Airmen working on Distributed Ground Station–1 Operations Floor at the U.S. Air Force’s 480th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing (U.S. Air Force) Navy Perspective on Joint Force Interdependence By Jonathan Greenert ooking ahead to the Department line intelligently, innovate, and wisely more dramatic fiscal changes can lead of Defense’s (DOD’s) fiscal pros- use funds at our disposal. We need a to retrenchment. While Service rivalries L pects and security challenges in the broader conversation about how to cap- are somewhat natural, and a reflection second half of this decade and beyond, italize on each Service’s strengths and of esprit de corps, they are counter- the Services and their partners will “domain knowledge” to better integrate productive when they interfere with have to find ever more ingenious ways capabilities. Moving in this direction combat performance, reduce capability to come together. It is time for us to is not only about savings or cost avoid- for operational commanders, or produce think and act in a more ecumenical way ance; it is about better warfighting. unaffordable options for the Nation. as we build programs and capabilities. The DOD historical track record Rather than expending our finite energy We should build stronger ties, stream- shows episodic levels of joint deconflic- on rehashing roles and missions, or com- tion, coordination, and integration. Wars mitting fratricide as resources become and contingencies bring us together. constrained, we should find creative ways Admiral Jonathan Greenert is Chief of Naval Peacetime and budget pressures seem to to build and strengthen our connections. Operations. compel the Services to drift apart, and We can either come together more to 10 Forum / Navy Perspective on Joint Force Interdependence JFQ 76, 1st Quarter 2015 Figure. “Smart Interdependence” Improves synergy. Notable examples of historical Warfighting and Fiscal Responsibility interdependence include the B-25 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo from the USS Full Hornet in 1942 and the Army’s longest ever helicopter assault at the start of Excessive Risk Zone Operation Enduring Freedom from the Levels of Cooperation USS Kitty Hawk. The Navy has leaned Where heavily on Air Force tankers for years, and DOD B-52s can contribute to maritime strikes Redundancy must go by firing harpoons and seeding maritime $ Savings mines. Likewise, other Services have Partial relied on Navy/Marine Corps EA-6B aircraft to supply airborne electronic Combat DOD Today warfare capabilities to the joint force since Effectiveness the 1990s—paving the way for stealth Allies Today assets or “burning” routes to counter Partners Today improvised explosive devices. Examples of where the Navy and Army have closely interfaced include Navy sealift and prep- Minimal ositioning of Army materiel overseas, Deconfliction Coordination Integration Interdependence ballistic missile defense, the Army’s use of Navy-developed close-in weapons systems to defend Iraq and Afghanistan forward operating bases, and the use of Army ro- tary-wing assets from afloat bases. Special preserve our military preeminence—as a These concepts ring true for the mar- operations forces (SOF) come closest to smaller but more effective fighting force, itime Services. The Navy–Marine Corps perfecting operational interdependence if necessary—or face potential hollowing team has operated interdependently with tight, deeply embedded intercon- in our respective Services by pursuing for over two centuries. Symbiotic since nections at all levels among capability duplicative endeavors. their inceptions, Marines engaged in providers from all Services. Unexplored potential exists in ship-to-ship fighting, enforced shipboard Opportunities exist to build on this pursuing greater joint force interdepen- discipline, and augmented beach landings foundation and make these examples dence, that is, a deliberate and selective as early as the Battle of Nassau in 1776. the rule rather than the exception. We reliance and trust of each Service on the This relationship has evolved and ma- must move from transitory periods of capabilities of the others to maximize its tured through the ages as we integrated integration to a state of smart interdepen- own effectiveness. It is a mutual activity Marine Corps aviation squadrons into dence in select warfighting areas and on deeper than simple “interoperability” or carrier air wings in the 1970s, developed Title 10 decisions where natural overlaps “integration,” which essentially means amphibious task force and landing force occur, where streamlining may be ap- pooling resources for combined action. doctrines, and executed mission-tailored propriate and risk is managed. From my Interdependence implies a stronger net- Navy–Marine Corps packages on global perspective, advancing joint force interde- work of organizational ties, better pairing fleet stations. Land wars over the last pendence translates to: of capabilities at the system component decade have caused some of the cohesion avoiding overspending on similar level, willingness to draw upon shared to atrophy, but as the Marines shift back • programs in each Service capabilities, and continuous informa- to an expeditionary, sea-based crisis selecting the right capabilities and tion-sharing and coordination. Chairman response force, we are committed to • systems to be “born joint” of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General revitalizing our skills as America’s mobile, better connecting existing tactics, Martin Dempsey notes, “The strength of forward-engaged “away team” and “first • techniques, procedures, concepts, our military is in the synergy and inter- responders.” Building and maintaining and plans dependence of the Joint Force.” Many synergy is not easy; in fact, it takes hard institutionalizing cross-talk on capstone documents emphasize greater work and exceptional trust, but the Navy • Service research and development, interdependency between the Services’ and Marine Corps team has made it work requirements, and programs structures and concepts including the for generations, between themselves and expanding operational cooperation Chairman’s Strategic Direction to the with other global maritime partners. • and more effective joint training and Joint Force, which calls for “combining The Services writ large are not unfa- exercises. capabilities in innovative ways.” miliar with the notion of cross-domain JFQ 76, 1st Quarter 2015 Greenert 11 Innovative Employment of Ships. The Navy–Marine Corps team is already developing innovative ways to mix expe- ditionary capabilities on combatants and auxiliaries, in particular joint high speed vessels, afloat forward staging bases, and mobile landing platforms just starting to join the force. We see opportunities to embark mission-tailored packages with various complements of embarked intelligence, SOF, strike, interagency, and Service capabilities depending on particu- lar mission needs. This concept allows us to take advantage of access provided by the seas to put the right type of force for- ward—both manned and unmanned—to achieve desired effects. This kind of approach helps us conduct a wider range USS Freedom, Littoral Combat Ship 1 (U.S. Navy/Tim D. Godbee) of operations with allies and partners and improves our ability to conduct persistent distributed operations across all domains to increase sensing, respond more quickly and effectively to crises, and/or confound our adversaries. Mission-tailored packages for small surface combatants such as the littoral combat ship, and the Navy’s mix of auxiliaries and support ships, would enable them to reduce the demand on large surface combatants such as cruisers and destroyers for maritime security, conventional deterrence, and partner- ship-building missions. We cannot afford to tie down capital ships in missions that demand only a small fraction of their USS Independence, Littoral Combat Ship 2 (U.S. Navy/Carlos Gomez) capabilities, such as contracted airborne in- telligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance The Air-Sea Battle (ASB) concept, we traded off interoperability and are (ISR) services from Aegis destroyers. We and the capabilities that underpin it, now doing everything we can to restore are best served tailoring capability to need, represent one example of an opportu- it, such as developing solutions for interchanging platforms and their payloads nity to become more interdependent. fifth-generation fighters to relay data suitable to the missions that they are best While good progress has been made on to fourth-generation ones. ASB has designed for. At the end of the day, it is developing the means, techniques, and become a forcing function to promote about achieving economy of force. tactics to enable joint operational access, joint warfighting solutions earlier in To make these concepts real, the we have much unfinished business and the development stage. For example, Navy would support an expanded joint must be ready to make harder tradeoff the Navy and Army are avoiding unaf- effort to demonstrate roll-on, roll-off decisions. One of the principles of ASB fordable duplicative efforts by teaming packages onto ships to create a set of spe- is that the integration of joint forces— on the promising capabilities of the cialized capability options for joint force across Service, component, and domain electromagnetic railgun, a game-changer commanders. Adaptive force packages lines—begins with force development in defeating cruise and ballistic missiles could range from remote joint intelli-