Preserving Core Capabilities

While maximizing return on our long-term investment, America's naval expeditionary force structure must reflect enduring requirements for forward-deployed operations and the emerging naval operational concept and naval vision for the 21^st century. New threats to shore-based forces and novel operational maneuver concepts for joint operations will expand the Navy's requirements in three significant ways:

· The spread of weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them has made it more dangerous to concentrate our forces — or their combat support — in easily targeted, fixed areas. This places a premium on using agile, mobile, dispersed forces ashore and supporting them "on-call" from the sea. It also creates the need for naval forces to provide protection — for example, theater air and ballistic missile defense — for joint and allied forces ashore.

· Precision fire support — including long-range gun fire and missile strikes — must be provided by forward-deployed naval forces for amphibious ground maneuver units as they go ashore and carry out their missions, as well as land-based ground forces once introduced into theater.

· The success of sea-based operational maneuver warfare will also depend on the ability of naval forces to establish and maintain information superiority. The critical C⁴ISR architecture and systems-capabilities for the campaign ashore are increasingly likely to be provided by forces afloat.

Naval expeditionary forces provide a host of essential capabilities to the joint commander. Broadly, these fall into four categories: Network-Centric Warfare, Sea and Area Control, Power Projection, and Force Sustainment.