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adaptive campaigning with a maritime expeditionary force
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Marines and Operational Manoeuvre
Let me provide an example of how a maritime expeditionary force may be used at the
operational and strategic level. As part of their efforts to examine the challenges of
expeditionary operations in the littorals during the 1990s, the US Marine Corps developed
a suite of concepts including - Operational Manoeuvre from the Sea (OMFTS) and Ship to
Objective Manoeuvre (STOM). 33 OMFTS is the ability to exploit the sea as a means of gaining
advantage to resolve ‘Chaos in the Littorals’. 34 STOM is the ability to project combined-arms
forces by air and surface directly to critical operational objectives, dislocating adversaries
in space and time. At the most basic level the US Marine Corps must be able to do three
things: to be able to manoeuvre sideways, to be able to manoeuvre deep, and to understand
and influence an expanded battlespace.
In the Australian context the ADF has, up to now, remained focused on the tactical and
grand tactical levels of amphibious operations rather than the operational and strategic
level of expeditionary concepts. Since the late 1990s, the US Marine Corps has purposely
driven its culture from one with an amphibious outlook into one that is truly expeditionary.
This involved both overturning 70 years of deeply held Marine Corps amphibious traditions,
including the hard won and bloody lessons of those Marines who fought in the Pacific
during World War II. But the move to manoeuvre warfare in response to the nature of
21st century conflicts required just such a break from the past. Over the same period, the
Australian Army has hovered on the fringes of the beach, dipping its foot in the water but
has remained unwilling to take the plunge into the sea. In future the Australian Army, like
the US Marine Corps before it, will have to not only take to the water but learn to thrive in
the wet environment. The introduction of the new Hobart class destroyers will encourage
(some might suggest mandate) cultural change. The Australian Army must become as
familiar with the water as does a surf life saver: it can no longer be a reluctant first-time
swimmer who knows about the ‘rip’ but has never experienced it. 35
Sea Basing
This leads us to another useful US Marine Corps concept - sea basing. Sea basing is the
ability to project, protect, and sustain national capabilities from the sea, by leveraging
forward presence to access denied areas from great distances. It enables US Marine
Corps units to effectively act with purpose in the anticipated ‘Chaos in the Littorals’,
and it includes operations such as:
• forward presence, security cooperation and counterterrorism
• crisis response
• forcible entry
• prolonged operations
• counter-insurgency.