The Navy and Marine Corps in Regional Conflict in the 21st Century (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Part 1: Synopsis
Part 1: Synopsis
Pages 1-24
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The anticipated stringent budget conditions suggest to the Committee on the Navy and Marine Corps in Regional Conflict in the 21 st Century that while 50 years of progress will have brought the Navy and Marine Corps to a new level of military capability-e.g., in strategic deployment, amphibious assault speeds and distances, observation and communication, and many kinds of guided weapons-the coming period will see mainly consolidation of these gains rather than continued technological expansion. Still, the Services will face many problems of changing doctrine, acquiring new equipment, and budget allocation, simply to absorb the most important advances currently at hand.
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Readiness for rapid and effective response to hostile military action anywhere is paramount. NAVY AND MARINE CORPS MISSIONS AND OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS The Navy and Marine Corps missions remain unchanged in substance, but their emphasis has changed.
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In their ultimate form the initial assault forces ashore would have organic mobility in the form of light vehicles and helicopters, and they would have sensors, communications, and closein combat power including direct-fire heavy weapons and antitank and antiair weapons, but no tanks or artillery for indirect fire. ~ Provide indirect fire support from the fleet.
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The responsiveness and effectiveness of long-range fire support from the fleet to forces far over the horizon are uncertain because Communications connectivity with those forces, the linchpin of battlefield awareness, is weak; Command and control, and targeting, are too slow, and combat identification (CID) is too uncertain; and Old and unsuitable patterns still dominate weapon system design and munitions acquisition.
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Much more attention is needed to ensure connectivity between major headquarters afloat or ashore and fighting units down to platoon or squad level, especially during the highly mobile transition Tom ship to shore and beyond the horizon. The only available communications for the forward elements in OMFTS during that critical transition will be vulnerable, low-capacity, line-of-sight communications, which are not suited for calling in the essential fire support and logistic support that can ensure their success.
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. C2, TARGETING, AND COMBAT IDENTIFICATION Situational Awareness and Targeting for Long-Range Fire Support Situational knowledge can never be perfect for either side in a conflict.
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Moreover, timely coordination of long-range surface-to-surface fires at ranges of 60 to 200 miles with fire support delivered by aviation is not currently provided for in the c2 system. Thus, forward forces cannot be assured that they will be able to rely on the long-range fire support that is intended to be an intrinsic part of their local combat capability.
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-based World Grid System (WGS) -84 as a common grid by all the Services and National agencies, and use of universal time, for mapping, navigation, target location, and weapon delivery, and take all feasible steps to accelerate that trend; and Help establish priorities for the Defense Mapping Agency to prepare accurate WGS-84 maps and data banks for likely regional conflict areas of operation.
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. Long-range fire support must be made immediately responsive to the forward ground commander, including a single coordinating mechanism to integrate air- and surface-launched fire into the objective area.
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· The Services should perform continual joint simulation and training exercises to practice CID, including attention to interfaces and handoff problems where a large proportion of errors occur. WEAPON SYSTEMS FOR LONG-RANGE FIRE SUPPORT Guided Weapons: Capabilities and Needs Future long-range fire support systems will have to depend on the use of guided weapons to a much greater extent than do today's systems.
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Additional needs for the long-range fire support systems include targeting pods for guided weapon delivery by all Navy and Marine Corps strike aircraft; a weapon to carry out the missions planned for the canceled Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile (TS SAM) (such a weapon is under consideration)
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Post-strike bomb damage assessment (BDA) using UAV reconnaissance can alleviate the need for unnecessary re-attacks, provided needed BDA improvements brought to light by the Gulf War are implemented.
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RE-ENGINEERING THE LOGISTIC SYSTEM Unless the logistic support system is re-engineered, inability to provide logistic support to forward combat elements will prevent implementation of the new OMFTS concept. Critical implementation issues include lift availability to support troops inland, adapting the assault and follow-on echelonment to the new maneuver concept, and increasing the distribution efficiency of the supply system.
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Thus, a substantially larger and more capable force could be landed forward in the first assault echelon if the force were to rely wholly on long-range fire support from the fleet to deliver heavy firepower on the enemy. A much greater weight of fire could be delivered that way.
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Means should be devised to load the landing craft air cushion (LCAC) amphibious landing support craft at sea from logistic support ships; these support aircraft could serve as lighters for offloading up to 85 tons of supplies per trip (depending on distance traveled)
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The critical zones for amphibious operations are the shallow-water and surf zones and the beach. Mines can also threaten inland landing zones, land vehicles, and ground vehicles.
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Means for finding and clearing wide area and buried mines from aircraft landing zones. (Three Army Advanced Technology Demonstrations [ATDs]
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Protecting the Force The combination of the carrier battle group (CVBG) , ARG, and MPS ships, with follow-on logistic support, will present prime targets to capable opponents in a conflict.
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.. supersonic sea-sKlmmmg cruise missiles; ASW to defeat proliferating, modern quiet submarines in the relatively noisy and shallow waters off the littoral; Warning of tactical ballistic missile launch and probable target zones, with standard operating procedures (SOPs)
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As a reminder, the new approaches include changing the C4I system to improve situational awareness, communications, targeting, CID, and weapon delivery; re-engineering the logistic system; equipping attack aircraft with targeting pods and connections to transmit GPS P(Y) code location data to weapons before and during launch; improving countermine warfare capability; improving ability to operate in populated areas; and adding resources for force protection.
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Great Expansion of the Lodgment Area Successful implementation of the new concepts will expand the area of the secure initial lodgment from the typical 30 to 50 square miles under the old concept to 2,500 to 3,000 square miles. An area as large as 5,000 to 10,000 square miles would be dominated by the fleet-based surface and air fire support of the landing force, up to 75 to 100 miles inland.
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PRIORITIES The new concepts of operation under consideration by the Navy and Marine Corps cannot be implemented successfully without equipping and operating jointly with other U.S. forces and agencies and accomplishing the efforts described in this report for Situational awareness, communications connectivity, targeting, C2, and CID for long-range fire support; Use of guided weapons, their cost reduction, and application to OMFTS; 22
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