US Aircraft Carrier Battling Houthi Threats Has Planes in the Air ‘Constantly,’ Commander Says

“It’s a huge effort,” Rear Adm. Marc Miguez told Business Insider during an interview on the Ike this week. “We’re going at it constantly,” he said, “launching airplanes every hour to hour and a half.”

Dozens of planes may take off from the carrier during a typical day, which can consist of multiple launch and recovery cycles over a period that can last up to 12 hours, if not longer.

When a fighter aircraft, such as a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, lands on the ship, personnel on the flight deck — sporting different colored vests that correspond with their job duties — prepare it for the next launch; it needs to be refueled and possibly rearmed if it released any munitions during the previous flight.

While this is happening, other crewmembers are managing the ship’s catapults — mechanisms that allow the ship to launch planes carrying heavy payloads — and the arresting gear, which are belts that help the aircraft quickly decelerate upon landing. Each take off and landing carries with it a thunderous roar.

Everything happening on the flight deck represents only a portion of what it takes to keep aircraft in the sky. The rest is happening throughout the floating city that is the Eisenhower, which more than 5,000 sailors are currently calling home during its deployment to the Middle East.

Miguez oversees Carrier Strike Group 2, which consists of the Ike, four destroyers, and a cruiser. He said “it’s a ton of effort to get airplanes airborne and to keep them airborne.”

That’s why readiness is key. In the months leading up to the deployment in mid-October, the carrier’s crew was practicing things like dynamic targeting, even though it wasn’t known what the security situation off the coast of Yemen would be, Capt. Chris Hill, the Eisenhower’s commanding officer, told Business Insider.

There are more than 70 aircraft on the Eisenhower, with the air wing made up of F/A-18 Super Hornets fighters, E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft, EA-18 Growler jets for electronic warfare and surveillance, and helicopters. While most of the aircraft are on the flight deck, some are below in an area that is known as the “hangar bay,” which is where around 90 crew members from different squadrons perform maintenance.

The aircraft can be tasked with various missions once they’re airborne, ranging from training to defending commercial vessels and US Navy ships from ongoing Houthi attacks. They always have to be ready to potentially strike rebel assets in Yemen if needed, Capt. Marvin Scott, commander of the Eisenhower’s carrier air wing, said.

Preemptive strikes, which are aimed at effectively eliminating Houthi missiles and drones before they can even become a threat to international shipping lanes, have become a regular occurrence in recent weeks. Prior to this shift in tactics, the US spent months shooting down Houthi threats in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after they had already been launched by the rebels.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, has announced preemptive military actions on multiple occasions over the past few days. These have destroyed a handful of unmanned surface vessels, which are drone boats that can be packed with explosives, and anti-ship missiles.

“It’s a very flexible system,” Scott told Business Insider of the Eisenhower’s flight operations. “We have a lot of options available to us” depending on what mission is being executed, he added.

Scott said the Navy has “significantly degraded” the Houthis’ capabilities over the past few weeks, including their ability to launch missiles and drones, thanks in part to the Eisenhower’s actions and the planes that are airborne throughout the day.

“We are poised and supported to stay here as long as it takes to defend the freedom of commerce,” he said.