By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The US Navy is dispersing combat ready Marine Expeditionary Units across the Pacific in what appears to be an effort to further “operationalize” and implement its Distributed Maritime Operations strategy …..the service’s evolving concept of operations through which securely networked nodes and lethal platforms disperse across wide areas of land-air-and-sea to create sustainable, effective multi-domain maritime warfare formations.
The idea behind DMO, as articulated in the Chief of Naval Operations 2022 Navigation Plan, is to leverage longer-range sensors and weapons, precision guidance systems, improved networking and data processing and manned-unmanned teaming to enable highly-lethal maritime warfare formations to disperse and disaggregate across wide swaths of ocean, yet maintain connectivity, command and control and multi-domain attack effectiveness.
Maritime warfare and amphibious assault formations have for decades been linear, condensed formations in closer proximity advancing across the ocean. While these formations still have a place in modern maritime warfare and remain valuable and relevant, the advent of new technology has enabled paradigm-changing tactics, formations and concepts of operation.
The Corps’ 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit is conducting integrated “live-fire” operations in the Pacific Ocean in disaggregated formations using long-range sensors, amphibious vehicles, rubber raiding craft and unmanned systems to practice maritime warfare maneuvers. While these kinds of training exercises are considered routine, these MEU formations in the Pacific point to the emergence of the kind of Distributed Maritime Operations now made possible by new technologies such as manned-unmanned teaming, multi-domain target networking. This is particularly evident when it comes to the MEU and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG) as its components such as Amphibious Transport Docks and Dock Landing Ships are now engineered for more dispersed and autonomous operations as well as condensed or aggregated formations.
Retired Maj. Gen. David Coffman, former Navy Director of Expeditionary Warfare has commanded Corps amphibious units during transitional years as the service evolved its ability to operationalize highly effective and lethal disaggregated formation. Coffman explained how Amphibious Transport Docks (LPDs), for example, are now engineered with improved aviation capabilities, antennas and unmanned-systems networking to enable more independent, disaggregated formations.
“We can plan collaboratively across thousands of miles. Therefore I can have my big deck in one place and my LPD, 1000 miles away. I can still command and control them from the big deck and think of what we’re doing to the enemy,” Coffman told Warrior in a discussion about the future of amphibious warfare.
The concept described by Coffman here aligns in an interesting way with what is happening now in the Pacific with the 15th MEU as the USS Somerset, and LPD, conducts training and amphibious warfare preparations in the Pacific in disaggregated formations. As part of this, the multi-domain reach, lethality and effectiveness of Corps MEUs and ARGs is massively expanded with the arrival in recent years of the stealthy 5th-generation F-35B able to take off and project power from big-deck amphibious assault ships.
“They’ve just demonstrated we can put 20 F 35 B’s on one of those ships. You think that does not change the calculation of would be maligned actors in that theater? Then you can add two or three or four San Antonio class LPDs distributed across great distances with V 22s, helicopters, and drones that we have not yet invented,” Coffman.
It makes sense that the Navy’s DMO would come to fruition in the Pacific given the geographical expanse of the area and the seemingly limitless value added by unmanned systems, 5th-generation aircraft, drones and increased networking.
Kris Osborn is President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
