LCS as a C2 Node? Yep

When I discuss what I believe the LCS will be, my first point is that I believe it can be an outstanding C2 node for the littoral network. It has the potential to be the Command Ship of the inshore network, or COP. Consider what I mean in the context of this very interesting article from Aviation Week.

Persistent short-range tactical surveillance in the littorals is hampered by the short masts and restricted lines-of-sight of unmanned vehicles. A new U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) initiative to develop a multicomponent system called Navy Expeditionary Overwatch (NEO) aims to correct this. It uses data relays and ground, water and airborne platforms, manned and unmanned, to provide surveillance, security and communications for tactical operations.

NEO is based on existing technologies. Collaborating on it with the ONR are Northrop Grumman and the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, which will be its main user.

The intent, says James McMains, director of the ONR's Combating Terrorism and Navy Enterprise Integration Div., is for shore and other ground-based systems to share intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data from unmanned aerial and surface vehicles. Combining these capabilities will be a force multiplier.

"It's a multiple system [whose components] work well with each other and go a long way toward satisfying mission requirements on water and land," says McMains. Water coverage includes coastlines, waterways and near-coastal ocean regions.

Read the whole thing at Aviation Week.

People think I am nuts that I advocate putting a Marine Battalion on Littoral Combat Ships, Joint High Speed Vessels, and Corvettes but I still believe that is where part of the future is for the Marines. I believe the Navy needs to design most of its irregular warfare and low end threat capabilities to tailor, or match, the Marines and integrate bottom-up. The future of Marine operations won't be large scale, over-the-shore assault so much as rapid littoral maneuver operations. Getting the Amphibs, LCS, JHSVs, and building corvettes to bring together the NECC and Marines, and link that back to the big blue fleet out to sea is the future of littoral operations.

I think it is hard for people to see that future when we have over 200,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I don't think we will be an occupational military force for several decades when Iraq and Afghanistan end. Instead, we will be looking for ways to achieve national objectives without committing to long term troops on the ground. That means hit and run, surgical strikes, modern versions of classic gorilla style raid operations, and learning how to engage influence locally in cities without trying to occupy entire countries.