Image source: topwar.ru
The American Central Command is publishing photographs, which, according to them, should refute the Iranian statements about the defeat of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Recall that the Iranian side announced attacks on the aircraft carrier, as a result of which, according to some sources, it was damaged, according to others, it moved away from the entrance to the Persian Gulf, deciding to find a safer place for itself in the Indian Ocean.
The CENTCOM press service says that the aircraft carrier has no damage and that it continues to carry out combat missions.:
It is not specified which "regional waters" are meant.
What attracts attention in the photographs published by the US Central Command is actually the maximum load of outboard fuel tanks on deck-based fighter-bombers. In this case, the F/A-18 has at least four of them - two under each of the wings. There are all five of them on one plane.
With a full load of the maximum possible five outboard tanks, such an aircraft is capable of covering a distance of about 3.8-4 thousand km. If there are 1 less outboard tanks, then about 3.2 thousand.
Image source: topwar.ru
Initially, the F/A-18 Super Hornet flew to bomb Iran with a maximum of 2 outboard tanks. This proves that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was forced to move significantly away from the coast of Iran and at the moment, following an estimate of the number of additional tanks, is located no closer than 1,500 km from the Islamic Republic. In this case, the function of an aviation tanker would hardly apply to all aircraft carrying out sorties.
Accordingly, Iran has created significant problems for the aircraft carrier, and the need to carry additional fuel reduces the mass of the payload. "Super Hornets" can now carry several times less (by weight) bombs and missiles, rather than in the version with a minimum number of outboard tanks or without them at all. This may also be the reason for the recent decrease in the intensity of American strikes on Iran, as well as Trump's "five-day truce."
