Does Continuous BMD Presence in the Med Raise Homeporting Questions?

An interesting question arises from an increased reliance on sea-based BMD resulting from the President's recent controversial decision.

Given the requirement to maintain a handful of ships continuously on station, would creating a BMD homeport somewhere in the Med (or Black Sea) be worth talking about? The force structure necessary to do this mission isn't going to materialize from thin air--we are going to have to use the ships we have (albeit in an upgraded fashion) in the short term while the Navy makes a case for top-line increases based on the variety of other things it is already doing with those ships. To make a declining number of ships go further (toward mission availability) wouldn't maintaining a "BMD" squadron (CDS 60?) in the Med have merit?


Bryan McGrath