10 April 2015

DISTRIBUTED MARITIME OPERATIONS: AN EMERGING PARADIGM

April 9, 2015 

“We are accustomed to speak of naval and military strategy as though they were distinct branches of knowledge, which had no common ground. It is a theory of war [that] brings out their intimate relation. It reveals that embracing them both is a larger strategy [that] regards the fleet and army as one weapon, which coordinates their action, and indicates the lines on which each must move to realize the full power of both.” - Sir Julian Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy

Defense thinkers are rediscovering the utility of sea denial capabilities. In October 2014, Congressmen Randy Forbes sent General Ray Odierno, Chief of Staff of the Army, a letter calling on the Army to examine developing land-based anti-ship missiles in line with a RAND study. For the last two years, military officers in the Marine Corps Advanced Studies Program in Quantico, Virginia similarly studied integrating distributed land and sea forces optimized to deny air and sea lines of communication. Combined these efforts signal an emerging interest in distributed maritime operations, the use of small littoral detachments to threaten enemy airplanes and ships.

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