1. Making information systems and operations central to all others;

2. Giving individual sailors and Marines more force-multiplying technical capability, more responsibility, and wider influence on the battlefield and in the battle area;

3. Strengthening the combat fleet by:

   • Preparing a family of rocket-propelled attack missiles capable of fast response, a high rate of fire, long range, high accuracy, and low cost;

   • Changing surface combatant and submarine designs to use such missiles most effectively, and to capitalize on the technological opportunity to increase efficiency and effectiveness;

   • And concurrently, preparing new directions for naval aviation;

4. Expanding the techniques of undersea warfare;

5. Preparing new approaches to operations by military forces in populated areas;

6. Reengineering the logistic system for Operational Maneuver From the Sea (OMFTS);

7. Making modeling and simulation integral to all system acquisition, force preparation, and operational decisions; and

8. Ensuring a focused, sustained research and development program to enable and support all of the other entering wedges of capability.

All of these entering wedges of capability are deemed critically important to shaping future naval forces. With one exception (a research and development program), they are listed in rough order of priority that would be accorded for allocation of resources, although preferably some useful level of resources could be applied to each.

The rationale for the priority order is straightforward.

In the first rank are information and people. Information is first, because without it, the forces will not know where to go, whom to engage, and how to fight. People are next, because it is people, with weapon and support systems at their disposal, who fight and win wars, or ensure that wars are deterred. To help ensure effective use of resources in the resource-constrained environment they face, the naval forces are planning for more effective use of people.

Next in order are the weapon systems that constitute the strength of the fighting forces; this capability includes, on roughly the same level of priority, the surface and air systems, the undersea systems, and the most important parts of the land combat systems that will allow implementation of the full force capability described above. Following—but not much lower in importance because strategy, schedules, and success in military operations are often driven by logistics—is the forces' essential support. Also at this level, attention is needed to modeling and simulation, the technology tool that is basic to the successful creation of all major systems and enterprises today.

Although ensuring focused, sustained levels of research and development is