"The Navy fought and won over the Afghan battle space with tremendous effect," said Vice Adm. John Nathman, who oversees training and readiness of all naval aviation units from his North Island Naval Air Station headquarters.

"Bombs were falling faster from Navy aircraft than 1,000 shares of Enron stock," he said.

Nathman spoke yesterday at the opening of the three-day Western Conference and Exposition, an annual defense meeting sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. The event showcases military communications, computer and electronics systems.

Nathman, an outspoken proponent of naval aviation, pointed to the contributions of five carrier battle groups, including the San Diego-based carrier John C. Stennis and the Washington state-based Carl Vinson, in the three-month-long air war.

"Operation Enduring Freedom is validating the Navy and its mission," he said.

The Pentagon, even before Sept. 11, was starting to transform its armed forces to handle a wider range of military action, ranging from terrorism to regional conflicts anywhere in the world.

Naval aviators, like Nathman, have argued that the air campaign over Afghanistan proves the versatility of carriers.

With three countries denying the use of airfields and facilities by U.S. forces, the air campaign was largely handled by carrier-based aircraft and long-range Air Force bombers, he noted.

Because of the long distances, Navy and Marine Corps pilots have endured up to 10 hours in the cockpit, he added. That's the same as launching aircraft from Washington, D.C., flying to St. Louis, bombing a target and returning to Washington and then landing on an aircraft carrier at night, Nathman said.

So far, Navy fighters have hit their targets 84 percent of the time, an unprecedented accuracy. He didn't mention enemy casualties, except to say, "The country of Afghanistan looks much different today because our flattops, and the aircraft that fly from their decks are killing people that need to be killed."

More than 90 percent of all bombs dropped were laser-, TV-or satellite-guided munitions, he said.

The accuracy and technology have improved vastly since the Persian Gulf War 10 years ago, Nathman said. Then, up to 10 Navy bombers were sent to destroy one target. Now, over Afghanistan, a single Navy aircraft will routinely bomb two targets per flight.

Also speaking yesterday was Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, which controls military forces from the western United States to the Indian Ocean.

Blair said the war on terrorism is also being fought in the Pacific region, in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

While there is no Afghanistan harboring terrorists, U.S. allies are working to root out terrorist groups in their countries, he said. U.S. special operations forces are assisting Filipino military forces in hunting down Muslim terrorists in the southern Philippines.

James W. Crawley:
(619) 542-4559; jim.crawley@uniontrib.com