U.S. Navy outlines plans to base more clout at sea
(Reuters) The U.S. Navy will seek billions of dollars for a dozen huge new "prepositioning" ships capable of launching jump jets as part of a plan to base more U.S. might at sea, a senior naval official said Friday.
The ships would support a new approach to war under which the United States could launch operations ashore from ships at sea, without necessarily establishing toeholds at the water's edge.
The "Sea Basing" concept reflects U.S. war planners' concern that fixed land bases in the future will be too vulnerable to attack by enemy missiles and that U.S. access to land bases may be severely limited.
Washington's Iraq invasion plans were complicated last year when Turkey and other nations balked at providing a launch pad for U.S. attacks.
The planned new ships would provide Marines with mobile, long-term storage of equipment and supplies near potential trouble spots as well as a platform for a new generation of warplanes, said the official, who spoke on condition he not be named.
They would carry the short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of Joint Strike Fighter jets being built by Lockheed Martin Corp. The embarked aircraft, as many as 20 to 25 per ship, would be capable of hitting targets hundreds of miles inland.
"We're going to be able to do what we need to do without having a sovereignty problem," the official said. "And this is going to be a dramatically different fighting force than what we have today." Current Navy planning calls for two squadrons, each with six or more of of the new ships.
PAYING THE BILL
The Navy will seek funds as early as 2007 to start building the ships, which will cost billions of dollars, the official said at at a briefing for reporters organized by the Navy. The ships, whose design is still under study, would be aircraft-carrier-sized but able to fit through the Panama Canal, the official said.
The planned new ship is designated MPF(F) for maritime prepositioned force of the future. Currently, the Navy deploys 14 or 15 MPF ships in three squadrons. The existing ships, built or modified in the mid-1980s, must be in port to offload their supplies or meet Marines flown to a nearby air base.
The new ships may be based on commercial cargo ship designs and built to less-rigorous, less-expensive standards than Navy combat ships, said Ronald O'Rourke, a naval analyst at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
To pay for the new ships, the Navy plans a broad streamlining of the way it organizes its combat operations, the official said. Among other things, it will rely much more on "sea-swapping," or rotating crews rather than rotating ships, he said.
In addition, the Navy plans to cut thousands of sailors in coming years, partly thanks to reduced staffing requirements of the its future DD(X) destroyers and other modern warships.
The official said he planned to make the Navy the first service to hire military officers at different ranks and grades, not just bring them up the ladder.
"You're competing (for qualified personnel) against Boeing and GM and the likes," he said, rather than against the other services.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune
(Reuters) The U.S. Navy will seek billions of dollars for a dozen huge new "prepositioning" ships capable of launching jump jets as part of a plan to base more U.S. might at sea, a senior naval official said Friday.
The ships would support a new approach to war under which the United States could launch operations ashore from ships at sea, without necessarily establishing toeholds at the water's edge.
The "Sea Basing" concept reflects U.S. war planners' concern that fixed land bases in the future will be too vulnerable to attack by enemy missiles and that U.S. access to land bases may be severely limited.
Washington's Iraq invasion plans were complicated last year when Turkey and other nations balked at providing a launch pad for U.S. attacks.
The planned new ships would provide Marines with mobile, long-term storage of equipment and supplies near potential trouble spots as well as a platform for a new generation of warplanes, said the official, who spoke on condition he not be named.
They would carry the short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of Joint Strike Fighter jets being built by Lockheed Martin Corp. The embarked aircraft, as many as 20 to 25 per ship, would be capable of hitting targets hundreds of miles inland.
"We're going to be able to do what we need to do without having a sovereignty problem," the official said. "And this is going to be a dramatically different fighting force than what we have today." Current Navy planning calls for two squadrons, each with six or more of of the new ships.
PAYING THE BILL
The Navy will seek funds as early as 2007 to start building the ships, which will cost billions of dollars, the official said at at a briefing for reporters organized by the Navy. The ships, whose design is still under study, would be aircraft-carrier-sized but able to fit through the Panama Canal, the official said.
The planned new ship is designated MPF(F) for maritime prepositioned force of the future. Currently, the Navy deploys 14 or 15 MPF ships in three squadrons. The existing ships, built or modified in the mid-1980s, must be in port to offload their supplies or meet Marines flown to a nearby air base.
The new ships may be based on commercial cargo ship designs and built to less-rigorous, less-expensive standards than Navy combat ships, said Ronald O'Rourke, a naval analyst at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
To pay for the new ships, the Navy plans a broad streamlining of the way it organizes its combat operations, the official said. Among other things, it will rely much more on "sea-swapping," or rotating crews rather than rotating ships, he said.
In addition, the Navy plans to cut thousands of sailors in coming years, partly thanks to reduced staffing requirements of the its future DD(X) destroyers and other modern warships.
The official said he planned to make the Navy the first service to hire military officers at different ranks and grades, not just bring them up the ladder.
"You're competing (for qualified personnel) against Boeing and GM and the likes," he said, rather than against the other services.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune