Modern air wings trade specialists for fewer aircraft types

Compared with the Cold War mix, the modern air wing relies heavily on variants of the F/A-18, retaining the Hawkeye because a fighter cannot duplicate its radar and command role. The F-35C and MQ-25 were only beginning to change that balance, while the C-2 Greyhound’s proposed replacement by the CMV-22 raised questions about moving from a mature aircraft to a first-generation tiltrotor solution. First practical generations predictably expose problems, so the concern here is the slow move toward a successor rather than a claim that tiltrotors are inherently useless. Older Intruders and Prowlers also gave carriers long-range reach that made locating and defending against the force much harder.