Since 2010, US Navy (USN) and Marine Corps (USMC) aircraft have engaged targets in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Added to US military operations conducting aircraft carrier strikes in the previous couple of decades, this constant operational involvement has provided background experience unimaginable to any other carrier operator in the world. Naturally, this has enabled a raft of serious lessons to be learned and tactics, techniques, and procedures to be honed, along with new equipment developed and tailored. However, it has also taken a toll on aircraft, equipment, and crews, and the navy is wrestling with how to balance its legacy of mixed fleets and transform them to tackle the challenges of the next couple of decades.
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