Naval Operations Concept - Defense Technical Information Center

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Naval Operations Concept 2010
naval forces frequently conduct noncombatant evacuation and embassy
reinforcement missions in uncertain environments. Increasingly, naval
forces are being tasked to project power into ungoverned or undergoverned
areas being exploited as safe havens by terrorists, weapons
traffickers, pirates, and other criminal elements. Counterterrorism,
counter-piracy and counter-proliferation missions can involve strikes
and amphibious raids conducted to kill or capture terrorists; destroy
insurgent training camps; capture pirates or other criminals; seize illegal
arms and contraband; rescue hostages; and secure, safeguard or remove
weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Stability operations—such as
those ongoing in Afghanistan, and the 1995 amphibious withdrawal of
United Nations’ peacekeeping forces from Somalia—are representative
of large scale power projection operations conducted in an uncertain
environment.
Operations in an uncertain environment are always conducted with the
expectation of armed opposition. While potential adversaries—including
non-state actors—are unlikely to mount fully integrated anti-access
defense in an uncertain environment, they often possess a variety
of lethal area denial weapons. Naval forces limit the effectiveness of
such weapons through evolutionary tactics and new technologies that
enhance over-the-horizon operations; connector range, speed and agility;
shipboard defenses; mine and improvised explosive device (IED) countermeasures,
and counter-fire, especially for the immediate suppression
of threats. Information operations, to include deception, psychological
operations, and the non-kinetic neutralization of adversaries’ C2 systems,
are also employed in lieu of or in addition to kinetic attacks depending on
the mission objective and extant rules of engagement.
A hostile environment is one in which adversary forces have control
of the operating area, as well as the capability and intent to oppose the
operation. The most challenging power projection mission in a hostile
environment is an amphibious assault to enable the introduction and
sustainment of a large follow-on force. Such operations require the full
spectrum of naval, joint, and interagency capabilities to successfully
establish local sea control and project power ashore. To this end, naval
forces must accomplish three major, overlapping tasks.