Glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the Center for International Maritime Security (@CIMSEC) and their Next War blog with a little bit about the Litani here.
Given the recent flare-ups in the Levant region, Operation Exporter really needs some thorough and dedicated research. The Battle of the Litani River is a great start.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Thursday Review-USN 21st Century Air Power
In an attempt to structure the blog entries, i've dedicated blog posts on reference reviews (books, journals, periodicals, manuscripts, etc) for Thursdays.
For this first post, I will provide a review of a short but very insightful work by Benjamin S. Lambeth.
"American Carrier Air Power at the Dawn of a New Century" was prepared for the U.S. Navy by RAND and published in 2005. The soft-cover version was loaned to me by a professor that was lucky enough to pick it up for a mere $0.10. This cost does NO justice to the value in the read, as the loaner quickly confirmed to me that he wanted it back whence complete with my read. Luckily, as with most RAND products this is also available for electronic download here.
A fairly quick read (100 pp), Lambeth's work explores the recent upgrades to USN Aircraft Carrier employment/operations since Operation Desert Storm (ODS), through Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and he presents potential strengths and weaknesses of this 'new' carrier-force beyond 2020.
Lambeth quickly brings the reader's attention to the US Navy's harnessing of it's inherent long-range strike weaknesses during ODS. Through focused acquisition of much-need weapons/technology, force planning restructuring, and force distribution/employment (Fleet Response Plan) the US Navy strike aircraft operated over Afghanistan and Iraq at extremely long ranges with exhaustive time-on station immediately following the September 11th attacks; well beyond most post-gulf war projections. With average aerial interdictions beyond 600NM and missions lasting up to 10 hours, Lambeth presents a new USN carrier force, capable of impactful operations well-beyond the limited ranges of the Cold War.
Through the use of precision guided weapons, integration of SOF targeting, improved C2 systems, and 2.0 carrier presence (minimum), this new carrier force provided analysts at think tanks and experts at OPNAV N3/N5 (Deep Blue) with a new metric lense - successful target aim points- in contrast to the previous 'sortie rate' measurement that bean counters were using as the holy grail of airpower assessment.
Lambeth provides readers with detailed descriptions and comparisons of USN aircraft carrier readiness and deployment schedules pre and post 9/11, leaving you with a much better appreciation of the synchronized ability of senior Navy officers to match emergent capability within the U.S. maritime strategic-operational continuum.
Although written in 2005, Lambeth's work still has immediate consideration with regards to force planning and future operational planning, as fiduciary constraints continue to challenge future-war visions and improved/sustained UAS employments beg the question of what the role of manned aircraft (and their carriers) will hold. Lambeth's notion of the carrier's new role in the dawn of the 21st century starkly contrasts to media outlets focus on pending mouthball-effect of carriers sitting pierside and a supposed reduced need for CSGs.
Operational planners (especially non-navy and airpower critics) are highly recommended to spend a couple hours with this read, as it will dispose of any pre-9/11 notions of carrier operations and most likely provide numerous options and additions for your planning toolkit.
Friday, April 5, 2013
What would ADM Emory Upton do?
Odd Question?
Quite...but it has sound military reasoning.
Stay connected for more on this...
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Interesting USN updates for planners
As we update our paper.li newsletter towards a more streamlined source for planners, our interim solution is to provide noteworthy planning resource links.
The 23rd Commandant of the Coast Guard will present at the Navy Warfare Development Command's (NWDC) Speaker Series April 16, 2013, from 10 to 11 a.m. at NWDC's headquarters on Naval Station Norfolk and over Defense Connect Online (DCO). Adm. Thad Allen, USCG (Ret), will present "Innovation in Homeland Defense."
The German Sachsen-class frigate Hamburg (F220) is the first German ship to fully integrate and deploy with an American carrier strike group, and April 3 marks her second week of operating in the North Arabian Sea with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (IKE). The Hamburg will stay a part of the strike group until the group's completion of operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.
The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) has developed a suite of medical planning models that provide joint medical planners with end-to-end modeling of expeditionary medicine. Model will be used to estimate medical requirements for treating illnesses and injuries, critical for medical resource planning. The NHRC has also developed 3 other planning tools, to include: Patient Condition occurrence Frequency tool, Casualty Rate Estimate Tool, and the Expeditionary Medicine Requirements Estimator.
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