For the Sake of Ceremony: Should the U.S. Navy Continue its Airborne Forward Air Controller...

No one knows precisely when the last naval sword was used in combat. After centuries of being considered standard military-issued weaponry, the sword’s utility waned in the gunpowder age. The enlisted cutlass disappeared entirely by the 1940s. The officer’s sword, steeped in centuries of military tradition, was spared for the sake of ceremony. A required uniform item for officers above the grade of lieutenant commander, swords can be found at change of command ceremonies and drawn to create sword arches at military weddings. Today, officers may be versed in ceremonial drills, but the skill to effectively use such a weapon in combat is as unsharpened as the edges of these ceremonial vestiges.

The history of the naval sword is an apt metaphor for the state of the Navy’s airborne forward air controller (hereafter referred to as forward air controller) program. Like the sword, the current trajectory of the forward air control program indicates declining relevance due to neglect, changing operational paradigms, and preservation for the sake of tradition. Naval aviation’s commitment to this mission and alignment with previous tenets are atrophying, and the program’s future is at a crossroads. Since the 1990s, the Navy’s forward air controller program has resided within the carrier-based two-seat fast jet community. However, historical and contemporary realities indicate that the true value-proposition of the forward air control program is realized elsewhere. Yet, a sentimental longing for idealized past successes in combat and the excitement the mission evokes in aviators’ minds results in the Navy’s unwillingness to sheathe-the-sword, abandon tradition, and update how it plans to allocate its resources in the future.