Pagine di Marina 1

What should the overall surface force structure look like?
“There are several key characteristics that should be considered in the surface combatant force structure. Note that these should be thought of as applying across the force: that’s not to say the whole force has identical characteristics, but that in totality, ships exist in sufficient quantity with sufficient capability to meet the range of missions.

“There are several characteristics that every ship should possess. These key common core characteristics should include:
- Ability to be produced in sufficient quantity to meet world-wide presence demands. This implies the procurement cost is within the nation’s ability to pay for and produce.
- Closely related is the ability to be sustained over a long period. This requirement implies that the manning requirements must be in line with the nation’s demography, that the maintenance requirements not be as onerous as they’ve historically been, and that ease of maintenance and repair is built into the platforms.
-Sufficient self-defense capabilities against every class of threat so that ships do not become easy targets. For example, a ship might not be able to serve as an area air defense platform, but it should have the ability to provide point defense to protect itself.
- Ability to securely connect with and routinely use world-wide communications and intelligence networks. Although ability to securely communicate has long been a requirement for deploying Navy ships, current requirements are for nearly continuous communication and future requirements are likely to grow. There are vulnerabilities associated with being part of a network, which can be even more acute when there’s a requirement to transmit, but the world will likely not return to a place where ships could rely on broad and infrequently transmitted orders.
- Ability to embark a helicopter or comparable unmanned aerial system. This should also be considered a key common feature, enabling multiple different mission areas, and indeed sometimes providing a capability the ship by itself could not effectively deliver.

“After all these other basic requirements are met, the issue of capability to meet broader mission requirements comes to the fore. Here, very real tradeoffs between costs, capabilities, and numbers are encountered.