By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
Should a US Navy submarine-hunting P-8 Spy use advanced sonobuoys to detect enemy submarine movement, and quickly send threat details and intelligence data to warships, nuclear-command and control aircraft, unmanned surface vehicles and even submarines, is would indicate continued service breakthroughs with efforts to achieve, harden and refine real-time, multi-domain networking, intelligence-sharing and attack capability.
These kinds of concepts of operation, which introduce strategic, tactical and technological implications of great significance, have been a fast-evolving and longstanding focus for the Navy as it surges forward with deterrence missions and greatly enhanced maritime warfare attack capacity.
Given this, and the well known and often discuss networking progress explained by US Navy leaders and weapons developers, it is not surprising that the US Navy recently conducted a warfare-training or preparation exercise connecting a Ticonderoga-class cruiser with an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, E-6B Mercury nuclear command and control aircraft and a P-8 Poseidon sub-hunting spy plane. This formation was recently demonstrated and put into operational effect by the Navy in the Norwegian Sea.
This kind of operational networking and targeting ability, something to almost certainly be a focus for Navy warfighters during the exercise, is critical to the future of maritime warfare, as it could allow an interconnected group of Naval platforms to quickly identify, target and destroy emerging threats faster than an enemy can respond. Perhaps an enemy attack submarine is quickly closing in on a US Navy maritime warfare formation? Perhaps there is even a serious, and fast-emerging nuclear threat from enemy ground ICBM silos or nuclear-armed submarines … the existence of networked, airborne nuclear capable command and control in the form of an E-6B could save millions and potentially deter a catastrophic, massive nuclear attack.
Given this, and the well known and often discuss networking progress explained by US Navy leaders and weapons developers, it is not surprising that the US Navy recently conducted a warfare-training or preparation exercise connecting a Ticonderoga-class cruiser with an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine and a P-8 Poseidon sub-hunting spy plane. This formation was recently demonstrated and put into operational effect by the Navy in the Norwegian Sea
Efforts have been underway for many years wherein Navy weapons developers have engineered interfaces, common standards and gateways sufficient to successfully and quickly send data across domains in near real time. This often requires advanced, highly-technical gateway technology capable of essentially “translating” different transport layer technology and sharing information across otherwise disparate or disconnected pools of sensor data. This fundamental effort has for years been referred to as the Navy’s Operation Overmatch, a now mostly secretive effort to massively expedite maritime warfare attack, targeting and intelligence sharing. The Navy has often discussed this effort publicaly in terms of the service’s contribution to the Pentagon’s fast moving Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) effort to interconnect information transfer and sensor data gathering across the services.
“The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Tennessee (SSBN 734) recently wrapped up exercises with the USS Normandy (CG 60), Navy P-8A Poseidon and E-6B Mercury flying overhead in the Norwegian Sea…..This demonstrates multi-domain readiness in action with US Navy surface, subsurface and air assets operated in US European Command and and area of responsibility,” a published Navy photo on the deployment in the Norwegian Sea explains. .
The Navy essay further states that the service’s Commander Submarine Force Atlantic Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher was able to extend connectivity with Norwegian Navy leadership during the exercise.
The E-6B Mercury and Nuclear Deterrence
The presence of the E-6B Mercury introduces an aircraft capable of providing what Navy data describes as “reliable airborne Nuclear Command, Control and Communications for the President, Secretary of Defense and US Strategic Command. This naturally offers a powerful nuclear-response and deterrence capability, as any detected enemy ground or sea-launched nuclear attack could be detected and processed with necessary command and control to enable a rapid and decisive nuclear counter-attack.
This possibility, designed to keep the peace by deterring a potential nuclear attack, places a nuclear-armed Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine within clear range of launching a retaliatory nuclear strike in the event of an unprovoked nuclear attack. The assurance, and technological capability to ensure a massive response is exactly the kind of conceptual premise fundamental to preventing nuclear war — thus the paradox of strategic deterrence. .. prevent nuclear attack by ensuring the realistic possibility of a decisive and catastrophic nuclear counterattack.
Specifically, Navy data says the primary purpose of the E-6B is “Communications relay for fleet ballistic missile submarines (A and B models) and airborne command post for U.S. Strategic forces (B model).”
Within this context, it makes sense that this kind of networked nuclear-response capability would operate in the Norwegian Sea given Russia’s ongoing nuclear attack threats. A nuclear-armed submarine in the Norwegian Sea would of course easily and quickly hold Russia at risk of a responsive nuclear attack. This is quite significant, particularly because the location of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, armed with Trident II D5 nuclear missiles is almost never disclosed. Yet, in this Norwegian Sea exercise, the Navy indeed took the rare step of publishing a photo showing an Ohio-class SSBN. Is this a simple and peaceful reminder to Russia that US nuclear capability and deterrence is not only fully intact but also advancing in its networking and technological capacity?
Kris Osborn is the 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
