Post by Keith Heitmann on Jul 25, 2004 1:36:19 GMT -5
By Otto Kreisher
The naval services—and maybe the Army—view this as one answer to the anti-access problem.
In an effort to adapt maritime strategy to changing conditions, the Navy and Marine Corps have embraced a new concept that they hope will help overcome “access denial” threats in world hot spots.
The emerging concept is known as “sea basing.” Put in simplest terms, the US would construct a system of large, mobile, seagoing logistics platforms able to launch and sustain a combat force far inland. The force could be Marine or Army. It could number thousands of troops with supporting equipment.
Backers say this large direct-intervention capability would provide insurance against a loss of US access to local airfields, bases, and port facilities.
The sea basing idea entails using a system of large, seagoing logistics platforms, serviced by smaller ships. At top is an artist’s conception of a 320-foot transport.(Illustration © Incat, Austraila
Skeptics—and there are many—say sea basing could prove to be an expensive mistake. “Sea basing is a rich man’s approach to solving the [access denial] problem,” said retired Marine Col. Robert O. Work of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C. He favors use of long-range airpower.
US leaders long have worried about losing access in a crisis. The movement of naval, land, and air forces to a theater, they warn, could be blocked by a foe’s use of missiles, mines, quiet subs, advanced air defenses, and chemical weapons.
Some years ago, USAF responded with its Global Strike Task Force (GSTF), a concept of operations to defeat anti-access threats. It calls for using theater-based and long-range airpower and modern information systems to create a “massing of firepower effects” without an actual massing of forces in vulnerable areas.
GSTF would rely on stealthy B-2 bombers and F/A-22 fighters to attack from afar and clear a path for more forces.
“The Only Answer”
Now, the naval services are offering sea basing as their alternative, which they obviously think is superior to others. Marine Col. John Pross, director of sea basing integration in the Navy’s expeditionary warfare office, said the Navy and Marine Corps leadership consider the sea base to be the optimal way to exploit America’s control of the seas.
Sea basing gained status in 2002 with the release of the Navy’s latest warfighting vision, Sea Power 21. That paper puts sea basing on a par with “sea strike” (offensive capabilities) and “sea shield” (defense of forces at sea and ashore).
Said Navy Capt. Steven C. Rowland, director of concepts and capabilities for the Navy’s expeditionary warfare office: “The sea base is, in fact, the foundation for all the offensive and defensive power projection capabilities.”
Adm. Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations, believes it is not so much a system as a way of thinking. “Now some people may see sea basing in a very restrictive way—it’s a particular platform and it’s a thing,” said Clark. “To me, sea basing is about the ability to exploit the freedom to maneuver. That’s what it’s about.”
Clark went on, “We need to think about sea basing in a very joint construct and what it does for the entire military structure, and we need to figure out how to invest properly, focus our investment stream so we maximize that advantage.”
Despite sea basing’s inherent naval orientation, the Navy and Marine Corps tout it as a joint capability that will affect operations of the Army and, to some extent, the Air Force.
Above is the TSV-1X, a US Army transport capable of 40-knot speeds.(US Navy photo by PH1 Brien Aho)
Before he stepped down last year, Pentagon acquisition czar Edward C. Aldridge Jr. directed the Defense Science Board to conduct a study of sea basing. “Undoubtedly situations will arise where US interests require having boots on the ground,” Aldridge said. “Accomplishing that in today’s warfighting context bristles with difficulties.” He thought sea basing might be one answer.
The DSB report, issued last fall, endorsed sea basing as a promising idea. Chairman William Schneider Jr. flatly declared it to be “a critical future joint military capability for the United States.” He added, “It will help assure access to areas where US military forces are denied access to support facilities.”
However, there are some problems. To begin with, sea basing as presently conceived requires a panoply of new ships, aircraft, weapons, and integrated sensor and command networks, most of which do not exist.
What, in fact, is a sea base?
Key features of a sea base are described in the DSB report and in presentations made by the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. Starting points are today’s big-deck aircraft carrier and amphibious task forces. Formations of existing warships would provide offensive and defensive power as part of a sea base.
The DSB report said, “One must think of a sea base as a hybrid system of systems consisting of concepts of operations, ships, forces, offensive and defensive weapons, aircraft, communications and logistics, all of which involve careful planning, coordination, and exercising to operate smoothly.”
It added that the sea base “must be robust enough to operate in a range of sea conditions and must be able to receive supplies from the sea without the support of in-theater land bases.”
Such a capability does not now exist, although the US does have some precursor amphibious capabilities. The DSB said the United States could have an operational sea base by 2020.
cont'd
The naval services—and maybe the Army—view this as one answer to the anti-access problem.
In an effort to adapt maritime strategy to changing conditions, the Navy and Marine Corps have embraced a new concept that they hope will help overcome “access denial” threats in world hot spots.
The emerging concept is known as “sea basing.” Put in simplest terms, the US would construct a system of large, mobile, seagoing logistics platforms able to launch and sustain a combat force far inland. The force could be Marine or Army. It could number thousands of troops with supporting equipment.
Backers say this large direct-intervention capability would provide insurance against a loss of US access to local airfields, bases, and port facilities.
The sea basing idea entails using a system of large, seagoing logistics platforms, serviced by smaller ships. At top is an artist’s conception of a 320-foot transport.(Illustration © Incat, Austraila
Skeptics—and there are many—say sea basing could prove to be an expensive mistake. “Sea basing is a rich man’s approach to solving the [access denial] problem,” said retired Marine Col. Robert O. Work of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C. He favors use of long-range airpower.
US leaders long have worried about losing access in a crisis. The movement of naval, land, and air forces to a theater, they warn, could be blocked by a foe’s use of missiles, mines, quiet subs, advanced air defenses, and chemical weapons.
Some years ago, USAF responded with its Global Strike Task Force (GSTF), a concept of operations to defeat anti-access threats. It calls for using theater-based and long-range airpower and modern information systems to create a “massing of firepower effects” without an actual massing of forces in vulnerable areas.
GSTF would rely on stealthy B-2 bombers and F/A-22 fighters to attack from afar and clear a path for more forces.
“The Only Answer”
Now, the naval services are offering sea basing as their alternative, which they obviously think is superior to others. Marine Col. John Pross, director of sea basing integration in the Navy’s expeditionary warfare office, said the Navy and Marine Corps leadership consider the sea base to be the optimal way to exploit America’s control of the seas.
Sea basing gained status in 2002 with the release of the Navy’s latest warfighting vision, Sea Power 21. That paper puts sea basing on a par with “sea strike” (offensive capabilities) and “sea shield” (defense of forces at sea and ashore).
Said Navy Capt. Steven C. Rowland, director of concepts and capabilities for the Navy’s expeditionary warfare office: “The sea base is, in fact, the foundation for all the offensive and defensive power projection capabilities.”
Adm. Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations, believes it is not so much a system as a way of thinking. “Now some people may see sea basing in a very restrictive way—it’s a particular platform and it’s a thing,” said Clark. “To me, sea basing is about the ability to exploit the freedom to maneuver. That’s what it’s about.”
Clark went on, “We need to think about sea basing in a very joint construct and what it does for the entire military structure, and we need to figure out how to invest properly, focus our investment stream so we maximize that advantage.”
Despite sea basing’s inherent naval orientation, the Navy and Marine Corps tout it as a joint capability that will affect operations of the Army and, to some extent, the Air Force.
Above is the TSV-1X, a US Army transport capable of 40-knot speeds.(US Navy photo by PH1 Brien Aho)
Before he stepped down last year, Pentagon acquisition czar Edward C. Aldridge Jr. directed the Defense Science Board to conduct a study of sea basing. “Undoubtedly situations will arise where US interests require having boots on the ground,” Aldridge said. “Accomplishing that in today’s warfighting context bristles with difficulties.” He thought sea basing might be one answer.
The DSB report, issued last fall, endorsed sea basing as a promising idea. Chairman William Schneider Jr. flatly declared it to be “a critical future joint military capability for the United States.” He added, “It will help assure access to areas where US military forces are denied access to support facilities.”
However, there are some problems. To begin with, sea basing as presently conceived requires a panoply of new ships, aircraft, weapons, and integrated sensor and command networks, most of which do not exist.
What, in fact, is a sea base?
Key features of a sea base are described in the DSB report and in presentations made by the Marine Corps Combat Development Command. Starting points are today’s big-deck aircraft carrier and amphibious task forces. Formations of existing warships would provide offensive and defensive power as part of a sea base.
The DSB report said, “One must think of a sea base as a hybrid system of systems consisting of concepts of operations, ships, forces, offensive and defensive weapons, aircraft, communications and logistics, all of which involve careful planning, coordination, and exercising to operate smoothly.”
It added that the sea base “must be robust enough to operate in a range of sea conditions and must be able to receive supplies from the sea without the support of in-theater land bases.”
Such a capability does not now exist, although the US does have some precursor amphibious capabilities. The DSB said the United States could have an operational sea base by 2020.
cont'd
