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Power Projection
All of the U.S. military services are in the midst of a major force transformation, but this latest revolution in military affairs is affecting each of them differently. For the U.S. Navy, force transformation involves enabling a near-uniform change over vast distances and on both legacy and future platforms.
The service that first coined the phrase “network-centric warfare” is hip-deep in information-technology-empowered modernization. Part of the rationale for this approach is the nature of the Navy—a dispersed force that constantly is on the move and often lacks land-based infrastructure support. In effect, the Navy must take all of its warfighting enablers with it—or have excellent reach-back capabilities in theater.
That is where the sea service benefits hugely from network centricity. All of the services are building their forces around advanced situational awareness and a dramatically shortened sensor-to-shooter timeline. But, the Navy’s diverse assets scattered across vast distances can reap significant gains from advanced connectivity almost immediately. From the dawn of fleet warfare, every naval commander’s dream has been to be able to deploy his assets most efficiently against his adversary. Now, Navy commanders are on the cusp of realizing that dream to the greatest extent possible. This new world of situational awareness encompasses enemy locations and status along with friendly force strengths and capabilities.
And, as with the other services—and the private sector—the information technologies that are enabling network centricity are evolving at a rapid pace. The Navy committed fully to hopping aboard this information revolution with the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). This massive program is designed around the steady flow of commercial technology innovation that can be incorporated into a standard architecture. As a result of this program, Navy officials are discovering aspects of their own infostructure about which they never knew before. And, they are discovering new capabilities that they never envisioned.
One challenge that the Navy faces is the long lifetime of its major platforms. Its mainstays, the nuclear aircraft carriers that form the backbone of their task forces, can have an operational lifetime of more than half a century. This translates to dozens of generations of information technologies. Each ship must be able to incorporate these new technologies as the Navy upgrades its infostructures over the decades.
And, the changes that are coming to Navy ships are not limited to information technologies. Future carriers will have advanced aircraft launching systems that delegate today’s catapults to museum hardware. Powerful lasers for anti-air and antimissile defense will protect the carriers and other nearby ships in the force. And, these aircraft carriers likely will sail next to smaller ships that are powered by electric drives. These destroyers and cruisers will have only a fraction of today’s crew complement, but they will be more lethal than their legacy counterparts.
Into this mix, the Navy is introducing its new infostructure. FORCEnet, its key networking enabler, already is producing dividends, but these pale in comparison to what lies ahead. The service is incorporating an infostructure that is designed to serve effectively on both legacy ships and future state-of-the-art platforms. This revolution in military affairs will reach into every corner of the Navy and change the way the sea service operates sooner rather than later.
More information about Navy Technologies is available in the December 2004 issue of SIGNAL Magazine, in the mail December 1, 2004. If you are not a member of AFCEA or a subscriber to SIGNAL, you can purchase a copy of this issue by contacting service@afcea.org.
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