By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
Supporting clandestine special operations reconnaissance and attack missions, launching V-22 Osprey tiltrotors into enemy territory to deliver marines and weapons and performing maritime command and control in support of attacking amphibious units and disembarked Marines… are all operations of increased importance to the US Navy as the service continues to intensify its presence in the Pacific.
With the creation of special Marine Corps “littoral units” and the arrival of new drones, light amphibious warships and ship-to-shore transport craft, it makes sense that the Navy is surging ahead with new Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) vessels. The service just took delivery of its 5th Lewis B. Puller-class ESB, a ship to be called the USS Robert E. Simanek. The growing number of ESBs in the Navy aligns with the service’s strategy to pivot away from more than a decade of supporting ground wars into a maritime-centric Island hopping kind of combat posture. The miles of expansive island, littoral and coastal areas throughout the Pacific theater increase the need for sea-basing forces less likely to find secure areas ashore amidst multi-domain combat.
In development for many years now, the ESBs emerge from commercial ships modified for the rigors of military combat with helicopter landing spaces, support areas for special operations and advanced command and control technology. Should a coastal or island area be heavily contested, ground-based Tactical Operations Centers or maneuvering ground troops might be at greater risk than a strategically positioned Sea-base hundreds of miles off the shore. At safer stand-off distances, an ESB could still project critical power as it is configured to launch V-22 Ospreys, tiltrotor aircraft operating with a combat radius of 450 nautical miles. An Osprey can also transit weapons and Marines from safer basing positions off-shore in support of landing missions and amphibious attack operations.
Fixed targets on land such as forward operating bases, troop concentrations and armored vehicles are at greater risk given emerging technology. Drones, surveillance planes at altitude with high-fidelity sensors and long-range precision ballistic missiles and cruise missiles are all increasingly capable of targeting and attacking ground forces from closer proximity or stand-in distances. ESBs, however, can introduce more mobile command and control to maritime warfare operations, something of growing value for the Navy and Marine Corps. This is particularly true in light of the evolution of Marine Corps thinking in recent years, as evidenced by its Marine Corps Force Design 2030 strategy paper released a few years ago. The strategy calls for a faster, lighter, more expeditionary yet highly lethal fighting force operating with on-the-move anti-armor weapons and fewer heavier mechanized platforms such as tanks.
