Naval Operations Concept - Defense Technical Information Center

Naval Operations Concept 2010 0
is reducing its reliance on reach-back support, while at the same time
establishing more resilient networks that rely on distributed and redundant
nodes in space, the atmosphere and on the surface.
Summary
Globally distributed, mission-tailored naval forces and regionally concentrated
naval forces both routinely project power. The character of a power
projection operation reflects the mission and the operating environment—permissive,
uncertain or hostile. Gaining and maintaining
operational access in a sophisticated hostile environment will invariably
require the full spectrum of lethal, non-lethal, conventional and special
capabilities possessed by the United States, applied synchronously to
shape and achieve advantage in the sea, undersea, air, land, space and
cyberspace domains. Strike operations, executed primarily by the
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers’ (CVNs’) embarked air wings, and
surface and sub-surface launched land attack missiles, are our principal
means of gaining and maintaining operational access.
The establishment of sea control permits the use of the sea as maneuver
space and is an essential pre-condition for decisive power projection
ashore. Littoral maneuver is the ability to transition ready-to-fight
combat forces from the sea to the shore in order to achieve a position
of advantage over the enemy. It may be employed directly against an
objective, including inland objectives, to accomplish the mission singly;
to seize infrastructure or lodgments that will enable the arrival of followon
forces; or to pose a continuous coastal threat that causes an adversary
to fix, maneuver or dissipate his forces. The naval force capabilities
employed to achieve sea control remain critical during littoral maneuver.
MEBs will normally provide the landing force building blocks for larger
contingencies and major operations. When combined, two MEB assault
echelons constitute the assault echelon of a MEF. Naval forces use highspeed
vertical and surface means, singularly or in combination depending
on the threat environment, to rapidly project this combat power ashore.
Enhanced MAGTF operations incorporate landing force capability and
capacity refinements that improve the self-sufficiency of smaller units so
that they can operate over greater ranges and for extended duration, as
well as increasing their ability to assault from a wider variety of ships.