USN undersecretary tightlipped on 313-ship goal

A senior official at the US Department of the Navy has painted an optimistic picture of the service's 2022 force posture that will be focused on strategic choke points, humanitarian disaster response and the highest levels of maritime domain awareness.

More of the US Navy's (USN's) surface assets would be deployed close to key maritime trade routes, navy undersecretary Bob Work told the 2012 Surface Navy Association Symposium in Crystal City, Virginia, on 12 January.

His 10-year plan to establish a Total Force Battle Network (TFBN) would see four Aegis ballistic missile defence (BMD) ships based at Rota, Spain, in support of the European Phased Adaptive Approach for BMD; Littoral Combat Ships deployed to Bahrain, Japan (Yokosuka) and Singapore; a submarine tender based in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean; and US Marine Corps personnel based in Australia and Guam.

The introduction of the MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aircraft system and the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft would also be major components of the TFBN.

According to a map displayed during Work's presentation, navy BAMS aircraft - a derivative of the US Air Force's RQ-4B Global Hawk - will be permanently stationed in California, the US Gulf Coast, southern Italy, near Bahrain and Japan. However, they could relocate at 24 hours' notice to a number of other bases, including sites in Australia, Alaska, Curaçao, Norway, the Seychelles and West Africa.