U.S.

Naval War College

U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons

Current Strategy Forums Events

5-2017

The Future Navy

The U.S. Naval War College

Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/csf

Recommended Citation
Naval War College, The U.S., "The Future Navy" (2017). Current Strategy Forums. 2.
https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/csf/2

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Events at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Current Strategy Forums by an authorized administrator of U.S. Naval War
College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected].
Future Navy

May 2017
 The Future Navy
May 17, 2017

Over the past year there have been numerous studies, conducted by the Navy and several
other organizations, that have explored what the future fleet should look like.

Two consistent conclusions emerge from this body of work:

• First, the nation needs a more powerful Navy, on the order of 350 ships, that
includes a combination of manned and unmanned systems.
• Second, more platforms are necessary but not sufficient. The Navy must also
incorporate new technologies and new operational concepts.

Finally, as we increase our naval power, our focus cannot be on some distant goal decades in
the future. The Navy must get to work now to both build more ships, and to think forward -
innovate - as we go. To remain competitive, we must start today and we must improve faster.

“The Navy must get to work ​now​to both build more ships, and to
think forward - innovate - as we go. To remain competitive, we must
start today and we must improve faster.”

Faster and More Complex. And Faster.

There is broad agreement that the current security environment is faster paced, more
complex,and increasingly competitive. Time is an unforgiving characteristic of that
environment - things are moving faster, including our competitors. More and more often you
hear one word to describe the pace: exponential. In many ways, information technology is
driving this. But the pace is quickening everywhere. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Dunford has made clear, more and more of our challenges are multi-domain, trans-
regional, and multi-functional.

This exponential and complex dynamic is playing out on the seas. As the world’s population
rises, more of it is moving to the coasts. The number of megacities is projected to grow
from 31 today to 41 by the end of the next decade; the vast majority of them will be within
100 miles of the coastline. People are taking to the seas for trade and sustenance at rising
rates: maritime traffic has risen by 400 percent over the last 25 years, and world aquaculture
production increased 13-fold over about the same time frame. As maritime appetites grow,
they are driving people to stake claims to oil, natural gas, and minerals that are increasingly
accessible as technology advances and the polar ice cap recedes. And people are not just
tapping into undersea resources, but using more of the sea floor itself. Ninety-nine percent
of all intercontinental telecommunications ride on undersea cables, and the number of
cables continues to grow to support our insatiable (exponential) demand for data.

1
 “[C]hanges are shifting the character of naval competition and
warfare, and are being exploited, to varying degrees, by a range of
competitors.”
These changes are shifting the character of naval competition and warfare, and are being
exploited, to varying degrees, by a range of competitors. Both China and Russia are able to
compete on a global scale, in all domains, and at competitive speed. They both possess
considerable space, cyber, and nuclear forces. Both are challenging U.S. influence and
interests in expanding areas of the world, often in maritime spaces. They have been very
explicit about their maritime intentions, and have moved out smartly to advance them.
China’s 2015 white paper asserted that “[t]he traditional mentality that land outweighs sea
must be abandoned…It is necessary for China to develop a modern maritime military force
structure commensurate with its national security and development interests…so as to
provide support for building itself into a maritime power.” This goal is reflected in China’s
shipbuilding efforts, which analysts recently characterized as proceeding at a “frenetic pace,”
with the fleet “modernizing at an incredible rate [that] shows no signs of abating.” As just
two examples, until 2009, China had a single ballistic missile submarine; it has added another
three since. And the Chinese Navy commissioned 18 ships last year. China has used this
growing and modernized fleet to sail all over the world, visiting ports across the globe and
establishing new overseas bases.

Russia has also laid out its plans, issuing a new maritime doctrine in 2015 aimed at
“strengthening Russia’s position as a sea power.” The Russian Navy has continued to build
modern frigates and corvettes, and expanded its operating areas in the Baltic, Black,
Mediterranean, and Caspian Seas. And as ever, Russia has sustained and modernized a
capable submarine fleet. Just last month, the Russian Navy launched the second of its
YASEN-class nuclear attack submarines, the latest step in a plan to recapitalize its submarine
force.

2
North Korea’s President, Kim Jong Un, has been equally clear about his aims, boasting that
his nation can “tip new-type intercontinental ballistic rockets with more powerful nuclear
warheads and keep any cesspool of evils in the earth, including the U.S. mainland, within…
striking range.” His relentless pursuit of nuclear-capable missiles continues to destabilize not
just north Asia but the world; Asian and western naval forces are an increasingly important
contributor to the international community’s response. Iran presents a maritime challenge
of a different nature. Its growing naval forces routinely exhibit provocative behavior in the
Straits of Hormuz, Arabian Gulf and beyond. The Iranians’ support to proxies throughout
the Middle East shows no signs of lessening. Here, too, U.S. and partner naval forces are on
station in the interest of preserving freedom of navigation and access for trade and markets.
Finally, there are terrorist groups, some of them supplied by Iran, that are firing missiles,
smuggling weapons, laying mines off the coast of Yemen, and kidnapping and killing civilians
in the Sulu Sea and elsewhere.

Response: Naval Forces

“Complexity and pace place a premium on the ability to respond
quickly, something that naval forces do well by virtue of their
forward presence and ability to operate freely in international
waters.”
The challenges are serious. As an important part of the solution, U.S. naval forces, acting with
the rest of the U.S. joint force and with partners and allies, are particularly well suited to
address the changing competition and shifting set of competitors. Complexity and pace
place a premium on the ability to respond quickly, something that naval forces do well by
virtue of their forward presence and ability to operate freely in international waters. National
leaders can use naval forces (Navy and Marines) to react quickly, and can easily tailor that
response to the circumstances at hand - to help local populations recover from natural
disasters, attack terrorist encampments, or to suppress more sophisticated attacks.

The presence of capable platforms enables naval forces’ inherent responsiveness; they
are also uniquely persistent. The same presence the Navy maintains around the world
that allows it toreact quickly also provides U.S. leaders with a tool for long-term influence.
This constancy deters conflict, assures our allies and partners, and offers them routine
and plentiful opportunities for collaboration. Further, because U.S. ships are sovereign
American territory, they offer unique diplomatic settings to conduct the nation’s business if
needed. Finally, because they are self-sufficient when they respond, naval forces offer useful
capabilities to assist in the initial response phases of a natural disaster. As full partners with
the Army and Air Force as conflicts unfold, naval forces are often first on the scene, and
continue to preserve U.S. interests in the long term, after the conflict subsides, through
continued and routine operations forward.

3
 To address this rapidly changing security environment and achieve its mission, the Navy must
provide a balanced fleet that offers U.S. leaders credible options, in places of strategic
importance, at a relevant speed. That Navy is achieved through a fleet design and a resultant
fleet architecture that is powerful enough to achieve U.S. aims without conflict, but, if
deterrence fails, to win quickly and decisively. The pace at which potential competitors
are moving demands that we in turn increase the speed at which we act. Our advantage is
shrinking -- we must reverse this trend.

The recent body of studies leads to some common conclusions about naval forces most
effectively providing credible options. One is that numbers matter. The number of ships in
the Navy’s fleet determines where we can be, and being there is a key to naval power. As
well, mere numbers are not enough: what a platform can do - how capable it is to create
an effect - is increasingly important. Generally speaking, most analyses take an evolutionary
approach that would seek to expand the current Navy much as it is, using current operating
concepts, platforms, and modestly incorporating technological upgrades as they unfold. The
Navy’s most recent Force Structure Assessment (FSA) was an evolutionary assessment. Using
today’s fleet design and architecture and current platforms, the 2016 FSA estimated that the
Navy battle fleet should grow to 355 ships.
“[A] 355-ship Navy using current technology is insufficient for
maintaining maritime superiority… we must also implement new
ways of operating our battle fleet, which will comprise new types of
ships.”
Many of the ships currently in the fleet or under construction will be part of our future
success, particularly as they are modernized. In parallel, Navy is already starting to
implement a fleet design that portends significant changes in fleet architecture, and is
seeking to deliver future capabilities more quickly to the waterfront. Put another way, a
355-ship Navy using current technology is insufficient for maintaining maritime superiority.
We must grow, yes. But we must also implement new ways of operating our battle fleet,
which will comprise new types of ships. The clear conclusion is that linear expansion and
improvement will not achieve the exponential pace that will enable us to win in the future.

Figure 1: Proposed Navy Battle Fleet Sizes

4
This view is shared by many recent studies, which recommend some degree of non-linear
change. Most put forth what could be characterized as moderate departures from the linear:
larger fleets that incorporate some new technologies and capabilities, and in some cases
different methods of employing the fleet. The studies vary in their reliance on particular
technologies, reflect different views on how quickly those technologies might be integrated,
and explore a range of possible implications for how the fleet might fight. While not all of
this variation is captured in Figure 1 above, it does illustrate the range of proposed future
battle fleet sizes in comparison to the Navy’s latest budget submission, and how those
recommendations compare to the evolutionary approach taken in the 2016 FSA. What the
figure also makes clear is that while the Navy has been on a growth path in recent years, a
change will be required to reach and sustain sufficient numbers.according to these basic
lines.

Shape of the Future Navy

“Greater connectivity and capability will enable new ways to
combine ships, aircraft, and undersea forces that may enable
adjustments to the battle group and other formations.”
So which of the above proposals makes the most sense for the future Navy? At the strategic
level, as stated above, the complexity of the environment and the inherent applicability
of naval capabilities indicate that the Navy must be larger in order to continue to provide
timely options for national leaders in areas that matter. Furthermore, platforms must be
accompanied by adequate stocks of repair parts, maintenance programs, and sufficient
numbers of trained people to stay balanced and capable. This reality is seen every day in
the continued strains on the current fleet. The Navy must be able to operate in the blue sea
outside the range of shore attacks, where there is primarily fleet-on-fleet action. Moving
closer to land, the Navy must be effective in the intermediate seas, where long-range shore-
based missiles contribute to the threat, and in the littoral zones where the variety and density
of fires is more intense. In each zone, the Navy must be able to operate with sufficient
numbers of the right kinds of capabilities to attack, deceive, and defend against adversary
missiles, submarines, and cyber and electronic attack. So the future fleet will need to be
larger and more capable, and arrive more quickly, than recent studies suggest.

There are many elements of this fleet that exist today, and that will continue to be relevant
in the future. We will continue to rely on undersea superiority to guarantee a survivable leg
of the strategic nuclear deterrent triad. As well, manned and unmanned submarines can
penetrate deep inside most reconnaissance networks to perform a number of missions.

Naval aviation will continue to observe, orient, decide, and act against enemy forces,
leveraging the maneuverability and proximity that can only come from being aboard a
5
 carrier. As technologies continue to advance, the future air wing must continue to adapt as
it always has, particularly to increase its capacity to contribute to the sea control mission,
conducting both kinetic and non-kinetic operations. To support this capability evolution and
deploy the air wing to relevant places in the world with sufficient capacity, the Navy will need
12 aircraft carriers to enable deployment of 5-6 carrier strike groups within relatively short
time frames. In the shortand mid-terms, these will include a mix of 4th and 5th generation
strike fighters, increasing numbers of unmanned air vehicles, and maritime patrol and
electronic attack aircraft.

Changes in the air wing will be integrally linked to changes in the carrier strike group.
Greater connectivity and capability will enable new ways to combine ships, aircraft, and
undersea forces that may enable adjustments to the battle group and other formations.
Very important here is the potential for increased capability and flexibility of amphibious
ships, enabled by new aviation and weapons systems. Over the longer term, the range of
possibilities will expand to more fully integrate space, surface, air, undersea, and cyber and
electronic warfare capabilities.

The pace of change also demands that we design ships with modernization in mind. The
“core” of those future ships - the hull, and the propulsion and power plants - will likely
be built to last for decades. To leave room for future modernization, we should buy as
much power capacity as we can afford. On top of that hull and power plant, we must plan
from the outset to modernize the “punch” -- the combat systems, sensors, and payloads
-- at the speed that technological advances allow. Future ships should be made for rapid
improvement with modular weapons canisters and rapidly swappable electronic sensors and
systems. Related, future designs must aggressively go after ways to drive down the costs to

6
operate and maintain the future fleet, no matter its composition.

There is no question that unmanned systems must also be an integral part of the future fleet.
The advantages such systems offer are even greater when they incorporate autonomy and
machine learning. And these platforms must be affordable enough to buy them in large
numbers, and networked in order to expand our presence in key areas.

To complement these capabilities, directed energy technologies, cyber tools, and advanced
missiles can cripple potential adversaries’ abilities to track or target our forces. Directed
energy will also play a crucial and much more affordable role in defending against high rates
of fire.

Netting the battle fleet together in ways that are reliable and secure will allow for maximum
flexibility. Strengthening and extending our nets will “raise all boats.” Those networks will
support multiple functions, but increasingly will also be a key enabler of artificial
intelligence-enabled tools, informed by data analysis, that will allow our commanders to
make better decisions faster than our enemies.

Getting and Staying There

If these are key features of the future fleet, what can we do now to make that fleet real, as
fast as possible? The short answer is that we must simultaneously build and innovate.

“There are other ways to get more capability for the dollar. Thinking
hard about the number and type of performance requirements for
future platforms can help find the “knees” in the cost-performance
curves.”
Let’s start with what we know. Multiple shipbuilding and aircraft production lines are “hot” -
currently producing. They can do more, building additional ships of the types already under
construction, more economically. Buying aircraft carriers at the economically-optimal rate -
three or four years apart instead of the current five or more years - will not only get us a more
powerful fleet faster, but also will save considerable money. The same is true of surface
combatants; an analysis of the industrial base shows we could build up to seven additional
destroyers in the near term, and up to 14 more small surface combatants. We know we will
need the inherent flexibility of a larger amphibious fleet; the industrial base could build five
more than we are currently planning over the next six years. Finally, we could also speed
construction of up to 12 more combat logistics and command and support ships in the same
time period.courses.

In all, analysis shows that today’s industrial base has the capacity to construct 29 more ships
and almost 300 more aircraft over the next seven years than our current plan. Those
platforms are ones that we are confident will continue to be relevant in the coming decades,
and can better incorporate the modular approach described above.

7
 We should also assess how much additional capacity and capability we can get by upgrading
and extending the lives of platforms we currently have and are planning to retire.

There are other ways to get more capability for the dollar. Thinking hard about the number
and type of performance requirements for future platforms can help find the ”knees” in the
cost-performance curves. A meaningful discussion to discover this optimal point would
involve a team of industry leaders, technologists, our defense labs, the requirements officers,
and our budget people. The conversation would determine the most achievable path
to improve performance in a way that’s affordable, with low technological risk, on a well-
understood schedule. The derived “cost-performance point” would then define the next
improvement step, with the understanding that the following step would occur much sooner
than it has in recent history - defining a rapidly iterative approach to improving performance.
This requires acquisition practices that are far more agile than the ones we have now.
As well, if we build with faster improvement cycles, the inherent cost of our systems and
platforms can come down. Shifting more heavily to unmanned surface, undersea, and aircraft
will help us to further drive down unit costs. Energy-based weapons can be both more
effective and put the Navy on the right side of the cost curve. Designing in the ability to
modernize - plug and play hardware matched with software-programmability - will make
upgrades quicker and more affordable even as we stay more capable.

“We need this more powerful fleet in the 2020s, not the 2040s .”
Two thoughts as we get started. First, we need a year to consolidate our readiness and
achieve better balance across the Navy. 2018 will be that year, and even as we restore
wholeness, we’ll ensure that we continue to grow the Navy and establish a firm foundation
for accelerating growth in following years. Next, as we move forward, we must remain open
to the likelihood that achieving the Navy we need cannot be accomplished within historical
levels of funding for ship construction -- more will be needed. Arresting the coming decline
in fleet size means we must get more capable ships to sea as quickly as we can. We need
to determine the best way to get the most overall capability in relevant timeframes, which
will result from a mix of new and modernized hulls. From that starting point, we must focus
our intellectual energies on defining the optimal mix of platforms for the future, within a
timeframe appropriate to the dynamic complexity we face now and that will only intensify in
the future.

8
 Figure 2: Resultant Capability of New Fleet Design and Architecture
Determining the eventual fleet composition - with the size and capability to deliver the
required naval power - is important. The fleet must be larger and more powerful. But the
urgent problem before us is that all studies show the need for more naval power, and
without determined action, we will indeed see the Navy becomes less powerful. So we must
rapidly increase the number and capability of platforms: we must get to a higher build rate
from which we continue to work our way forward. We must arm those platforms with more
effective, modernized payloads. We must make better use of sensor and communications
apertures. We must operate on networks that will degrade more gracefully and heal faster
than those of our rivals. Most importantly, the future fleet must be on station ASAP! We need
this more powerful fleet in the 2020s, not the 2040s. To do that, we must get more capability
out of what we already own, and bring new technologies and platforms into the mix as
rapidly as possible. Figure 2 depicts the kind of fleet we must pursue: one that is larger, yes,
but more capable than any of the recent analyses have suggested, and arriving much more
quickly. In short, a Navy that achieves an exponential rate of improvement.
Given the attention that has been focused on the future Navy, many different thinkers have
independently arrived at similar conclusions - the writing on the wall is clear. The competition
is on, and pace dominates. In an exponential competition, the winner takes all. We must
shake off any vestiges of comfort or complacency that our previous advantages may have
afforded us, and move out to build a larger, more distributed, and more capable battle fleet
that can execute our mission. The foundation of that fleet will be leaders and teams who
learn and adapt to achieve maximum possible performance, ready for decisive operations
and combat.
Time is of the essence.

“We must shake off any vestiges of comfort or complacency that

our previous advantages may have afforded us, and move out to
build a larger, more distributed, and more capable battle fleet that
can execute our mission.”
9