Naval Air Operations

In response to congressional interest in naval aircraft performance during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, GAO focused on complications arising from the joint service operating environment and the impact on naval air operations. This report identifies (1) the difficulties and the challenges that Navy and Marine Corps aviation units encountered integrating their combat skills and equipment capabilities with those of other services, (2) the impact that these challenges had on Navy and Marine Corps aircraft operations, and (3) actions being taken in response to lessons learned.

GAO found that: (1) some Navy aviation units did not receive the critical Desert Shield training necessary to familiarize them with other services' tactics, procedures, and weapon capabilities; (2) the Navy lacked the shipboard equipment needed to receive and transmit mission orders; (3) the Marine Corps complicated air operations by adding another layer of control over the existing airspace management structure; (4) the integration difficulties that Navy and Marine aviation units encountered during Desert Storm resulted from their inexperience in joint operations and training before the war; (5) the Navy and Marine Corps have made efforts since the war to improve joint operations and overall interoperability with the other services; and (6) individual naval organizations still determine their own requirements and priorities, and naval interests still prevail over joint concerns in some cases.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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