By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
It comes as little surprise that the US Navy continues to operate and train in the Pacific with various Amphibious Assault Ships, platforms which can combine to project power, network air-surface and undersea forces and operate groups of unmanned systems.
The US Navy published photos of one of its AH-1Z Cobra Corps helicopter operating in close coordination with one of the services’ Amphibious Transport Docks, the USS Green Bay. This demonstrates an increasingly emphasized ability for the Navy and Corps to conduct island-hopping types of amphibious surface-air combat operations across the Pacific.
Such a forward power presence is pertinent to deterrence missions related to the South China Sea, as it places US amphibious reconnaissance and attack forces within range of securing island territories as needed or conducting helicopter and surveillance place submarine-hunting missions.
The connection between a Cobra helicopter and an amphib Landing Dock is quite significant in a number of key respects as it suggests avanced networking and also aligns with the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations. Helicopters can of-course drop sonobuoys and scan areas for undersea activities.
Beyond this, however, the Navy has in recent years been upgrading critical elements of its Amphibious Ready Groups and Marine Expeditionary Units to enable both condensed and “disaggregated” maritime operations. Instead of being more limited to only operating in close proximity with a big=deck Amphib, both Amphibious Transport Docks and Dock Landing Ships have been upgraded with aviation and command and control technologies to enable highly effective dispersed, yet networked maritime operations. Additional antennas, aviation assets and multi-domain networking systems such that the various elements of an amphibious ready group can operate as both a concentrated group of amphibious platforms and also a more disparate, spread apart or “disaggregated” formation which is both securely networked and also dispersed across vast swaths of ocean. This kind of reach is especially important in coastal, open ocean and island areas such as the Pacific which are not only spread across expansive distances but also vulnerable to increasingly long range enemy sensors and weapons.
This kind of tactical expansion aligns with the Marine Corps’ “Force Design 2030” strategy aimed at deploying a lighter, faster, more dispersed yet networked and highly-lethal amphibious force increasingly supported by unmanned systems. As part of this, the Navy is working with the Corps to build new Medium-class amphibious assault platforms and also prepare a land-fired variant of the well-known Naval Strike Missile.
Given all this, the ability for a single Amphibious Transport Dock and one of its helicopters to operate more independently in somewhat more disaggregated formation could be viewed as an operational example of the Navy’s now implements and widely discussed DMO, Distributed Maritime Operations strategy. The idea is to maximize manned-unmanned teaming, advanced multi-domain networking and secure, long-range weapons and sensors to hold larger and more expansive areas at risk with disaggregated operations. This not only increases survivability by reducing the number of larger, more condensed targets vulnerable to enemy long-range weapons but also introduces a new sphere of surveillance and attack possibilities available to maritime warfare commanders. Groups of amphibious unmanned systems, for example, can patrol and enemy coastline or island areas looking for weak areas withing an enemies defensive formations, protect larger areas through the use of aerial gateways, long-range sensors and disaggregated formations and also conduct more expansive maritime attacks across larger areas.
Finally, an ability to operate helicopter-carrying Amphibious Transport Docks in a more dispersed manner can increase the range and combat envelope of F-35Bs traveling on a larger, big-deck amphib host ship such as a WASP or America Class amphibious assault ship. A helicopter and Amphibious Transport Dock could operate as forward “nodes” in position to cue a large big-deck amphib able to operate with and launch as many as 15 F-35Bs each. Such a tactical possibility can help leverage and optimize the US Navy’s 5th-generation airpower advantage over China’s maritime air capabilities. China’s J-20, for instance, is land launched and the PLA Navy does not, as of yet, operate a sea-launched J-31 5th-gen aircraft in impactful numbers. The Chinese papers say only two prototype J-31s exist at the moment, so China operates at a massive deficit when it comes to ocean-launched 5th-generation airpower. Clearly this is something the US Navy wants to sustain and leverage as needed for deterrence missions.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – the 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.
