New Capabilities for Littoral Security and Military Operations: The Case for Seagliders
01/02/2025
By Robbin Laird
Technologies and actions by our strategic competitors are dramatically reshaping maritime security and defense strategy, particularly in the Black, Red, & South China Seas. Littoral operations are being significantly recalibrated by multiple technological advancements while simultaneously being compounded by the actions of strategic competitors. These battlefield advances are stressing traditional capital ship assets and putting them constantly at risk, necessitating that the U.S. and allied forces to look for alternatives.
Recently, I spoke with my friend and colleague Lieutenant General (Retired) Preziosa, about various strategic developments. As we did so, he posed the following question: “Do you think that recent events in the Red Sea indicate the end of legacy maritime operations and the role of surface ships in enforcing order in the littorals?”
Perhaps one could accuse him of bias in posing the question as he is an ex-Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force and thus he might have a propensity to advocate for air power as the default technological solution, but frankly his question is dead on. Without a doubt, the Red Sea maritime attacks carried out by the Houthis targeting both military and civilian surface assets, combined with the nefarious actions by their Iranian backers, have changed the calculus of traditional littoral operations. These facts, taken in the larger context of malicious Chinese actions in the South China Sea, Russian aggression in the Black Sea, and numerous actors encroaching on the maritime rules-based-order the world over, require an examination of our legacy maritime strategy – one that dates to the Second World War.
https://sldinfo.com/2025/01/new-capabilities-for-littoral-security-and-military-operations-the-case-for-seagliders/
