Advancing Beyond the Beach: Amphibious Operations in an Era of Precision Weapons
From Byran Clark & Jesse Sloman, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments: “The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have been the world's most formidable amphibious force for more than seven decades. They have maintained more than 10 ships and 6,000 Marines continuously deployed since World War II, and conducted dozens of operations against contested beaches, islands, and cities in that time. The competition between amphibious forces and defenders ashore, however, is entering a new, more deadly, phase. Enemy surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles have gained the reach and lethality to protect long areas of coastline and significantly constrain America's options for an amphibious assault. To continue exploiting the maneuver space of the sea for operations ashore, U.S. naval forces require new operating concepts and capabilities to protect ships and aircraft, distribute amphibious forces to dilute enemy attacks, gain access to contested areas and deny it to the enemy.”
America's Navy and Marine Corps At a Tipping Point
From From Byran Clark & Jesse Sloman, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments: "Today the Navy and Marine Corps are facing a fundamental choice: maintain current levels of forward presence and risk breaking the force or reduce presence and restore readiness through adequate training, maintenance, and time at home. This choice is driven by the supply of ready naval forces being too small to meet the demand from Combatant Commanders, as adjudicated by the Secretary of Defense. To close the gap, the Department of Defense (DoD) will need to grow the fleet and force, base more ships overseas, or pay to maintain a higher operating tempo."