Distributed Lethality and the Importance of Ship Repair
Christopher Cedros
February 14, 2017
In the post-Cold War era, the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet has been operating around three general concepts: carrier strike group defensive protection, land-attack missions, and ballistic missile defense. In the absence of a blue water adversary, and few contested areas, the Pentagon emphasized these cost-saving and efficient concepts in an attempt to overcome an evolving threat environment. With the upsurge in near-peer competitors and the Pivot to the Pacific policy, the Navy’s surface community began to examine the new challenges posed by potential adversaries. They found the most significant challenge to the surface community in the Pacific was potential adversary’s anti-access/area denial capabilities (A2/AD).[1] Specifically, with China’s recent assertive posture in the Pacific theater, this aggressiveness is amplified with A2/AD capabilities that consist of advanced counter-maritime systems designed to destroy critical U.S. surface naval assets.[2] The surface community explored options for joint force contribution with a shrinking budget steering much of the conversation. The culmination of more than three years of research led the surface community to introduce a new concept of operations called distributed lethality.[3] This doctrinal shift to a more offensive posture will require Navy leadership to address the likelihood of an upsurge in battle damage, leading to the need for more focus on the maintenance and recovery process of our maritime platforms.
http://thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2017/2/14/distributed-lethality-and-the-importance-of-ship-repair
