Naval Operations Concept - Defense Technical Information Center

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Naval Operations Concept 2010
To support large operations, globally dispersed, mission-tailored naval
forces rapidly aggregate to form expeditionary strike forces (ESFs)
capable of projecting overwhelming combat power from the sea. During
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM I, for example, an ESF was formed
from four carrier battle groups and two amphibious ready groups with
embarked Marine expeditionary units (ARG/MEUs). The USS CARL
VINSON, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, JOHN C. STENNIS, and ENTER-
PRISE provided the preponderance of strike sorties for the operation
while the combatants in the ESF employed precision-guided cruise
missiles and conducted supporting maritime interdiction operations.
The USS PELELIU ARG/15 th MEU and USS BATAAN ARG/26 th MEU, as
Task Force 58, were the first conventional forces ashore in Afghanistan.
Projected, supported, and sustained from the North Arabian Sea at a
distance of 450 miles, they opened a lodgment for the introduction of
additional joint forces. This lodgment, Forward Operating Base Rhino,
supported the seizure of Kandahar and subsequent operations several
hundred miles further inland.
Opportunity and Challenge
Globally distributed, mission tailored naval forces routinely engage with
allies and partners to improve interoperability and to enhance proficiency
in the conduct of combined operations. While the vast majority of
crisis response operations undertaken by coalitions in recent years have
involved sanctions enforcement, stability, humanitarian assistance,
disaster relief and maritime interdiction missions, the experience gained
is valuable when circumstances require naval forces to mount a major
power projection campaign—as occurred with Operation ENDURING
FREEDOM. The persistent forward presence of U.S. naval forces not only
enables such engagement and combined crisis response operations; it also
facilitates the initiatives of the other elements of national power to inspire
like-minded nations to project power together for the common good.
While the Naval Service is capable of overcoming the geographic challenges
inherent in projecting power globally, and enjoys fewer impediments
to access than the other Services, naval forces face increasingly
capable anti-access and area-denial threats. This circumstance requires
naval and supporting forces to shape conditions synchronously across
the sea, undersea, air, land, space and cyberspace domains in order to