Cross-deck (naval terminology)

Cross-deck (or cross-decking) is naval jargon which may refer to either informal, ad-hoc sharing of resources between naval vessels (historical usage), or the use of carrier decks (or vessel borne helipads) to host aircraft of foreign allies, aircraft from other ships in the same navy, or as re-fueling platforms for naval aircraft to extend flight operations beyond the range of the aircraft type. The operations may be entirely within a single navy, or between allied navies such as defined in the HOSTAC agreement. This may be required for ferrying aircraft or supplies, power projection operations involving fixed or rotary-wing aircraft, or to provide flexibility in operating limited numbers of specialized aircraft (such as the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft) over a wide theatre of operations. Spare parts that can be lifted by helicopter are often crossed decked between ships operating compatible equipment (especially if they are the same ship class), to reduce redundancy in carrying spares.