhound on-board carrier delivery aircraft. Dubbed the C-3, the aircraft would have a wider fuselage, but would retain the original wings, tail assembly, engines and crew compartment. With an unrefueled range of 2,400 nautical miles carrying a 10,000-pound load, Cramer said the C-3 would have twice the range of a new C-2, and triple the range of a V-22 Osprey. Unlike other competitors, the C-3 could meet the critical requirement to transport replacement Pratt & Whitney jet engines for the F-35. The requirement for 35 aircraft would be met from the 91 S-3s currently in storage. On 2015, the Navy published a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for using 4 to 12 HV-22s as COD.

List of COD aircraft

Several aircraft types have been specifically designed or modified for COD missions:

• Fairey Gannet COD.4
• Grumman/GM TBM-3R Avenger
• Grumman C-1 Trader
• Grumman C-2 Greyhound
• Lockheed US-3A Viking

Gallery

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  A TBM-3R of VR-23 over Korea, 1953.

• Grumman C-1 wings folded aboard USS Lexington.jpg

  A VRC-40 C-1A on the Lexington, 1985.

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  A VRC-50 US-3A on the Carl Vinson, 1987.

• C-2 Landeanflug.jpg

  A VRC-30 C-2A landing on the Kitty Hawk, 2004.

• 

  A VRC-40 C-2A after SLEP on the Carl Vinson, 2009.

See also

• Underway replenishment
• Vertical replenishment (VERTREP)
• Seabasing
• Sealift
• Military logistics