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256 AUSTRALIAN MARITIME ISSUES 2006: SPC-A ANNUAL
Australian industry will provide the RAN with the best opportunity to shape future
capability requirements. Unfortunately, for medium navies, limited resources will
drive the debate over sea basing capability.
Interoperability and Joint Effectiveness
As we move further into the 21st century, the materiel challenges facing medium navies
are not insignificant. In an environment characteristic of complex new technologies,
reduced budgets and manpower, and new operational challenges, medium navies have a
difficult task in ensuring they achieve the right materiel choices to meet their strategic
priorities and capability goals, while ensuring interoperability with coalition forces,
particularly the US. 23 In the ADF, the need for interoperability is widely reflected in
policy and more recently as one of four external benchmarks for the FWC — warfighting
advantage, cultural relevance, affordability and interoperability. 24 For a majority of
medium navies, current and future integration into US-led coalition operations is mainly
through the provision of surface combatants or underway replenishment ships within
the CSG, ESG or CLF. To sustain this, interoperability needs to be further developed
and crafted into respective shipbuilding platforms. For military forces such as the ADF,
the future of integration into US sea-based operations is greatly enhanced through the
provision of three new Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD), two replacement amphibious
ships and potentially the STOVL JSF.
Medium powers have an imperative towards joint operations that is much stronger than
large nations. To exploit the full potential of an organic sea base capability, medium
navies must therefore consider joint effectiveness. Other military Services must
become confident in the utility of the sea basing concept, which must not be simply
about satisfying maritime naval operations. However, with limited resources, medium
powers need to carefully manage change. Joint effectiveness requires significant focus
on common doctrine, effective command and control, joint logistic resupply, common
communications and information systems, and significant training opportunities.
The scale of sea basing applicable to medium navies may equate to sustained support
for a regional operation similar in magnitude to the ADF’s involvement in East Timor in
1998. During the Australian-led coalition operation (INTERFET), 25 the RAN exercised
many elements of sea basing through the establishment of sea control and use of naval
vessels positioned offshore Dili and across the Timor Gap, providing logistic support
and joint power projection ashore. The use of the high speed catamaran HMAS Jervis
Bay to transport troops rapidly from mainland Australia to Dili demonstrated the USN’s
current concept development of the high speed ‘connector’ operating between theatres.
The RAN’s operational procedures during the INTERFET operation provided a good
example of a sea base capability framework that can be further developed to generate
more effective and sustained joint operational manoeuvre at and from the sea.