The U.S. Navy Is Practicing 'Distributed Warfare' Against Chinahttps://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/us-navy-practicing-distributed-warfare-against-china-180511This strategic approach, brought to life in large measure through the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) philosophy, has been many years in the making. For nearly ten years now, the Navy has been vigorous with efforts to solidify a transition away from more than a decade of counterinsurgency, anti-piracy and counterterrorism operations. Instead of conducting Visit Board Search and Seizure missions, the Navy is pivoting to an era defined by the looming prospect of massive great power maritime warfare. The origins of Distributed Maritime Warfare, a tactical approach based upon the reality that newer kinds of threat dynamics from enemy weapons, coupled with the emergence of promising and impactful new networking technologies, is among many things intended to effectively leverage the advantages offered by longer-range sensors and precision-guided weaponry. More dispersed combat operations naturally reduces vulnerability to incoming enemy fire by having the Navy’s warships more spread out, a strategy greatly improved through the successful use of unmanned surface, air and undersea drones.
This strategy exploits the opponents' limited long-range sensing and attack capabilities. The ocean is a big place, and the more places an attack could come from the more vulnerable the opponent saddled with limitations. The strategy is as old as carrier warfare.
