Sim.Carlos Mathias escreveu:MU?Uma delas foi muito difícil demover de seus conceitos únicos, não adotados por nenhum país do mundo.
ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
Moderador: Conselho de Moderação
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
Barão do Rio Branco
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
Na realidade o NJ assumiu a partir de um ponto, agradecendo comovido a colaboração recebida.Carlos Mathias escreveu:Mas conseguiram,e a partir daí...
O cara ombreou?
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
Barão do Rio Branco
Barão do Rio Branco
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
Atrapalhou quando apresentou uma END saída de sua cabeça, no dia da reunião com o Lula.
Depois, era tarefa do MD mesmo, e o NJ não abre mão de suas atribuições para ninguém.
Depois, era tarefa do MD mesmo, e o NJ não abre mão de suas atribuições para ninguém.
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
Barão do Rio Branco
Barão do Rio Branco
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
O engraçado é que os comandantes das forças armadas tem que ficar "educando" os ministros da Defesa que assumem, ensinando sobre como se faz a defesa do mar, do ar, da terra, mobilização, pra que serve um submarino nuclear, pra que serve um patrulha, etc.
O próximo, supondo Dilma-lá: Aldo Rebelo
Esse cara tem envolvimento com o tema e é amigo da 'cumpanhêra'.
abraços]
O próximo, supondo Dilma-lá: Aldo Rebelo
Esse cara tem envolvimento com o tema e é amigo da 'cumpanhêra'.
abraços]
----------------
amor fati
amor fati
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
AirSea Battle
By Richard Halloran
A new operational concept looks to prepare the US and its allies to
deter or defeat Chinese power.
After three Air Force C-130 pilots and crews from Yokota Air Base in
Japan finished an exercise called Cope West 10 in Indonesia in April,
they wrote up evaluations of Halim Air Base and other airfields from
which they had operated, assessing the condition of runways,
reliability of electrical supply, safety of fuel storage, and adequacy
of parking ramps.
Until now, that would have been a routine report to prepare for the
next time American airmen might use Indonesian air bases. With the
emergence of a joint Air Force-Navy operational concept called AirSea
Battle, however, intelligence on airfields has taken on new
significance.
A critical element in the concept is to identify alternate airfields
all over Asia that Air Force and Navy aircraft might operate from one
day. US aircraft can be dispersed there, making life hard for a
potential enemy such as China to select targets. Dispersed bases
simultaneously would make it easier for an American pilot needing an
emergency landing site to find one if his home base had been bombed.
AirSea Battle looks to prepare the US and its allies to deter or
defeat China’s rising military power. It envisions operations of USAF
fighters, bombers, and missiles coordinated with Navy aircraft flown
from carriers and land bases—plus missiles launched from submarines
and surface ships. Nuclear war plans will also be folded into the
AirSea Battle operation.
A question, however, has arisen over who will control the joint war.
USAF expects the 613th Air and Space Operations Center of 13th Air
Force at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, to be assigned that task, but the Navy
has traditionally been loath to give up control of its carrier air
wings.
Moreover, the Navy has organized Maritime Operations Centers that
would need to be meshed with USAF’s AOCs, and Air Force and Navy
sensors and communications gear that are not now compatible need to be
made so.
At US air and naval bases in Japan, South Korea, and Guam, the
evolving AirSea concept calls for hardening command centers,
communication nodes, hangars and repair facilities, fuel tanks,
electrical generators, warehouses, shipyard machine shops, and just
about anything else that can be protected from missile attack. For
runways and ramps that can’t be protected, RED HORSE engineers are to
be posted in protective shelters nearby from which they can swiftly
emerge to repair damaged areas.
The plan even calls for developing new materials that will harden in
far less time than ordinary concrete to make a damaged runway
operational again.
Further, AirSea Battle will incorporate an "active" defense, employing
a variety of measures to destroy enemy aircraft and missiles or to
reduce the damage of such attacks. Active defense relies on aircraft,
air defense weapons, electronic warfare, and cyber operations. In
particular, AirSea Battle calls for greater emphasis on the
development of ballistic missile defenses.
The purpose of AirSea Battle is clearly to deter China, with its
rapidly expanding and improving military power, from seeking to drive
the US out of East Asia and the Western Pacific. If deterrence fails,
AirSea Battle’s objective will be to defeat the People’s Liberation
Army, which comprises all of China’s armed forces. The Obama
Administration and the Pentagon contend that war with China is not
inevitable, which may be so, but a memo outlining the purpose of a
previous AirSea Battle wargame left no doubt that the US is preparing
for that possibility.
"The game will position US air, naval, space, and special operations
forces against a rising military competitor in the East Asian littoral
with a range of disruptive capabilities, including multidimensional
‘anti-access’ networks, offensive and defensive space control
capabilities, an extensive inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles,
and a modernized attack submarine fleet," the memo read. "The scenario
will take place in a notional 2028."
There is only one "rising military competitor in the East Asia
littoral," and that is China. Long term, China offers the only real
potential threat to US national security, far more than Iraq,
Afghanistan, Iran, or North Korea.
In perhaps the most remarkable expansion of military power since the
US geared up for World War II, China has relied on its surging economy
to provide double-digit annual increases in military budgets. The
Chinese are fielding an array of advanced jet aircraft, anti-aircraft
missiles, radar, anti-air and anti-submarine ships, and minelayers
intended to deny US air and naval forces access to Chinese skies and
nearby waters. They are building a blue-water Navy to project power
eastward toward Alaska, Guam, and even Hawaii and south into the South
China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Coordinated Requests
AirSea Battle is not conceived as a "go-it-alone" initiative but one
that will rely on allies in the Pacific and Asia, notably Japan and
Australia, as US forces seek to overcome what is known in this region
as the tyranny of distance. Americans who haven’t traveled the Pacific
often have no notion of how far apart things are. For example, it is
twice as far from Tokyo to Sydney, Australia (4,921 miles), as from
Washington, D.C., to San Francisco (2,442 miles).
In addition to Japan continuing to host American forces, AirSea Battle
calls for greater integration of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces with US
forces stationed in that country, particularly in intelligence and
warning systems. Japan would be asked to continue contributing to the
development of ballistic missile defenses and to increase its own air
defenses. AirSea Battle would call on Japan to expand its anti-
submarine barriers down through the Ryukyu Islands in southwestern
Japan and into the Sea of Japan. Political turmoil in Tokyo today will
make that coordination difficult, to say the least.
In contrast, the alliance between Australia and the US, resting on a
foundation laid down during World War II and continuing ever since, is
less likely to be affected by political changes in the government.
Thus, AirSea Battle would have the Australians develop anti-ship
cruise missiles and to erect long-range radar that would improve
coverage in the southern hemisphere. The Australians take a special
interest in the Southwest Pacific region that can be helpful to the
US. Overall, Australia provides the alliance with strategic depth.
AirSea Battle calls on the Air Force and Navy to devise a division of
labor to eliminate duplication in resources and equipment. The two
services, for instance, have begun planning for a new joint air
launched cruise missile to replace the aging AGM-86 and BGM-109
Tomahawk. So far, only relatively small change has been spent for
wargames and research. Those engaged in AirSea Battle say that
coordinated requests will go forward in the Fiscal 2012 budget. A good
portion of that will go into joint training and robust wargames.
Even as the Pentagon is contemplating AirSea Battle to deter or defeat
China, the US has been seeking stable, working military relations with
the PLA. At the annual Shangri-La gathering of Asian and Pacific
military leaders in Singapore in June, Secretary of Defense Robert M.
Gates said the US wanted "sustained and reliable military-to-military
contacts at all levels that reduce miscommunication, misunderstanding,
and miscalculation. There is a real cost to the absence of military-to-
military relations. I believe they are essential to regional security—
and essential to developing a broad, resilient US-China relationship
that is positive in tone, cooperative in nature, and comprehensive in
scope."
At the same time, Gates has been publicly supportive of the AirSea
Battle venture. In the Quadrennial Defense Review published in
February, he said the Pentagon was directing "more focus and
investment in a new air-sea battle concept, long-range strike, space
and cyberspace, among other conventional and strategic modernization
programs."
The precedent for AirSea Battle was AirLand Battle, an Army-Air Force
effort in the 1980s to dissuade the Soviet Union from striking through
the Fulda Gap in Germany and seeking to drive to the English Channel.
Gen. Colin L. Powell, onetime corps commander in Germany and later
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said the US might resort to
nuclear arms if NATO could not stop the first two waves of the Soviet
force.
No Fait Accompli
The concept of AirSea Battle is being forged in a collaborative effort
of Pacific Air Forces, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessments, and the Pentagon’s influential Office of Net Assessment.
AirSea Battle was begun under the former PACAF commander, Gen. Carrol
H. Chandler, now vice chief of staff of the Air Force. CSBA is a
Washington think tank with close ties to the Pentagon, two of its
chief researchers, Jan M. van Tol and Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr.,
having worked in the Office of Net Assessment, while Mark A. Gunzinger
was engaged in drafting the Pentagon’s Defense Planning Guidance and
Jim Thomas toiled on the Quadrennial Defense Review. The Office of Net
Assessment, often labeled the Defense Department’s internal think
tank, has been led for nearly 40 years by Andrew W. Marshall,
considered to be among the nation’s foremost strategic thinkers.
Over the last three years, the collaborators have staged a half-dozen
wargames to scope the tasks of AirSea Battle and have sent their
findings to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton A.
Schwartz, and the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead.
Schwartz and Roughead signed a memorandum of understanding in
September to proceed on AirSea Battle. Each appointed a team of four
O-6s to draft tentative doctrine to govern AirSea Battle.
The draft doctrine will undoubtedly be sandpapered for many months
before an agreement is reached.
Based on PLA writings, researchers at CSBA have discerned a likely
Chinese strategy for seeking to drive US forces out of the western
Pacific, a strategy they say "mimics the Imperial Japanese strategy of
1941-1942."
The Japanese mounted the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,
1941, intending to destroy the US Pacific Fleet. Simultaneously, the
Japanese Army invaded the Philippines and broke out of northern
Vietnam to transit across Thailand into what is now Malaysia and on to
Singapore. They took what is now Indonesia, critical islands in the
South Pacific, and threatened Australia, then marched to the gates of
India. Japan intended to present the Western powers with a fait
accompli and sue for peace. That strategy, however, failed.
China, say the researchers, may be planning a pre-emptive missile
strike intended to destroy US air bases at Osan and Kunsan in South
Korea; Misawa, Yokota, MCAS Iwakuni, and Kadena in Japan; and bases on
the US island of Guam, plus US naval bases at Yokosuka and Sasebo in
Japan. South Korean and Japanese forces would be attacked. Chinese
missile, naval, and air forces would try to keep other US forces out
of range, to disrupt US command lines, and to block logistic resupply.
"The overall strategy may be to inflict substantial losses on US
forces, lengthen US operational timelines, and highlight the United
States’ inability to defend its allies," the CSBA analysts wrote.
"Once this is accomplished, the PLA could assume the strategic defense
and deny reinforcing US forces access to the theater until the US
determines that it would be too costly to undo what would, in effect,
be a fait accompli."
If the Chinese attack, AirSea Battle would have US forces begin an
active defense, disperse aircraft and ships, and rely on hardening and
resilience to ride out and to recover from the assault.
The US and its allies would initiate a "blinding campaign" to knock
out Chinese reconnaissance aircraft, surveillance satellites, and long-
range, over-the-horizon radar. B-52 bombers and Ohio-class submarines,
both armed with conventional cruise missiles, would seek to suppress
further Chinese missile salvos and aerial assaults.
Gradually, the US would gain the initiative in the air, on the sea’s
surface, and in the undersea domain, relying on the better quality of
US aircraft, ships, and submarines and the superior training of
airmen, sailors, and submariners.
American forces from the continental US would begin to flow into the
Pacific to enter a protracted campaign. A "distant blockade" against
Chinese shipping would be started in the East and South China Seas and
the Strait of Malacca and other passages, as Chinese industry is
heavily dependent on imports. That would be easier than a close
blockade just outside Chinese ports.
Basing Options Abound
A sustained logistic flow from the US into the Pacific would be built
up, and industrial production of weapons, equipment, and especially
precision guided munitions would be stepped up.
A complicated aspect of AirSea Battle will be identifying alternate
air bases such as the one the C-130 crews operated from in Indonesia
and then gaining long-term access to them. For many bases, the State
Department may be required to negotiate agreements permitting US
aircraft to fly in on short notice. That may stir diplomatic trouble
as some nations worry that the Chinese will object.
In addition, funds may be required to bring the condition of some
airfields up to snuff.
High on the list of basing possibilities are air bases the US has used
in the past, such as Clark Air Base in the Philippines, dating back to
1903. The Philippine government and the volcanic eruption of Mount
Pinatubo caused the US to leave Clark in 1991, but the base’s runways
have been scraped off, and the airfield is occasionally used by US
forces passing through the Philippines.
In the Northern Marianas, airfields on Saipan and Tinian were built by
naval construction battalions (Seabees) during World War II. Airfields
at U Tapao and Korat in Thailand were built by the Thais but upgraded
and expanded by the US during the war in Vietnam.
Air bases in northern Australia have been used for joint exercises.
An intriguing possibility might be Tan Son Nhut, the airport near
Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam, built by French colonials in
the 1930s and expanded by the US during the war in Vietnam. It is now
the major civilian airport in southern Vietnam.
Similarly, the Vietnamese port at Cam Ranh Bay, the finest in
Southeast Asia, was a stopping place for a Russian fleet on the way to
disaster at the hands of the Japanese in the Battle of Tsushima in
1905. Japan used it to prepare for its drive into Southeast Asia
during World War II, and the US enlarged it during the Vietnam War.
Whether the Vietnamese, who don’t much like the Chinese but see no
need to anger them, would allow US warships to use the port is open to
question.
US military leaders have been cultivating Indian military leaders for
several years and might ask for access to the many airfields there. In
Pakistan next door, the US used a military airfield at Peshawar, in
the Northwest Frontier province, as a base for U-2 intelligence
flights over the Soviet Union for three years until Francis Gary
Powers got shot down in 1960.
Although AirSea Battle has China in mind, American political leaders
have publicly maintained that the US is not seeking to contain China.
An American aviator, however, pointed to a map marking air bases from
Osan in South Korea, to Korat in Thailand, to Peshawar in Pakistan,
and asked: "It does sort of look like a picket line, doesn’t it?"
Who Controls AirSea Battle?
A key player in executing AirSea Battle would be Adm. Robert F.
Willard, who leads US Pacific Command from his headquarters in
Honolulu. After taking command last fall, Willard set up five focus
group to examine PACOM’s strategy toward China, India, and North
Korea, treaty partners and friends from Japan to Singapore, and
transnational issues such as terror, piracy, drug smuggling, and human
trafficking.
"This is what combatant commanders across the globe should be
attending to," Willard said in an interview. Most American military
leaders are comfortable with day-to-day operations, he said, but
needed "more of a focus on alignment with our national strategies and
policies and more of a focus on understanding the strategies and
policies of our regional counterparts."
Elaborating later, Willard seemed cautious about how AirSea Battle
would fit into his vision for PACOM. He said he had been briefed on
the concept, and "I expressed some issues with what I heard,
especially with regard to their ability to adapt whatever their
concept derives to the ground forces." Willard contended that "the
AirSea Battle construct will unquestionably need to integrate with
what our Marine forces bring to the game," and because the battlespace
"includes the littorals, what the Army brings to the game is
important, too. So there is a great deal of work yet to do to see if
this concept really reveals something that will be useful."
Willard, a naval aviator (as is the Pacific Fleet commander, Adm.
Patrick M. Walsh), was asked who controls AirSea Battle. "It’s
presumptive to get into the command relations debate now when the
concept is in fledgling development," he said.
"I need to see where and how it’s intended to be adapted, and then we
can talk about the command relations," he added.
Richard Halloran, formerly a New York Times foreign correspondent in
Asia and military correspondent in Washington, D.C., is a freelance
writer based in Honolulu. His most recent article for Air Force
Magazine, "China Turns Up the Heat," appeared in the April issue.
By Richard Halloran
A new operational concept looks to prepare the US and its allies to
deter or defeat Chinese power.
After three Air Force C-130 pilots and crews from Yokota Air Base in
Japan finished an exercise called Cope West 10 in Indonesia in April,
they wrote up evaluations of Halim Air Base and other airfields from
which they had operated, assessing the condition of runways,
reliability of electrical supply, safety of fuel storage, and adequacy
of parking ramps.
Until now, that would have been a routine report to prepare for the
next time American airmen might use Indonesian air bases. With the
emergence of a joint Air Force-Navy operational concept called AirSea
Battle, however, intelligence on airfields has taken on new
significance.
A critical element in the concept is to identify alternate airfields
all over Asia that Air Force and Navy aircraft might operate from one
day. US aircraft can be dispersed there, making life hard for a
potential enemy such as China to select targets. Dispersed bases
simultaneously would make it easier for an American pilot needing an
emergency landing site to find one if his home base had been bombed.
AirSea Battle looks to prepare the US and its allies to deter or
defeat China’s rising military power. It envisions operations of USAF
fighters, bombers, and missiles coordinated with Navy aircraft flown
from carriers and land bases—plus missiles launched from submarines
and surface ships. Nuclear war plans will also be folded into the
AirSea Battle operation.
A question, however, has arisen over who will control the joint war.
USAF expects the 613th Air and Space Operations Center of 13th Air
Force at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, to be assigned that task, but the Navy
has traditionally been loath to give up control of its carrier air
wings.
Moreover, the Navy has organized Maritime Operations Centers that
would need to be meshed with USAF’s AOCs, and Air Force and Navy
sensors and communications gear that are not now compatible need to be
made so.
At US air and naval bases in Japan, South Korea, and Guam, the
evolving AirSea concept calls for hardening command centers,
communication nodes, hangars and repair facilities, fuel tanks,
electrical generators, warehouses, shipyard machine shops, and just
about anything else that can be protected from missile attack. For
runways and ramps that can’t be protected, RED HORSE engineers are to
be posted in protective shelters nearby from which they can swiftly
emerge to repair damaged areas.
The plan even calls for developing new materials that will harden in
far less time than ordinary concrete to make a damaged runway
operational again.
Further, AirSea Battle will incorporate an "active" defense, employing
a variety of measures to destroy enemy aircraft and missiles or to
reduce the damage of such attacks. Active defense relies on aircraft,
air defense weapons, electronic warfare, and cyber operations. In
particular, AirSea Battle calls for greater emphasis on the
development of ballistic missile defenses.
The purpose of AirSea Battle is clearly to deter China, with its
rapidly expanding and improving military power, from seeking to drive
the US out of East Asia and the Western Pacific. If deterrence fails,
AirSea Battle’s objective will be to defeat the People’s Liberation
Army, which comprises all of China’s armed forces. The Obama
Administration and the Pentagon contend that war with China is not
inevitable, which may be so, but a memo outlining the purpose of a
previous AirSea Battle wargame left no doubt that the US is preparing
for that possibility.
"The game will position US air, naval, space, and special operations
forces against a rising military competitor in the East Asian littoral
with a range of disruptive capabilities, including multidimensional
‘anti-access’ networks, offensive and defensive space control
capabilities, an extensive inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles,
and a modernized attack submarine fleet," the memo read. "The scenario
will take place in a notional 2028."
There is only one "rising military competitor in the East Asia
littoral," and that is China. Long term, China offers the only real
potential threat to US national security, far more than Iraq,
Afghanistan, Iran, or North Korea.
In perhaps the most remarkable expansion of military power since the
US geared up for World War II, China has relied on its surging economy
to provide double-digit annual increases in military budgets. The
Chinese are fielding an array of advanced jet aircraft, anti-aircraft
missiles, radar, anti-air and anti-submarine ships, and minelayers
intended to deny US air and naval forces access to Chinese skies and
nearby waters. They are building a blue-water Navy to project power
eastward toward Alaska, Guam, and even Hawaii and south into the South
China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Coordinated Requests
AirSea Battle is not conceived as a "go-it-alone" initiative but one
that will rely on allies in the Pacific and Asia, notably Japan and
Australia, as US forces seek to overcome what is known in this region
as the tyranny of distance. Americans who haven’t traveled the Pacific
often have no notion of how far apart things are. For example, it is
twice as far from Tokyo to Sydney, Australia (4,921 miles), as from
Washington, D.C., to San Francisco (2,442 miles).
In addition to Japan continuing to host American forces, AirSea Battle
calls for greater integration of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces with US
forces stationed in that country, particularly in intelligence and
warning systems. Japan would be asked to continue contributing to the
development of ballistic missile defenses and to increase its own air
defenses. AirSea Battle would call on Japan to expand its anti-
submarine barriers down through the Ryukyu Islands in southwestern
Japan and into the Sea of Japan. Political turmoil in Tokyo today will
make that coordination difficult, to say the least.
In contrast, the alliance between Australia and the US, resting on a
foundation laid down during World War II and continuing ever since, is
less likely to be affected by political changes in the government.
Thus, AirSea Battle would have the Australians develop anti-ship
cruise missiles and to erect long-range radar that would improve
coverage in the southern hemisphere. The Australians take a special
interest in the Southwest Pacific region that can be helpful to the
US. Overall, Australia provides the alliance with strategic depth.
AirSea Battle calls on the Air Force and Navy to devise a division of
labor to eliminate duplication in resources and equipment. The two
services, for instance, have begun planning for a new joint air
launched cruise missile to replace the aging AGM-86 and BGM-109
Tomahawk. So far, only relatively small change has been spent for
wargames and research. Those engaged in AirSea Battle say that
coordinated requests will go forward in the Fiscal 2012 budget. A good
portion of that will go into joint training and robust wargames.
Even as the Pentagon is contemplating AirSea Battle to deter or defeat
China, the US has been seeking stable, working military relations with
the PLA. At the annual Shangri-La gathering of Asian and Pacific
military leaders in Singapore in June, Secretary of Defense Robert M.
Gates said the US wanted "sustained and reliable military-to-military
contacts at all levels that reduce miscommunication, misunderstanding,
and miscalculation. There is a real cost to the absence of military-to-
military relations. I believe they are essential to regional security—
and essential to developing a broad, resilient US-China relationship
that is positive in tone, cooperative in nature, and comprehensive in
scope."
At the same time, Gates has been publicly supportive of the AirSea
Battle venture. In the Quadrennial Defense Review published in
February, he said the Pentagon was directing "more focus and
investment in a new air-sea battle concept, long-range strike, space
and cyberspace, among other conventional and strategic modernization
programs."
The precedent for AirSea Battle was AirLand Battle, an Army-Air Force
effort in the 1980s to dissuade the Soviet Union from striking through
the Fulda Gap in Germany and seeking to drive to the English Channel.
Gen. Colin L. Powell, onetime corps commander in Germany and later
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said the US might resort to
nuclear arms if NATO could not stop the first two waves of the Soviet
force.
No Fait Accompli
The concept of AirSea Battle is being forged in a collaborative effort
of Pacific Air Forces, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary
Assessments, and the Pentagon’s influential Office of Net Assessment.
AirSea Battle was begun under the former PACAF commander, Gen. Carrol
H. Chandler, now vice chief of staff of the Air Force. CSBA is a
Washington think tank with close ties to the Pentagon, two of its
chief researchers, Jan M. van Tol and Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr.,
having worked in the Office of Net Assessment, while Mark A. Gunzinger
was engaged in drafting the Pentagon’s Defense Planning Guidance and
Jim Thomas toiled on the Quadrennial Defense Review. The Office of Net
Assessment, often labeled the Defense Department’s internal think
tank, has been led for nearly 40 years by Andrew W. Marshall,
considered to be among the nation’s foremost strategic thinkers.
Over the last three years, the collaborators have staged a half-dozen
wargames to scope the tasks of AirSea Battle and have sent their
findings to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton A.
Schwartz, and the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead.
Schwartz and Roughead signed a memorandum of understanding in
September to proceed on AirSea Battle. Each appointed a team of four
O-6s to draft tentative doctrine to govern AirSea Battle.
The draft doctrine will undoubtedly be sandpapered for many months
before an agreement is reached.
Based on PLA writings, researchers at CSBA have discerned a likely
Chinese strategy for seeking to drive US forces out of the western
Pacific, a strategy they say "mimics the Imperial Japanese strategy of
1941-1942."
The Japanese mounted the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,
1941, intending to destroy the US Pacific Fleet. Simultaneously, the
Japanese Army invaded the Philippines and broke out of northern
Vietnam to transit across Thailand into what is now Malaysia and on to
Singapore. They took what is now Indonesia, critical islands in the
South Pacific, and threatened Australia, then marched to the gates of
India. Japan intended to present the Western powers with a fait
accompli and sue for peace. That strategy, however, failed.
China, say the researchers, may be planning a pre-emptive missile
strike intended to destroy US air bases at Osan and Kunsan in South
Korea; Misawa, Yokota, MCAS Iwakuni, and Kadena in Japan; and bases on
the US island of Guam, plus US naval bases at Yokosuka and Sasebo in
Japan. South Korean and Japanese forces would be attacked. Chinese
missile, naval, and air forces would try to keep other US forces out
of range, to disrupt US command lines, and to block logistic resupply.
"The overall strategy may be to inflict substantial losses on US
forces, lengthen US operational timelines, and highlight the United
States’ inability to defend its allies," the CSBA analysts wrote.
"Once this is accomplished, the PLA could assume the strategic defense
and deny reinforcing US forces access to the theater until the US
determines that it would be too costly to undo what would, in effect,
be a fait accompli."
If the Chinese attack, AirSea Battle would have US forces begin an
active defense, disperse aircraft and ships, and rely on hardening and
resilience to ride out and to recover from the assault.
The US and its allies would initiate a "blinding campaign" to knock
out Chinese reconnaissance aircraft, surveillance satellites, and long-
range, over-the-horizon radar. B-52 bombers and Ohio-class submarines,
both armed with conventional cruise missiles, would seek to suppress
further Chinese missile salvos and aerial assaults.
Gradually, the US would gain the initiative in the air, on the sea’s
surface, and in the undersea domain, relying on the better quality of
US aircraft, ships, and submarines and the superior training of
airmen, sailors, and submariners.
American forces from the continental US would begin to flow into the
Pacific to enter a protracted campaign. A "distant blockade" against
Chinese shipping would be started in the East and South China Seas and
the Strait of Malacca and other passages, as Chinese industry is
heavily dependent on imports. That would be easier than a close
blockade just outside Chinese ports.
Basing Options Abound
A sustained logistic flow from the US into the Pacific would be built
up, and industrial production of weapons, equipment, and especially
precision guided munitions would be stepped up.
A complicated aspect of AirSea Battle will be identifying alternate
air bases such as the one the C-130 crews operated from in Indonesia
and then gaining long-term access to them. For many bases, the State
Department may be required to negotiate agreements permitting US
aircraft to fly in on short notice. That may stir diplomatic trouble
as some nations worry that the Chinese will object.
In addition, funds may be required to bring the condition of some
airfields up to snuff.
High on the list of basing possibilities are air bases the US has used
in the past, such as Clark Air Base in the Philippines, dating back to
1903. The Philippine government and the volcanic eruption of Mount
Pinatubo caused the US to leave Clark in 1991, but the base’s runways
have been scraped off, and the airfield is occasionally used by US
forces passing through the Philippines.
In the Northern Marianas, airfields on Saipan and Tinian were built by
naval construction battalions (Seabees) during World War II. Airfields
at U Tapao and Korat in Thailand were built by the Thais but upgraded
and expanded by the US during the war in Vietnam.
Air bases in northern Australia have been used for joint exercises.
An intriguing possibility might be Tan Son Nhut, the airport near
Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam, built by French colonials in
the 1930s and expanded by the US during the war in Vietnam. It is now
the major civilian airport in southern Vietnam.
Similarly, the Vietnamese port at Cam Ranh Bay, the finest in
Southeast Asia, was a stopping place for a Russian fleet on the way to
disaster at the hands of the Japanese in the Battle of Tsushima in
1905. Japan used it to prepare for its drive into Southeast Asia
during World War II, and the US enlarged it during the Vietnam War.
Whether the Vietnamese, who don’t much like the Chinese but see no
need to anger them, would allow US warships to use the port is open to
question.
US military leaders have been cultivating Indian military leaders for
several years and might ask for access to the many airfields there. In
Pakistan next door, the US used a military airfield at Peshawar, in
the Northwest Frontier province, as a base for U-2 intelligence
flights over the Soviet Union for three years until Francis Gary
Powers got shot down in 1960.
Although AirSea Battle has China in mind, American political leaders
have publicly maintained that the US is not seeking to contain China.
An American aviator, however, pointed to a map marking air bases from
Osan in South Korea, to Korat in Thailand, to Peshawar in Pakistan,
and asked: "It does sort of look like a picket line, doesn’t it?"
Who Controls AirSea Battle?
A key player in executing AirSea Battle would be Adm. Robert F.
Willard, who leads US Pacific Command from his headquarters in
Honolulu. After taking command last fall, Willard set up five focus
group to examine PACOM’s strategy toward China, India, and North
Korea, treaty partners and friends from Japan to Singapore, and
transnational issues such as terror, piracy, drug smuggling, and human
trafficking.
"This is what combatant commanders across the globe should be
attending to," Willard said in an interview. Most American military
leaders are comfortable with day-to-day operations, he said, but
needed "more of a focus on alignment with our national strategies and
policies and more of a focus on understanding the strategies and
policies of our regional counterparts."
Elaborating later, Willard seemed cautious about how AirSea Battle
would fit into his vision for PACOM. He said he had been briefed on
the concept, and "I expressed some issues with what I heard,
especially with regard to their ability to adapt whatever their
concept derives to the ground forces." Willard contended that "the
AirSea Battle construct will unquestionably need to integrate with
what our Marine forces bring to the game," and because the battlespace
"includes the littorals, what the Army brings to the game is
important, too. So there is a great deal of work yet to do to see if
this concept really reveals something that will be useful."
Willard, a naval aviator (as is the Pacific Fleet commander, Adm.
Patrick M. Walsh), was asked who controls AirSea Battle. "It’s
presumptive to get into the command relations debate now when the
concept is in fledgling development," he said.
"I need to see where and how it’s intended to be adapted, and then we
can talk about the command relations," he added.
Richard Halloran, formerly a New York Times foreign correspondent in
Asia and military correspondent in Washington, D.C., is a freelance
writer based in Honolulu. His most recent article for Air Force
Magazine, "China Turns Up the Heat," appeared in the April issue.
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
What's New About the AirSea Battle Concept?
By Anonymous
Four naval strategists take a look back at Navy-Air Force cooperation
in the past to explain all the buzz surrounding this latest strategy.
The Navy-Air Force AirSea Battle Concept (ASBC), modeled after the
Army-Air Force Air Land Battle Doctrine of a previous generation, has
been heralded by some as the answer to compelling strategic and
operational challenges facing the U.S. military today. But is this
really a new strategy? And old or new, will it help the United States
deal with compelling world-wide issues?
Understanding where we have been may provide insight into where we can
go and what we can accomplish with this concept. It may also prepare
the Navy and Air Force for some of the likely as well as unintended
consequences this concept may create.
Writing in a National Defense University National War College
publication in 1992, then-Commander James Stavridis stated: "We need
an air sea battle concept centered on an immediately deployable,
highly capable, and fully integrated force-an Integrated Strike
Force."1 [1] As this quote-by now-Admiral Stavridis, the current
Supreme Allied Commander Europe-suggests, neither the term "AirSea
Battle Concept" nor the concept itself is brand new. Rather, this
integration of sea and air forces has roots that extend back over a
half-century.
Taking to the Air Against U-Boats
The first useful example of an ASBC occurred during the Battle of the
Atlantic campaign to defeat German U-boats. By January 1943, more than
100 submarines were prowling the Atlantic Ocean. Their most effective
hunting ground was in the so-called "air gap" between the southern tip
of Greenland and the longest range of patrol aircraft based in North
America. In this area, convoys relied on their own surface escorts for
protection.
Previously, Atlantic convoys had often been routed around U-boats
waiting to ambush them by using intelligence based on ULTRA decrypts
of intercepted German radio communications. But before the Allies
could effectively pinpoint the locations of the U-boats using ULTRA,
for three weeks in March 1943 wolf packs operating mostly in the air
gap sank more than 20 percent of all Allied shipping plying the North
Atlantic. During this same month British, Canadian, and American
forces responsible for countering the U-boat threat put a plan in
place to allocate a small force of very-long-range B-24 Liberator
aircraft to cover the gap.
When the B-24s and aircraft from the newly assigned escort carriers
started covering convoys, the advantage tipped in favor of the Allies.
In May 1943, the German Navy lost 47 U-boats in the North Atlantic.
When this precursory ASBC was expanded in October 1943 to include long-
range Allied patrol aircraft operating from the Azores, U-boats were
at greater risk over even larger areas of the Atlantic.
In this long campaign, British, Canadian, and U.S. forces considered
and implemented a number of other coordinated air-sea battle tactics,
including: bombing the U-boat bases on the French coast; ambushing U-
boats transiting the Bay of Biscay from the air; targeting the yards
where they were built; and reinforcing surface convoy escorts with
land-based blimps and seaplanes.
All of these efforts were part of an extended air-sea battle of
attrition, where Allied air and naval units worked together to punch
through an anti-access, area-denial envelope that German naval forces
tried to impose on the North Atlantic sea lanes. Over the course of
that long campaign, naval and air officers developed means of
cooperation and coordination-especially of air assets-that prevailed.
But it is important to understand that the Navy, by itself, was able
then and is capable now to conduct an air-sea battle. The salient
question is, to what extent did and does cooperation either make U.S.
forces more efficient or create real synergy?
Aircraft and Amphibs in the Philippines
Another useful illustration is the effective air-sea campaign waged in
and around the Philippines in late 1944 by U.S. Army and Navy aircraft
and Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces. U.S carrier task forces
and U.S. Army long-range, land-based air forces struck distant
Japanese bases and made it difficult for the Japanese to reinforce
their air assets in the Philippines. Moreover, the 7th Fleet escort
carriers directly under General Douglas MacArthur's command provided
fighter and attack support in a display of real integration.
The key factor-well understood by both Army and Navy planners?-was the
critical role long-range, land-based aviation had in expanding the
offensive air envelope under which amphibious forces operated.
Accordingly, the Army and Navy assaulted the islands of Biak and
Morotai before moving on to Leyte because air units flying from those
islands were crucial to the penetration of Japanese defenses in the
Philippines.
Thus, Navy and Army air assets complemented each other to accomplish
critical operational tasks to support campaign victories in both the
Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II. The precedent had
been set, crucial lessons learned, and the power and synergy of the
combined land- and sea-based air forces established.
Why the AirSea Battle Concept?
Earlier this year, Todd Harrison wrote the following in The New Guns
Versus Butter Debate, published by the Center for Strategic and
Budgetary Assessments (CSBA): "The fiscal reality is that in a flat or
declining budgetary environment, [the DOD] cannot continue to do both
[fund personnel accounts as well as acquisition accounts] to the same
extent it does today."2 [1]
Throughout the Cold War, the potential fight on the plains of Europe
dominated U.S. strategic thinking. The military element of this
strategy, primarily carried out by the Army and Air Force, had by the
1980s evolved into what became known as the AirLand Battle Doctrine.
The doctrine led to new operational concepts that recognized an
emerging threat based on Soviet numerical superiority coupled with a
narrowing technological gap. A memorandum cosigned by the Army and Air
Force chiefs outlined steps to achieve procurement and operational
synergies to restore conventional warfighting capabilities after the
Vietnam War.
But for nearly a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S.
military-strategic planners had little motivation to develop a broad
fighting doctrine, and the services had even less incentive to
collaborate.
The one notable exception to this came during Operation Desert Storm.
But in that case, the opposing air and sea forces were minimal and the
core doctrine only tangentially employed. By the early 1990s, analysis
by the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment began to examine whether a
"dramatic shift in the character of military competitions was
underway." Their prescient conclusion now resonates as they
highlighted the real possibility of the rise of potential challenge
from a "peer competitor" (i.e., China) and a "second order challenge
from a 'non-peer' competitor" (i.e., Iran).3 [1]
Pentagon strategists examining the changing nature of warfare were
given new impetus by the congressionally mandated National Defense
Panel (NDP) 1997 report's conclusion that "The United States 'must
radically alter' the way in which its military projects power."4 [1]
However, this momentum slowed as the attacks of 9/11 dramatically
changed the focus of the U.S. military to the exigencies of a war on
terrorism.
The Timeline, China, and the Economy
By the end of the first decade of the 21st century several trends
converged that demanded a new focus on an ASBC. One was the Obama
administration's shift in emphasis away from the war on terrorism and
its decision to draw down the U.S. commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan
on a finite timeline. A second was the startlingly rapid rise of China
over this decade. As the head of Pacific Command, Admiral Robert
Willard, has noted, "Elements of China's military modernization appear
designed to challenge our freedom of action in the region."5 [1] And a
third was the unanticipated economic recession faced by the United
States.
On the heels of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s, and with
the federal budget deficit running in excess of $1.5 trillion in
Fiscal Year 2010, the age-old "guns versus butter" debate has brought
into sharper focus the consistent theme that the U.S. military may not
have the strategic assets needed to deter, and if necessary prevail,
against a high-end peer competitor like China. A key assumption
underpinning the ASBC is that without better coordination between and
among the U.S. military services, especially the Navy and the Air
Force, this outcome is all but guaranteed. Moreover, the concept will
have limited or no effect unless these joint air and naval planners
tie actual operational requirements to specific capabilities.
Faced with a rising threat of peer and near-peer competitors with
alarming anti-access/area-denial capabilities-as well as long-term
budget pressures-the ASBC can be viewed as greater than an attempt to
do more with less. Rather, it is a return to historical precedents
when, like today, compelling strategic and operational realities
forced U.S. naval and air forces to work together in a truly
integrated fashion to project power against a determined foe. But a
skeptic who doubts the ability of the current procurement system to
respond in a meaningful way to this rising challenge may opine that
the ASBC will only result in a rearrangement of existing doctrine and
systems and not be a truly adaptive and dynamic approach.
Just What Is the AirSea Battle Concept?
Also earlier this year, the CSBA published Air Sea Battle: A Point of
Departure Operational Concept, which stated: "The most important
question proponents of the AirSea Battle Concept must answer is
whether the concept would help to restore and sustain a stable
military balance in the Western Pacific."6 [1]
At the request of Secretary of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chief
of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead and Air Force Chief of Staff
General Norton Schwartz directed an effort to explore how U.S air and
naval forces could combine and integrate their capabilities to
confront increasingly complex threats to U.S. freedom of action.7 [1]
To gain a global perspective, this joint team interviewed each U.S.
combatant commander to understand the scope of threats they are likely
to face over the next 10 to 20 years, particularly at the "high-end of
warfare." Government officials have been keen to point out that the
ASBC is not aimed at any particular country or region. But ultimately,
the goal is to identify how combined Air Force and Navy capabilities
can address these threats.8 [1]
After months of teasers and speculation in defense journals and
conferences, the release of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)
provided greater clarity on the scope and raison d'être behind this
concept. As part of its guidance to rebalance the force, the QDR
directed the development of the air-sea battle concept to:
[Defeat] adversaries across the range of military operations,
including adversaries equipped with sophisticated anti-access and area
denial capabilities. The concept will address how air and naval forces
will integrate capabilities across all operational domains-air, sea,
land, space, and cyberspace-to counter growing challenges to U.S.
freedom of action.9 [1]
Protecting Power-Projection Capability
Independent analysts have been less reticent in naming specific
regional adversaries. Two studies by the CSBA highlight the efforts of
China and Iran as catalysts behind the concept. As the first of these
studies lays out, both nations are investing in capabilities to "raise
precipitously over time-and perhaps prohibitively-the cost to the
United States of projecting power into two areas of vital interest:
the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf."10 [1] By adopting anti-
access/area-denial capabilities, these potential adversaries seek to
deny U.S forces the sanctuary of forward bases, hold aircraft carriers
and their air wings at risk, and cripple U.S. battle networks. In
other words, strike at the weak point of U.S. power-projection
capability. To be effective, the ASBC must change that through a
combination of capabilities and operational warfighting. If it
doesn't, adversaries will still be able to deny access to U.S. forces.
In its second study, AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational
Concept, CSBA analyzes possible options to counter the anti-access/
area-denial (A2/AD) threat posed by the Chinese People's Liberation
Army (PLA). First and foremost, CSBA argues, the AirSea Battle Concept
should help "set the conditions" to retain a favorable military
balance in the Western Pacific.11 [1] By creating credible
capabilities to defeat A2/AD threats, the United States can enhance
stability in the Western Pacific and lower the possibility of
escalation by deterring inclinations to challenge the United States or
coerce regional allies.12 [1]
The precise nature of the ASBC will not be known until Pentagon
planners complete their work. But based on the broad outlines of the
CSBA's Point-of-Departure Operational Concept study, it is likely that
in the initial stages of hostilities the United States would need to
withstand an initial attack and limit damage to U.S. and allied forces
while executing a blinding campaign against the PLA battle networks.
However, the need to withstand an initial attack is a potential flaw
in the CSBA plan. Prudence and technical reality would suggest that
the ASBC should find a way to make U.S. forces less visible and
targetable while retaining the ability to be forward with credible
combat power. Being less visible and targetable raises the risk of
initiating a first strike and contributes to deterring a potential
foe.
Failing deterrence, the ASBC assumes that a conflict with China would
involve a protracted campaign where U.S-led forces would then sustain
and exploit the initiative in various domains, conduct distant
blockade operations against ships bound for China, maintain
operational logistics, and ramp up industrial production of needed
hardware, especially precision-guided munitions. However, it is
important to note that in a shorter (and perhaps more likely)
conflict, blockade, logistics, and procurement will have minimal
impact on the outcome.
The Strategy
But it is the ways Navy and Air Force assets would provide mutual
support in this campaign that can make the ASBC, if it evolves in a
manner that many strategic thinkers believe it should, a modern-day
equivalent of some of the innovative strategies and tactics employed
by U.S. air and sea forces in World War II. If the ASBC evolves as the
CSBA study suggests, Navy and Air Force planners may evolve a strategy
in which:
Air Force counter-space operations would blind PLA space-based
ocean surveillance systems to prevent the PLA from targeting Navy
surface assets, providing the Navy with operational freedom of
maneuver.
Navy Aegis ships would supplement other missile-defense assets in
Air Force forward bases in the Western Pacific.
Long-range penetrating strike operations would destroy PLA ground-
based, long-range maritime surveillance systems and long-range
ballistic-missile launchers to expand the Navy's freedom of maneuver
and reduce strikes on U.S. and allied bases. Concurrently, Navy
submarine-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
and strike support against PLA integrated air defense systems would
pave the way for Air Force strikes.
Navy carrier-based fighters' progressive rollback of PLA manned
and unmanned airborne ISR platforms and fighters would secure the
forward operation of Air Force tankers and other support aircraft.
This would require the Navy to rethink its current inventory of
missiles, jammers, and decoys.
Air Force aircraft would support the antisubmarine warfare
campaign through offensive mining by stealthy bombers and persistent
non-stealthy bomber strike support of Navy ships conducting distant
blockade operations.13 [1]
The evidence also suggests that this ASBC will, indeed, gain traction
throughout the U.S. military. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral
Mike Mullen has already put his imprint on the concept. Speaking at
the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation and commissioning ceremony
earlier this year he noted, "[The ASBC] is a prime example of how we
need to keep breaking down stovepipes between services, between
federal agencies, and even between nations."14 [1]
Implications of an Evolving Concept
According to CSBA's study, AirSea Battle: A Point-of- Departure
Operational Concept, "The Defense Department's Program of Record
forces and current concepts of operations do not accord sufficient
weight to the capabilities needed to successfully execute an AirSea
Battle campaign."15 [1]
However the elements outlined here combine to form a coherent ASBC,
myriad strategic, institutional, and programmatic implications, both
understood and unintentional, will arise. These will vary depending on
the concepts envisioned and the course adopted. A sampling of a few
that may immediately surface include:
Naming Names-U.S. policy toward China has been centered on managing
the "peaceful rise" of this emerging peer competitor across a broad
range of issues. Moreover, the United States has been careful not to
paint China as a threat or engage in activities that could lead to an
arms race. This may be changing, and the development of the ASBC may
contribute to this change.
By actively and publicly planning, training, and equipping a joint air-
sea force to confront even something as benignly described as a
"pacing threat," the United States is implicitly challenging China's
military influence in Asia. It is one thing for the independent
thinkers at CSBA to issue a set of reports and conceptual papers on
the ASBC; it is quite another for Navy and Air Force staffs to
collaborate on a comprehensive approach to counter PLA systems,
doctrine, and operational plans.
Reassurance-A growing perception on the part of U.S. allies and
potential partners in the region is that American naval and air forces
have not kept pace with expanding Chinese military capabilities.
The premise of the ASBC in fact rests on this trend. With this
perception, countries have started to rethink their political,
economic, and military strategies to ensure their continued security
and independence as U.S. will, capacity, and capability wane. A
serious, sustained commitment to ASBC will reinforce credible U.S.
combat power and will assuage and persuade both friend and foe of
America's commitment to the region. However, failure to fully embrace
and enact the ASBC could have opposite and unforeseeable strategic
consequences.
Dispersed Basing-A critical implied task in articulating the
operational construct of the ASBC will be to find ways to reduce risk
to both land and sea air bases, to minimize the impact of early salvo
strikes, and to persist in any protracted war longer than a couple of
weeks. Beyond extensive hardening and rapid runway repair, dispersal
may emerge as an effective operational approach likely to be
considered.
But dispersal is not without its challenges. Domestic political
objections in countries where the United States will desire multiple
basing options, including the creative approaches of the Cold War such
as highway-runways and concealed operating bases for vertical short-
takeoff and landing aircraft, will be high. Even in countries where
the United States currently has basing rights, such as Japan, the
political challenges will be immense. Moreover, countries that sign on
to this plan know they are certain targets and may calculate that the
costs of allowing this basing plan outweigh the benefits. And to be
truly effective, maintenance, logistics, and personnel must be made
mobile to support this scheme, which rapidly becomes a very expensive
approach that might best be tackled another way.
Beyond Purple to Cobalt Blue-Another key to the success of the ASBC
will be institutionalizing a close collaborative relationship between
the Navy and Air Force beyond the initial exhilaration of the ASBC's
maiden release. The model for this is the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act
that forced cooperation among all the services using clear incentives
tied to promotion of the officer corps. For the ASBC to sustain a
protracted pattern of cooperation, an institutionalized cadre of
officers, planners, and procurement specialists must be put in place.
Otherwise, the services will fall back into their familiar patterns of
competition.
Where the Family Shops-It is too early to tell what impact the ASBC
will have on procurement and the focus of the industrial base. If the
plan calls for a refinement of legacy systems, then the impact could
be light. But if the ASBC introduces a radical approach, the impact
could be quite large, even if this change is more evolutionary than
revolutionary. This would be good news for some and troubling news for
others.
The ASBC is as much about developing credible combat power and the
military doctrine to support it as it is about long-term competition.
Thus, any concept must analyze the holistic impact and strategic costs
to sustain and win the long-term competition with any peer or near-
peer state. While the adjustments to doctrine, operational plans, and
system acquisition resulting from the ASBC are yet unknown, ultimately
the ASBC must be more than simply a sharing of assets or cooperation
for its own sake. It must integrate some unique set of capabilities
from both services to create real synergistic effects that neither
service can accomplish individually.
1. CDR James Stavridis, USN, A New Air Sea Battle Concept: Integrated
Strike Forces (Washington D.C.: National Defense University National
War College, 1992), p. 3.
2. Todd Harrison, The New Guns Versus Butter Debate, (Washington,
D.C.: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2010), p.10.
3. Andrew Krepinevich, Why AirSea Battle? (Washington, D.C.: Center
for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2010), p. 8.
4. National Defense Panel, Transforming Defense (Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997), pp. 12-13.
5. ADM Robert Willard, prepared statement before the House Armed
Services Committee on U.S. Pacific Command Posture, 23 March 2010.
6. Jan Van Tol, et. al., AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure
Operational Concept (Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and
Budgetary Assessment, 2010), p. 95.
7. Christopher Cavas, "USAF, U.S. Navy to Expand Cooperation," Defense
News, 9 November 2009. See also: Andrew Krepinevich, Why AirSea
Battle?, p. 1.
8. Cavas, "USAF, U.S. Navy to Expand Cooperation."
9. Department of Defense, Quadrennial Defense Review Report
(Washington, D.C.: Department of Defense, 2010), p. 55.
10. Krepinevich, Why AirSea Battle?, p. 7.
11. Van Tol, et. al., Battle: A Point of Departure Operational
Concept, p. ix.
12. Ibid., p. 18.
13. Ibid., p. 95.
14. Donna Miles, "Defense Leaders Laud Air-Sea Battle Concept
Initiative," American Forces Press Service, 7 June 2010.
15. Van Tol, et. al., AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational
Concept, p. 81.
Mr. Carreno is the head of the Strategic and Business Planning Branch
at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, and has written previously for
Proceedings.
Professor Culora is the chairman of the Warfare Analysis and Research
Department at the Naval War College. He is a retired Navy captain who
commanded both HSL-47 and the USS Boxer (LHD-4) and was a fellow at
both Harvard University and the Council on Foreign Relations in New
York.
Captain Galdorisi is director of the Corporate Strategy Group at
SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific. His latest book is Leave No Man Behind:
the Saga of Combat Search and Rescue (MBI Publishing Co., 2009).
Mr. Hone is a former special assistant to the commander of the Naval
Air Systems Command, co-author of American & British Aircraft Carrier
Development, 1919-1941 (Naval Institute Press, 1999), and a professor
at the Naval War College.
AirSea Battle Concept Fundamentals
Omnipresent unmanned combat air systems to provide persistent
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
Full development of unmanned underwater vehicles and other
persistent unmanned underwater systems
Configuration, load out, or perhaps even saliency of Nimitz/Ford-
class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in this particular context
Rethinking of the size and structure of the amphibious force
(despite their current role in humanitarian assistance/disaster
relief)
Increased, sustainable, and survivable aerial refueling capacity
if the need for persistent manned aircraft is still deemed critical
Significant increase in long-range ISR assets like Global Hawk,
with increased range and sensors
Less emphasis on short-range Navy fighters (Super Hornets and
Joint Strike Fighters)
A radical new look at mission modules for the Littoral Combat Ship
(decoy, deception)
Potential capping or slight drawdown of special operations forces
Increased emphasis on submerged precision strike (more nuclear-
powered guided-missile submarines (SSGN) conversions or SSGN follow-
on)
Increased emphasis on Electronic Warfare
A geographic shift to the "One Hub" posture of the Center for
Naval Analyses Tipping Point paper
A joining of 10th Fleet and the 24th Air Force to address joint
cyber and command-and-control issues
Article Information
Magazine Volume:
Proceedings Magazine - August 2010 Vol. 136/8/1,290 [2]
Author:
By Jose Carreno, Thomas Culora, Captain George Galdorisi, U.S. Navy
(Retired), and Thomas Hone
Story Summary:
Is the latest coordination of air and sea assets old wine in new
bottles or an effective war-winning strategy?or both?
Story Volume Sort:
-39
Story Assets
image/jpeg iconThe commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (left),
General Roger A. Brady, welcomes the commander of U.S. European
Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral James Stavridis,
on 10 November 2009 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. As a Navy
commander 17 years earlier, Stavridis envisioned "an Integrated Strike
Force," suggesting the AirSea Battle Concept (ASBC) isn't really new.
[3]
image/jpeg iconA good early example of integrating sea and air forces
took place in the North Atlantic in 1943, when very-long-range B-24
Liberator aircraft began covering Allied convoys operating in the "air
gap" between Greenland and the limited radius of North America-based
patrol aircraft. Today's "salient question," the authors ask, is how
does such cooperation create efficiency and synergy? [4]
image/jpeg iconAn effective Army-Navy air-sea campaign also worked in
1944, supporting Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces in their
invasion of targets around the Philippines. Here, infantry landing
craft hug the beach at Morotai to protect landing troops, as fires
rage farther ashore. Aircraft flying from this and other islands were
able to penetrate Japanese defenses. [5]
image/jpeg iconAdmiral Robert Willard, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command
(left), meets on 4 June with Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert
Sher (center) and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the Asia
Security Summit in Singapore. According to Admiral Willard, "Elements
of China's military modernization appear designed to challenge our
freedom of action in the region." This is one trend that demands a new
focus on the ASBC. [6]
image/jpeg iconThe Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says
ASBC proponents must determine "whether the concept would help to
restore and sustain a stable military balance in the Western Pacific."
Such regional stability was the order of the day on 7 May, when this
Air Force F-16 deployed to the Republic of Korea from Misawa Air Base,
Japan. [7]
image/jpeg iconOne of the highest-powered leaders to "put his imprint
on the concept" is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike
Mullen, who noted during his commencement and commissioning address at
the U.S. Air Force Academy this year that it "is a prime example of
how we need to keep breaking down stovepipes."
Source URL: http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedin ... -about-air...
Links:
[1] http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedin ... -about-air...
[2] http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2010-08
[3] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... D4D60B3613...
[4] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 34296A8A5B...
[5] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 742B994B0E...
[6] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 54D579A93D...
[7] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 143FEAC2C3...
[8] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 242839ABC2...
By Anonymous
Four naval strategists take a look back at Navy-Air Force cooperation
in the past to explain all the buzz surrounding this latest strategy.
The Navy-Air Force AirSea Battle Concept (ASBC), modeled after the
Army-Air Force Air Land Battle Doctrine of a previous generation, has
been heralded by some as the answer to compelling strategic and
operational challenges facing the U.S. military today. But is this
really a new strategy? And old or new, will it help the United States
deal with compelling world-wide issues?
Understanding where we have been may provide insight into where we can
go and what we can accomplish with this concept. It may also prepare
the Navy and Air Force for some of the likely as well as unintended
consequences this concept may create.
Writing in a National Defense University National War College
publication in 1992, then-Commander James Stavridis stated: "We need
an air sea battle concept centered on an immediately deployable,
highly capable, and fully integrated force-an Integrated Strike
Force."1 [1] As this quote-by now-Admiral Stavridis, the current
Supreme Allied Commander Europe-suggests, neither the term "AirSea
Battle Concept" nor the concept itself is brand new. Rather, this
integration of sea and air forces has roots that extend back over a
half-century.
Taking to the Air Against U-Boats
The first useful example of an ASBC occurred during the Battle of the
Atlantic campaign to defeat German U-boats. By January 1943, more than
100 submarines were prowling the Atlantic Ocean. Their most effective
hunting ground was in the so-called "air gap" between the southern tip
of Greenland and the longest range of patrol aircraft based in North
America. In this area, convoys relied on their own surface escorts for
protection.
Previously, Atlantic convoys had often been routed around U-boats
waiting to ambush them by using intelligence based on ULTRA decrypts
of intercepted German radio communications. But before the Allies
could effectively pinpoint the locations of the U-boats using ULTRA,
for three weeks in March 1943 wolf packs operating mostly in the air
gap sank more than 20 percent of all Allied shipping plying the North
Atlantic. During this same month British, Canadian, and American
forces responsible for countering the U-boat threat put a plan in
place to allocate a small force of very-long-range B-24 Liberator
aircraft to cover the gap.
When the B-24s and aircraft from the newly assigned escort carriers
started covering convoys, the advantage tipped in favor of the Allies.
In May 1943, the German Navy lost 47 U-boats in the North Atlantic.
When this precursory ASBC was expanded in October 1943 to include long-
range Allied patrol aircraft operating from the Azores, U-boats were
at greater risk over even larger areas of the Atlantic.
In this long campaign, British, Canadian, and U.S. forces considered
and implemented a number of other coordinated air-sea battle tactics,
including: bombing the U-boat bases on the French coast; ambushing U-
boats transiting the Bay of Biscay from the air; targeting the yards
where they were built; and reinforcing surface convoy escorts with
land-based blimps and seaplanes.
All of these efforts were part of an extended air-sea battle of
attrition, where Allied air and naval units worked together to punch
through an anti-access, area-denial envelope that German naval forces
tried to impose on the North Atlantic sea lanes. Over the course of
that long campaign, naval and air officers developed means of
cooperation and coordination-especially of air assets-that prevailed.
But it is important to understand that the Navy, by itself, was able
then and is capable now to conduct an air-sea battle. The salient
question is, to what extent did and does cooperation either make U.S.
forces more efficient or create real synergy?
Aircraft and Amphibs in the Philippines
Another useful illustration is the effective air-sea campaign waged in
and around the Philippines in late 1944 by U.S. Army and Navy aircraft
and Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces. U.S carrier task forces
and U.S. Army long-range, land-based air forces struck distant
Japanese bases and made it difficult for the Japanese to reinforce
their air assets in the Philippines. Moreover, the 7th Fleet escort
carriers directly under General Douglas MacArthur's command provided
fighter and attack support in a display of real integration.
The key factor-well understood by both Army and Navy planners?-was the
critical role long-range, land-based aviation had in expanding the
offensive air envelope under which amphibious forces operated.
Accordingly, the Army and Navy assaulted the islands of Biak and
Morotai before moving on to Leyte because air units flying from those
islands were crucial to the penetration of Japanese defenses in the
Philippines.
Thus, Navy and Army air assets complemented each other to accomplish
critical operational tasks to support campaign victories in both the
Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II. The precedent had
been set, crucial lessons learned, and the power and synergy of the
combined land- and sea-based air forces established.
Why the AirSea Battle Concept?
Earlier this year, Todd Harrison wrote the following in The New Guns
Versus Butter Debate, published by the Center for Strategic and
Budgetary Assessments (CSBA): "The fiscal reality is that in a flat or
declining budgetary environment, [the DOD] cannot continue to do both
[fund personnel accounts as well as acquisition accounts] to the same
extent it does today."2 [1]
Throughout the Cold War, the potential fight on the plains of Europe
dominated U.S. strategic thinking. The military element of this
strategy, primarily carried out by the Army and Air Force, had by the
1980s evolved into what became known as the AirLand Battle Doctrine.
The doctrine led to new operational concepts that recognized an
emerging threat based on Soviet numerical superiority coupled with a
narrowing technological gap. A memorandum cosigned by the Army and Air
Force chiefs outlined steps to achieve procurement and operational
synergies to restore conventional warfighting capabilities after the
Vietnam War.
But for nearly a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S.
military-strategic planners had little motivation to develop a broad
fighting doctrine, and the services had even less incentive to
collaborate.
The one notable exception to this came during Operation Desert Storm.
But in that case, the opposing air and sea forces were minimal and the
core doctrine only tangentially employed. By the early 1990s, analysis
by the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment began to examine whether a
"dramatic shift in the character of military competitions was
underway." Their prescient conclusion now resonates as they
highlighted the real possibility of the rise of potential challenge
from a "peer competitor" (i.e., China) and a "second order challenge
from a 'non-peer' competitor" (i.e., Iran).3 [1]
Pentagon strategists examining the changing nature of warfare were
given new impetus by the congressionally mandated National Defense
Panel (NDP) 1997 report's conclusion that "The United States 'must
radically alter' the way in which its military projects power."4 [1]
However, this momentum slowed as the attacks of 9/11 dramatically
changed the focus of the U.S. military to the exigencies of a war on
terrorism.
The Timeline, China, and the Economy
By the end of the first decade of the 21st century several trends
converged that demanded a new focus on an ASBC. One was the Obama
administration's shift in emphasis away from the war on terrorism and
its decision to draw down the U.S. commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan
on a finite timeline. A second was the startlingly rapid rise of China
over this decade. As the head of Pacific Command, Admiral Robert
Willard, has noted, "Elements of China's military modernization appear
designed to challenge our freedom of action in the region."5 [1] And a
third was the unanticipated economic recession faced by the United
States.
On the heels of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s, and with
the federal budget deficit running in excess of $1.5 trillion in
Fiscal Year 2010, the age-old "guns versus butter" debate has brought
into sharper focus the consistent theme that the U.S. military may not
have the strategic assets needed to deter, and if necessary prevail,
against a high-end peer competitor like China. A key assumption
underpinning the ASBC is that without better coordination between and
among the U.S. military services, especially the Navy and the Air
Force, this outcome is all but guaranteed. Moreover, the concept will
have limited or no effect unless these joint air and naval planners
tie actual operational requirements to specific capabilities.
Faced with a rising threat of peer and near-peer competitors with
alarming anti-access/area-denial capabilities-as well as long-term
budget pressures-the ASBC can be viewed as greater than an attempt to
do more with less. Rather, it is a return to historical precedents
when, like today, compelling strategic and operational realities
forced U.S. naval and air forces to work together in a truly
integrated fashion to project power against a determined foe. But a
skeptic who doubts the ability of the current procurement system to
respond in a meaningful way to this rising challenge may opine that
the ASBC will only result in a rearrangement of existing doctrine and
systems and not be a truly adaptive and dynamic approach.
Just What Is the AirSea Battle Concept?
Also earlier this year, the CSBA published Air Sea Battle: A Point of
Departure Operational Concept, which stated: "The most important
question proponents of the AirSea Battle Concept must answer is
whether the concept would help to restore and sustain a stable
military balance in the Western Pacific."6 [1]
At the request of Secretary of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chief
of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead and Air Force Chief of Staff
General Norton Schwartz directed an effort to explore how U.S air and
naval forces could combine and integrate their capabilities to
confront increasingly complex threats to U.S. freedom of action.7 [1]
To gain a global perspective, this joint team interviewed each U.S.
combatant commander to understand the scope of threats they are likely
to face over the next 10 to 20 years, particularly at the "high-end of
warfare." Government officials have been keen to point out that the
ASBC is not aimed at any particular country or region. But ultimately,
the goal is to identify how combined Air Force and Navy capabilities
can address these threats.8 [1]
After months of teasers and speculation in defense journals and
conferences, the release of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)
provided greater clarity on the scope and raison d'être behind this
concept. As part of its guidance to rebalance the force, the QDR
directed the development of the air-sea battle concept to:
[Defeat] adversaries across the range of military operations,
including adversaries equipped with sophisticated anti-access and area
denial capabilities. The concept will address how air and naval forces
will integrate capabilities across all operational domains-air, sea,
land, space, and cyberspace-to counter growing challenges to U.S.
freedom of action.9 [1]
Protecting Power-Projection Capability
Independent analysts have been less reticent in naming specific
regional adversaries. Two studies by the CSBA highlight the efforts of
China and Iran as catalysts behind the concept. As the first of these
studies lays out, both nations are investing in capabilities to "raise
precipitously over time-and perhaps prohibitively-the cost to the
United States of projecting power into two areas of vital interest:
the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf."10 [1] By adopting anti-
access/area-denial capabilities, these potential adversaries seek to
deny U.S forces the sanctuary of forward bases, hold aircraft carriers
and their air wings at risk, and cripple U.S. battle networks. In
other words, strike at the weak point of U.S. power-projection
capability. To be effective, the ASBC must change that through a
combination of capabilities and operational warfighting. If it
doesn't, adversaries will still be able to deny access to U.S. forces.
In its second study, AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational
Concept, CSBA analyzes possible options to counter the anti-access/
area-denial (A2/AD) threat posed by the Chinese People's Liberation
Army (PLA). First and foremost, CSBA argues, the AirSea Battle Concept
should help "set the conditions" to retain a favorable military
balance in the Western Pacific.11 [1] By creating credible
capabilities to defeat A2/AD threats, the United States can enhance
stability in the Western Pacific and lower the possibility of
escalation by deterring inclinations to challenge the United States or
coerce regional allies.12 [1]
The precise nature of the ASBC will not be known until Pentagon
planners complete their work. But based on the broad outlines of the
CSBA's Point-of-Departure Operational Concept study, it is likely that
in the initial stages of hostilities the United States would need to
withstand an initial attack and limit damage to U.S. and allied forces
while executing a blinding campaign against the PLA battle networks.
However, the need to withstand an initial attack is a potential flaw
in the CSBA plan. Prudence and technical reality would suggest that
the ASBC should find a way to make U.S. forces less visible and
targetable while retaining the ability to be forward with credible
combat power. Being less visible and targetable raises the risk of
initiating a first strike and contributes to deterring a potential
foe.
Failing deterrence, the ASBC assumes that a conflict with China would
involve a protracted campaign where U.S-led forces would then sustain
and exploit the initiative in various domains, conduct distant
blockade operations against ships bound for China, maintain
operational logistics, and ramp up industrial production of needed
hardware, especially precision-guided munitions. However, it is
important to note that in a shorter (and perhaps more likely)
conflict, blockade, logistics, and procurement will have minimal
impact on the outcome.
The Strategy
But it is the ways Navy and Air Force assets would provide mutual
support in this campaign that can make the ASBC, if it evolves in a
manner that many strategic thinkers believe it should, a modern-day
equivalent of some of the innovative strategies and tactics employed
by U.S. air and sea forces in World War II. If the ASBC evolves as the
CSBA study suggests, Navy and Air Force planners may evolve a strategy
in which:
Air Force counter-space operations would blind PLA space-based
ocean surveillance systems to prevent the PLA from targeting Navy
surface assets, providing the Navy with operational freedom of
maneuver.
Navy Aegis ships would supplement other missile-defense assets in
Air Force forward bases in the Western Pacific.
Long-range penetrating strike operations would destroy PLA ground-
based, long-range maritime surveillance systems and long-range
ballistic-missile launchers to expand the Navy's freedom of maneuver
and reduce strikes on U.S. and allied bases. Concurrently, Navy
submarine-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
and strike support against PLA integrated air defense systems would
pave the way for Air Force strikes.
Navy carrier-based fighters' progressive rollback of PLA manned
and unmanned airborne ISR platforms and fighters would secure the
forward operation of Air Force tankers and other support aircraft.
This would require the Navy to rethink its current inventory of
missiles, jammers, and decoys.
Air Force aircraft would support the antisubmarine warfare
campaign through offensive mining by stealthy bombers and persistent
non-stealthy bomber strike support of Navy ships conducting distant
blockade operations.13 [1]
The evidence also suggests that this ASBC will, indeed, gain traction
throughout the U.S. military. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral
Mike Mullen has already put his imprint on the concept. Speaking at
the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation and commissioning ceremony
earlier this year he noted, "[The ASBC] is a prime example of how we
need to keep breaking down stovepipes between services, between
federal agencies, and even between nations."14 [1]
Implications of an Evolving Concept
According to CSBA's study, AirSea Battle: A Point-of- Departure
Operational Concept, "The Defense Department's Program of Record
forces and current concepts of operations do not accord sufficient
weight to the capabilities needed to successfully execute an AirSea
Battle campaign."15 [1]
However the elements outlined here combine to form a coherent ASBC,
myriad strategic, institutional, and programmatic implications, both
understood and unintentional, will arise. These will vary depending on
the concepts envisioned and the course adopted. A sampling of a few
that may immediately surface include:
Naming Names-U.S. policy toward China has been centered on managing
the "peaceful rise" of this emerging peer competitor across a broad
range of issues. Moreover, the United States has been careful not to
paint China as a threat or engage in activities that could lead to an
arms race. This may be changing, and the development of the ASBC may
contribute to this change.
By actively and publicly planning, training, and equipping a joint air-
sea force to confront even something as benignly described as a
"pacing threat," the United States is implicitly challenging China's
military influence in Asia. It is one thing for the independent
thinkers at CSBA to issue a set of reports and conceptual papers on
the ASBC; it is quite another for Navy and Air Force staffs to
collaborate on a comprehensive approach to counter PLA systems,
doctrine, and operational plans.
Reassurance-A growing perception on the part of U.S. allies and
potential partners in the region is that American naval and air forces
have not kept pace with expanding Chinese military capabilities.
The premise of the ASBC in fact rests on this trend. With this
perception, countries have started to rethink their political,
economic, and military strategies to ensure their continued security
and independence as U.S. will, capacity, and capability wane. A
serious, sustained commitment to ASBC will reinforce credible U.S.
combat power and will assuage and persuade both friend and foe of
America's commitment to the region. However, failure to fully embrace
and enact the ASBC could have opposite and unforeseeable strategic
consequences.
Dispersed Basing-A critical implied task in articulating the
operational construct of the ASBC will be to find ways to reduce risk
to both land and sea air bases, to minimize the impact of early salvo
strikes, and to persist in any protracted war longer than a couple of
weeks. Beyond extensive hardening and rapid runway repair, dispersal
may emerge as an effective operational approach likely to be
considered.
But dispersal is not without its challenges. Domestic political
objections in countries where the United States will desire multiple
basing options, including the creative approaches of the Cold War such
as highway-runways and concealed operating bases for vertical short-
takeoff and landing aircraft, will be high. Even in countries where
the United States currently has basing rights, such as Japan, the
political challenges will be immense. Moreover, countries that sign on
to this plan know they are certain targets and may calculate that the
costs of allowing this basing plan outweigh the benefits. And to be
truly effective, maintenance, logistics, and personnel must be made
mobile to support this scheme, which rapidly becomes a very expensive
approach that might best be tackled another way.
Beyond Purple to Cobalt Blue-Another key to the success of the ASBC
will be institutionalizing a close collaborative relationship between
the Navy and Air Force beyond the initial exhilaration of the ASBC's
maiden release. The model for this is the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act
that forced cooperation among all the services using clear incentives
tied to promotion of the officer corps. For the ASBC to sustain a
protracted pattern of cooperation, an institutionalized cadre of
officers, planners, and procurement specialists must be put in place.
Otherwise, the services will fall back into their familiar patterns of
competition.
Where the Family Shops-It is too early to tell what impact the ASBC
will have on procurement and the focus of the industrial base. If the
plan calls for a refinement of legacy systems, then the impact could
be light. But if the ASBC introduces a radical approach, the impact
could be quite large, even if this change is more evolutionary than
revolutionary. This would be good news for some and troubling news for
others.
The ASBC is as much about developing credible combat power and the
military doctrine to support it as it is about long-term competition.
Thus, any concept must analyze the holistic impact and strategic costs
to sustain and win the long-term competition with any peer or near-
peer state. While the adjustments to doctrine, operational plans, and
system acquisition resulting from the ASBC are yet unknown, ultimately
the ASBC must be more than simply a sharing of assets or cooperation
for its own sake. It must integrate some unique set of capabilities
from both services to create real synergistic effects that neither
service can accomplish individually.
1. CDR James Stavridis, USN, A New Air Sea Battle Concept: Integrated
Strike Forces (Washington D.C.: National Defense University National
War College, 1992), p. 3.
2. Todd Harrison, The New Guns Versus Butter Debate, (Washington,
D.C.: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2010), p.10.
3. Andrew Krepinevich, Why AirSea Battle? (Washington, D.C.: Center
for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2010), p. 8.
4. National Defense Panel, Transforming Defense (Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997), pp. 12-13.
5. ADM Robert Willard, prepared statement before the House Armed
Services Committee on U.S. Pacific Command Posture, 23 March 2010.
6. Jan Van Tol, et. al., AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure
Operational Concept (Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and
Budgetary Assessment, 2010), p. 95.
7. Christopher Cavas, "USAF, U.S. Navy to Expand Cooperation," Defense
News, 9 November 2009. See also: Andrew Krepinevich, Why AirSea
Battle?, p. 1.
8. Cavas, "USAF, U.S. Navy to Expand Cooperation."
9. Department of Defense, Quadrennial Defense Review Report
(Washington, D.C.: Department of Defense, 2010), p. 55.
10. Krepinevich, Why AirSea Battle?, p. 7.
11. Van Tol, et. al., Battle: A Point of Departure Operational
Concept, p. ix.
12. Ibid., p. 18.
13. Ibid., p. 95.
14. Donna Miles, "Defense Leaders Laud Air-Sea Battle Concept
Initiative," American Forces Press Service, 7 June 2010.
15. Van Tol, et. al., AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational
Concept, p. 81.
Mr. Carreno is the head of the Strategic and Business Planning Branch
at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, and has written previously for
Proceedings.
Professor Culora is the chairman of the Warfare Analysis and Research
Department at the Naval War College. He is a retired Navy captain who
commanded both HSL-47 and the USS Boxer (LHD-4) and was a fellow at
both Harvard University and the Council on Foreign Relations in New
York.
Captain Galdorisi is director of the Corporate Strategy Group at
SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific. His latest book is Leave No Man Behind:
the Saga of Combat Search and Rescue (MBI Publishing Co., 2009).
Mr. Hone is a former special assistant to the commander of the Naval
Air Systems Command, co-author of American & British Aircraft Carrier
Development, 1919-1941 (Naval Institute Press, 1999), and a professor
at the Naval War College.
AirSea Battle Concept Fundamentals
Omnipresent unmanned combat air systems to provide persistent
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
Full development of unmanned underwater vehicles and other
persistent unmanned underwater systems
Configuration, load out, or perhaps even saliency of Nimitz/Ford-
class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in this particular context
Rethinking of the size and structure of the amphibious force
(despite their current role in humanitarian assistance/disaster
relief)
Increased, sustainable, and survivable aerial refueling capacity
if the need for persistent manned aircraft is still deemed critical
Significant increase in long-range ISR assets like Global Hawk,
with increased range and sensors
Less emphasis on short-range Navy fighters (Super Hornets and
Joint Strike Fighters)
A radical new look at mission modules for the Littoral Combat Ship
(decoy, deception)
Potential capping or slight drawdown of special operations forces
Increased emphasis on submerged precision strike (more nuclear-
powered guided-missile submarines (SSGN) conversions or SSGN follow-
on)
Increased emphasis on Electronic Warfare
A geographic shift to the "One Hub" posture of the Center for
Naval Analyses Tipping Point paper
A joining of 10th Fleet and the 24th Air Force to address joint
cyber and command-and-control issues
Article Information
Magazine Volume:
Proceedings Magazine - August 2010 Vol. 136/8/1,290 [2]
Author:
By Jose Carreno, Thomas Culora, Captain George Galdorisi, U.S. Navy
(Retired), and Thomas Hone
Story Summary:
Is the latest coordination of air and sea assets old wine in new
bottles or an effective war-winning strategy?or both?
Story Volume Sort:
-39
Story Assets
image/jpeg iconThe commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe (left),
General Roger A. Brady, welcomes the commander of U.S. European
Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral James Stavridis,
on 10 November 2009 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. As a Navy
commander 17 years earlier, Stavridis envisioned "an Integrated Strike
Force," suggesting the AirSea Battle Concept (ASBC) isn't really new.
[3]
image/jpeg iconA good early example of integrating sea and air forces
took place in the North Atlantic in 1943, when very-long-range B-24
Liberator aircraft began covering Allied convoys operating in the "air
gap" between Greenland and the limited radius of North America-based
patrol aircraft. Today's "salient question," the authors ask, is how
does such cooperation create efficiency and synergy? [4]
image/jpeg iconAn effective Army-Navy air-sea campaign also worked in
1944, supporting Navy and Marine Corps amphibious forces in their
invasion of targets around the Philippines. Here, infantry landing
craft hug the beach at Morotai to protect landing troops, as fires
rage farther ashore. Aircraft flying from this and other islands were
able to penetrate Japanese defenses. [5]
image/jpeg iconAdmiral Robert Willard, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command
(left), meets on 4 June with Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert
Sher (center) and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the Asia
Security Summit in Singapore. According to Admiral Willard, "Elements
of China's military modernization appear designed to challenge our
freedom of action in the region." This is one trend that demands a new
focus on the ASBC. [6]
image/jpeg iconThe Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says
ASBC proponents must determine "whether the concept would help to
restore and sustain a stable military balance in the Western Pacific."
Such regional stability was the order of the day on 7 May, when this
Air Force F-16 deployed to the Republic of Korea from Misawa Air Base,
Japan. [7]
image/jpeg iconOne of the highest-powered leaders to "put his imprint
on the concept" is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike
Mullen, who noted during his commencement and commissioning address at
the U.S. Air Force Academy this year that it "is a prime example of
how we need to keep breaking down stovepipes."
Source URL: http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedin ... -about-air...
Links:
[1] http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedin ... -about-air...
[2] http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2010-08
[3] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... D4D60B3613...
[4] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 34296A8A5B...
[5] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 742B994B0E...
[6] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 54D579A93D...
[7] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 143FEAC2C3...
[8] http://www.usni.org/sites/default/files ... 242839ABC2...
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
Barão do Rio Branco
Barão do Rio Branco
-
- Sênior
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
O NJ vai continuar por um tempo ainda.Carlos Mathias escreveu:Sim, eu já li que ele entende do riscado e é nacionalista.
Só há 2 tipos de navios: os submarinos e os alvos...
Armam-se homens com as melhores armas.
Armam-se Submarinos com os melhores homens.
Os sábios PENSAM
Os Inteligentes COPIAM
Os Idiotas PLANTAM e os
Os Imbecis FINANCIAM...
Armam-se homens com as melhores armas.
Armam-se Submarinos com os melhores homens.
Os sábios PENSAM
Os Inteligentes COPIAM
Os Idiotas PLANTAM e os
Os Imbecis FINANCIAM...
- Marino
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- Agradeceram: 630 vezes
Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
Este artigo eu deixo para o Walter comentar :
O papel dos submarinos nas operações conjuntas e combinadas
José Rodrigues Pedra[1]
As recentes acções desenvolvidas por piratas ao largo das águas da
Somália, numa importante área de confluência de rotas marítimas,
vieram relembrar duas questões essenciais na área da segurança e
defesa internacionais.
A primeira questão diz respeito ao carácter difuso e incerto das
ameaças no século XXI e ao seu impacto na ordem internacional. A
segunda questão realça o papel secular e primacial da segurança das
linhas de comunicação marítimas e a sua importância para o
desenvolvimento e bem-estar das sociedades. O corte mais ou menos
significativo das linhas de comunicação marítimas pode constituir um
sério problema internacional caso os Estados não possuam alternativas
credíveis para garantir a segurança dos fluxos de mercadorias
essenciais ao funcionamento das economias nacionais. No passado,
dominá-
-las era uma preocupação constante e primária de cada um dos
adversários, o que levou Napoleão a afirmar ser a guerra uma questão
de comunicações.
Um século após o Congresso de Viena [1] colocar um ponto final nas
ambições napoleónicas, as grandes potências europeias envolvidas na I
Guerra Mundial testemunharam mais uma vez a importância das linhas de
comunicação marítimas, porém, com uma nova variável na equação
operacional do conflito – o submarino. Com efeito, pela primeira vez
na história militar, o submarino assumia um papel decisivo nas
operações navais desenvolvidas pela potência hegemónica continental, a
Alemanha, que se empenhava a fundo em cortar as comunicações marítimas
do adversário. Desde então, como resultado óbvio das suas
características, capacidades fundamentais e princípios de emprego, o
submarino tem mantido a sua relevância operacional e estratégica nos
mais diferenciados teatros de operações e cenários do xadrez
internacional.
O impulso expedicionário
A percepção política e global de que “if we do not go to the crises,
the crises will come to us” (Till, 2004: 238) impôs a mobilização dos
Estados e da comunidade internacional no desenvolvimento de uma
segurança desterritorializada e projectável [2] como o demonstrou a
intervenção do ocidente no Afeganistão em 2001, tendo em vista
eliminar o apoio do regime Taliban à Al Qaeda.
Para além da dimensão política, também a dimensão geográfica foi
determinante no desenvolvimento do impulso expedicionário. Bastará
notar que cerca de 70% da população mundial vive dentro de um raio de
320 km a partir do mar e que aproximadamente 40% das cidades mundiais,
com uma população igual ou superior a 500.000 habitantes, se localizam
no litoral. A isto acresce o facto de uma parte importante dos
recursos energéticos e minerais circularem por via marítima, através
de estreitos e de pontos de confluência estratégicos cujo controlo
constitui, inevitavelmente, uma vantagem competitiva para aqueles que
estiverem em melhores condições para o exercer.
Deste modo, é incontornável que as marinhas de guerra assumam um papel
significativo no impulso expedicionário, não apenas pelas
características naturais dos litorais que exigem capacidade de
transporte pelo mar, mas também pela capacidade das forças navais
proporcionarem apoio às operações conduzidas em terra. O submarino,
elemento fundamental da estratégia e das operações navais, assume-se
como uma variável relevante na complexa equação das operações
expedicionárias e, consequentemente, nas operações conjuntas e
combinadas.
O papel dos submarinos nas operações conjuntas e combinadas
Características
Sem se ter a pretensão de descrever de modo exaustivo o elevado
potencial inerente à arma submarina, em particular, o seu efeito
dissuasor, evidenciam-se apenas cinco atributos, cuja relevância para
efeitos das operações conjuntas e combinadas, como de outras, é
significativa.
Discrição. A discrição é, porventura, a característica que confere ao
submarino a maior vantagem competitiva relativamente a outros sistemas
de armas. A discrição resulta não só da possibilidade do submarino se
manter em imersão, e por isso invisível, mas também do facto de ser um
meio que opera de forma silenciosa, tornando-se virtualmente
indetectável por meios passivos. Neste contexto, os submarinos
convencionais (não nucleares), com ou sem AIP [3], são a expressão
máxima dessa discrição.
Mobilidade. A manobra contribui para a exploração dos resultados, para
a conservação da liberdade de acção e para a redução das
vulnerabilidades. A mobilidade, sendo um elemento essencial do
potencial de combate, visa dispor uma força de forma tal que o
adversário fique colocado numa situação operacionalmente ou
tacticamente desvantajosa. No caso particular do submarino, a
mobilidade está directamente associada à sua velocidade, em particular
à velocidade em imersão e ao tempo durante o qual essa velocidade pode
ser sustentada.
Autonomia. Por autonomia entende-se a capacidade para operar no mar
sem apoios externos e, estão enganados aqueles que pensam que a
autonomia é apenas uma característica dos submarinos nucleares. Na
verdade, mesmo os modelos diesel-eléctricos mais antigos detêm uma
autonomia global (endurance) notável. Note-se o caso do submarino
argentino San Luis que, durante a Guerra das Malvinas, operando
isoladamente a 800 milhas do seu porto, se manteve no mar por mais de
30 dias nas vizinhanças da Task Force inglesa, condicionando
claramente o desenvolvimento das operações [4]. Para além da autonomia
global, atrás referida, é conveniente também relevar a autonomia em
imersão (submerged endurance), que confere ao submarino a capacidade
de se manter em paradeiro incerto por um período alargado de tempo,
virtualmente indetectável. Os submarinos convencionais diesel-
eléctricos, dotados de AIP, como é o caso da 5ª esquadrilha portuguesa
de submarinos da classe “Tridente”, constituem, a par dos submarinos
nucleares, uma expressão incontornável desta autonomia, podendo manter-
se em imersão profunda por períodos que vão para lá das duas semanas,
percorrendo, nesta condição, muitas centenas de milhas.
Flexibilidade de resposta. Os submarinos podem ter uma participação
determinante nas operações conjuntas e combinadas ao longo das
diferentes fases do espectro do conflito. Por exemplo, durante as
fases iniciais de uma crise (ou mesmo durante um conflito
generalizado), o submarino, dado o carácter furtivo que lhe é
conferido pela sua discrição e autonomia, pode conduzir operações de
recolha de informações ou lançar operações especiais em áreas muito
afastadas da sua base, virtualmente em qualquer parte do globo. Por
outro lado, o facto de existir a possibilidade de um submarino se
encontrar numa dada área marítima gera um efeito dissuasor tremendo
para as forças de superfície opositoras, coaginda-as e limitando-lhes
a iniciativa, isto é, negando-lhes parcialmente ou totalmente o uso do
mar.
A flexibilidade de resposta dos submarinos não é uma característica
que se identifica somente com o espectro da conflitualidade. De facto,
há exemplos que demonstram como é que os submarinos podem ser
empregues em operações de cariz não militar. No passado, o Canadá
empregou os seus submarinos do tipo “Oberon” na vigilância e na
recolha de informações relativas ao exercício ilegal da actividade
piscatória. A Colômbia e a África do Sul, por seu turno, têm usado os
seus submarinos para executar missões de surveillance no âmbito do
combate ao narcotráfico. Portugal tem empregue igualmente os seus
submarinos em acções de surveillance que visam percepcionar e
caracterizar eventuais alterações, não só das áreas de incidência, mas
também do modus operandi dos traficantes de droga na ZEE portuguesa.
Prontidão. Uma das potencialidades dos submarinos reside na sua
imediata disponibilidade para responder a contingências. Esta
característica assume contornos relevantes uma vez que o tempo é um
dos factores de decisão mais importantes na formulação e na
operacionalização das modalidade de acção. No actual quadro
securitário, a complexidade da conflitualidade favorece a rápida
transição de cenários de baixa intensidade para situações de crise e
de combate, o que impõe aos meios navais a capacidade de progressão
célere para uma postura mais combativa. Os submarinos, por serem um
sistema de armas compacto e muito integrado, com períodos de
aprontamento relativamente baixos quando comparados com outras
unidades navais, e por responderem rapidamente a qualquer crise sem
terem de esperar pela preparação do teatro de operações, pela
logística ou pela protecção de força, garantem uma elevada prontidão
na resposta às diferentes ameaças.
Capacidades fundamentais
Tendo em consideração as características já referenciadas e os
recursos operacionais e tecnológicos que hoje equipam os submarinos,
torna-se lícito deduzir que estas plataformas são proficientes num
conjunto específico de missões.
Uma das missões que o submarino conduz com perfeita mestria é a
recolha efectiva de informações, contribuindo decisivamente para as
operações de intelligence. Capacitados para monitorizar áreas de
diversa natureza [5] e recolher informações, essencialmente através de
fontes Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), que inclui Communication
Intelligence (COMINT), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) e Imagery
Intelligence (IMINT), os submarinos são indubitavelmente valiosos
porque suportam as funções chave da intelligence [6], contribuindo
decisivamente para desenvolver elementos essenciais à condução das
operações, nomeadamente no que se refere à disponibilidade de força, à
logística, à sobrevivência e à protecção de força.
O submarino é igualmente capaz de projectar poder que permita
influenciar os eventos em terra. Com efeito, as operações de
infiltração e de recolha furtiva de forças especiais nos litorais
podem ser executadas pelo submarino com um grau de sucesso
dificilmente igualável por qualquer outro meio. A projecção de poder
em terra também se pode materializar através do emprego de mísseis de
cruzeiro, ou outros, lançados a partir da plataforma móvel e
dificilmente detectável que é um submarino em imersão. Esta aptidão,
conjugada com a de outras unidades equipadas igualmente com esse tipo
de armas, confere ao comandante de uma força conjunta e combinada uma
capacidade de projecção de poder esmagadora contra os alvos terrestres
inimigos.
Por outro lado, as operações em terra a partir do litoral requerem
habitualmente uma acção conjugada de exploração e de controlo do mar.
Neste âmbito, os submarinos podem conduzir operações anti-superfície
com um nível muito baixo de risco próprio. Não menos relevante é a
circunstância dos submarinos também possuírem capacidade para conduzir
guerra de minas, ofensiva e defensiva, e para preparar a área de
operações através da localização e mapeamento das áreas minadas,
contribuindo deste modo para as operações de “shaping” e a inserção
das “follow-on-forces”.
Paralelamente, no que se refere à negação do uso do mar, o submarino
executa igualmente um conjunto de missões importantes orientadas tanto
para o nível estratégico, como para o nível operacional. Por exemplo,
os submarinos podem impor bloqueios e afectar a liberdade de
circulação nas linhas de comunicações marítimas, com inevitável
impacto nas economias dos países adversários. Ao nível operacional, a
negação do uso do mar pode ser exercida como parte da defesa avançada
de uma força ou de uma área.
Princípios de emprego
Percepcionadas as características e as capacidades dos submarinos,
torna-se possível determinar os princípios de optimização do seu
emprego, em quatro domínios distintos: operações autónomas, “shaping”
do teatro de operações, operações no litoral e exploração da surpresa
[7].
Operações autónomas. Não obstante a interoperabilidade crescente entre
os submarinos e as forças conjuntas e combinadas, em grande parte
devido ao desenvolvimento de tecnologia e de doutrina comum, os
submarinos continuam a ser ideais para missões que requeiram uma
actuação isolada e autónoma. Conjugando a sua discrição, mobilidade e
autonomia, o submarino possui uma grande capacidade de sobrevivência
em ambiente hostil, o que lhe permite capacidade de dissuasão e de
interdição do espaço do adversário, correndo menores riscos que outras
forças menos habilitadas para o efeito.
Operações de “Shaping”. Considerando as vantagens de pré-
posicionamento, de sobrevivência e de flexibilidade do submarino, o
comandante apoiado pode conduzir operações de recolha de informações,
ataques contra terra, guerra de minas, luta anti-superfície, bloqueios
a portos, de modo a moldar o campo de batalha e potenciar a
subsequente condução das operações. Após a chegada das “follow-on-
forces” à área de operações, o submarino pode ser empregue numa outra
área que requeira preparação do espaço de batalha ou ser empregue na
protecção da força apoiada.
Operações no litoral. As forças conjuntas e combinadas que operam num
litoral hostil deparam-se na actualidade com uma complexidade de
ameaças que podem abranger, entre outras, submarinos inimigos, minas,
mísseis guiados de elevada precisão provenientes de terra, do ar e do
mar, bem como ameaças menos convencionais, por exemplo, lanchas e
pequenos aviões controlados por terroristas. No planeamento
operacional e na avaliação do risco, o comandante da força apoiada tem
a possibilidade de explorar as diferentes características do
submarino, articulando-as com os requisitos funcionais das forças
conjuntas e combinadas, nomeadamente no âmbito da protecção de força,
intelligence e joint targeting.
Exploração da surpresa. O último princípio optimizado de emprego do
submarino é o da exploração da surpresa. A sua aplicação assenta no
factor tempo, impedindo a antecipação objectiva e concreta de uma
acção em curso, criando por esta via uma situação para a qual o
adversário não está em condições de reagir eficazmente. Para a
concretização da surpresa por parte do submarino contribuem, entre
outros factores, a sua discrição, a aplicação de um potencial de
combate inesperado e uma informação e contra-informação eficientes.
Conclusões
O conjunto dos contributos com que os submarinos podem concorrer para
as diferentes funções das forças conjuntas e combinadas, abrangendo
áreas tão diversas como a Intelligence, a Manobra e Fogo, o Joint
Targeting e a Protecção de Força, decorrem, na sua essência, de uma
adequada articulação entre as características singulares, as
capacidades fundamentais e os princípios de emprego dos submarinos.
Note-se que estes contributos são também hoje sobejamente aplicáveis
para além do domínio das operações militares, nomeadamente, no plano
do exercício da autoridade do Estado nas águas sob sua
responsabilidade jurisdicional, sendo cada vez mais reconhecida a
flexibilidade de resposta e a eficácia do submarino em acções de
cooperação inter-agência no âmbito da segurança e defesa.
O papel do submarino ao longo da sua existência, tal como transparece
da história militar e naval, revela claramente que este meio constitui
uma variável incontornável na edificação das análises prospectivas
sobre as operações militares e, mais importante, na afirmação soberana
dos Estados. Obviamente, não é alheia a esta questão a formulação do
planeamento de defesa e de forças, matéria bem complexa, por
contribuir para as aspirações fundamentais dos Estados, como tal,
sujeita ao rigor metodológico e científico que permite mitigar, tanto
quanto possível, as vitórias do imprevisto.
A formulação estratégica de defesa e de forças deverá considerar na
sua equação, entre outros factores, o ambiente estratégico e as
soluções possíveis e adequadas, em termos de meios, conceitos e
objectivos, necessárias para a consecução da visão política. O
submarino, na qualidade de meio operacional, proporciona neste
contexto um conjunto de capacidades que podem contribuir coerentemente
para o planeamento de defesa e de forças em apoio das funções
estratégicas, orientadas para a manutenção dos fins teleológicos do
Estado e consequentemente, para o estado final desejado por qualquer
potência com cultura estratégica-operacional.
Os submarinos, longe de serem o único meio para o sucesso das
operações conjuntas e combinadas, constituem-se, todavia, como uma
arma poderosa e essencial, dotada de características e capacidades
singulares, que proporcionam múltiplas opções ao comando apoiado em
termos das funções e das capacidades das forças conjuntas e combinadas
e consequentemente na execução da arte operacional.
******
Referências bibliográficas
BOOTH, Ken (2007). Theory of World Security. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
BUZAN et al. (1988). Security: a new framework for analysis. London:
Lynne Rienner Publishers.
BUZAN, WAEVER (2003). Regions and powers. The structure of
international security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CHAGAS, CALM EMQ António (1993). A importância dos submarinos nos
sistemas de forças de potências marítimas. Lisboa: Instituto superior
Naval de Guerra.
CORTESE, CDR Michael (2003). Gaining rapid access for the joint forces
are we ready?. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College.
HEZLET, VADM Sir Arthur (1967). The Submarine and Seapower. New York:
Stein and Day.
KELLY, LCDR Christopher (1998). The submarine force in joint
operations. Alabama: Air Command and Staff College.
LÉRIAS, CMG ECN Rui (2007). A componente submarina em operações de
controlo ou de interdição do uso do mar. Anais do Clube Militar Naval,
Jul-Set, p. 618-625.
MEIER, CDR T.W. (1997). The Joint Task force commander and operational
control of attack submarines. Newport, R.I: Naval War College.
OLIVEIRA, Hermes (1947). O submarino: e as comunicações marítimas.
Lisboa: [s.n.].
TILL, Geoffrey (2004). Seapower: a guide for the twenty-first century.
London: Frank Cass.
FERNANDES, António, BORGES, João (2005). Enquadramento conceptual. In
Pensar a Segurança e Defesa. Lisboa: Edições Cosmos.
RODRIGUES, VALM Alexandre (2000). Submarinos: para que servem. Revista
da Armada, nº 332, Jun, p. 6.
RODRIGUES, VALM Alexandre (2004). De novo os submarinos. Revista
Militar, nº 10, Out, p. 911-916.
SACCHETTI, António (1999). Os submarinos na defesa nacional. Diário de
Notícias, Dez, p. 21.
Documentos oficiais
NATO (2004). AJP-3.1: Allied joint maritime operations. Brussels:
NATO.
NATO (2006). AJP-3(A):Allied doctrine for joint operations.
Ratification Draft. Brussels: NATO.
---------------------------------------
[1] Decorreu entre Outubro de 1814 e Junho de 1815. Os termos da paz
tinham sido anteriormente estabelecidos em Maio de 1814 no Tratado de
Paris.
[2] Vide: BUZAN et al. (1988). Security: A new framework for analysis.
London: Lynne Rienner Publishers; BUZAN, WAEVER (2003). Regions and
powers. The structure of international security. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press; BOOTH (2007). Theory of world security. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[3] AIP – Air Independent Power; por vezes também usado para designar
Air Independent Propulsion.
[4] O submarino não é capaz de realizar todas as missões de uma
marinha mas pode negar ao adversário a capacidade de executar qualquer
missão no mar.
[5] O submarino convencional, dada a sua configuração física e a sua
discrição, está particularmente apto para o fazer em zonas litorais,
levando aqui vantagem sobre os submarinos nucleares, mais volumosos,
mais ruidosos e com impacte ambiental incomensurável em caso de
acidente.
[6] São consideradas funções chave da intelligence as seguintes:
indications and warnings (I&W), joint intelligence preparation of the
battlespace, support to targeting, battle damage assessment e force
protection. As funções chave da intelligence estão descritas em
detalhe nas publicações doutrinárias da NATO.
[7] Adaptado da monografia Employment of Fast Attack Submarines by the
Operational Commander, de Gordon Williams.
[1] Oficial de Marinha
O papel dos submarinos nas operações conjuntas e combinadas
José Rodrigues Pedra[1]
As recentes acções desenvolvidas por piratas ao largo das águas da
Somália, numa importante área de confluência de rotas marítimas,
vieram relembrar duas questões essenciais na área da segurança e
defesa internacionais.
A primeira questão diz respeito ao carácter difuso e incerto das
ameaças no século XXI e ao seu impacto na ordem internacional. A
segunda questão realça o papel secular e primacial da segurança das
linhas de comunicação marítimas e a sua importância para o
desenvolvimento e bem-estar das sociedades. O corte mais ou menos
significativo das linhas de comunicação marítimas pode constituir um
sério problema internacional caso os Estados não possuam alternativas
credíveis para garantir a segurança dos fluxos de mercadorias
essenciais ao funcionamento das economias nacionais. No passado,
dominá-
-las era uma preocupação constante e primária de cada um dos
adversários, o que levou Napoleão a afirmar ser a guerra uma questão
de comunicações.
Um século após o Congresso de Viena [1] colocar um ponto final nas
ambições napoleónicas, as grandes potências europeias envolvidas na I
Guerra Mundial testemunharam mais uma vez a importância das linhas de
comunicação marítimas, porém, com uma nova variável na equação
operacional do conflito – o submarino. Com efeito, pela primeira vez
na história militar, o submarino assumia um papel decisivo nas
operações navais desenvolvidas pela potência hegemónica continental, a
Alemanha, que se empenhava a fundo em cortar as comunicações marítimas
do adversário. Desde então, como resultado óbvio das suas
características, capacidades fundamentais e princípios de emprego, o
submarino tem mantido a sua relevância operacional e estratégica nos
mais diferenciados teatros de operações e cenários do xadrez
internacional.
O impulso expedicionário
A percepção política e global de que “if we do not go to the crises,
the crises will come to us” (Till, 2004: 238) impôs a mobilização dos
Estados e da comunidade internacional no desenvolvimento de uma
segurança desterritorializada e projectável [2] como o demonstrou a
intervenção do ocidente no Afeganistão em 2001, tendo em vista
eliminar o apoio do regime Taliban à Al Qaeda.
Para além da dimensão política, também a dimensão geográfica foi
determinante no desenvolvimento do impulso expedicionário. Bastará
notar que cerca de 70% da população mundial vive dentro de um raio de
320 km a partir do mar e que aproximadamente 40% das cidades mundiais,
com uma população igual ou superior a 500.000 habitantes, se localizam
no litoral. A isto acresce o facto de uma parte importante dos
recursos energéticos e minerais circularem por via marítima, através
de estreitos e de pontos de confluência estratégicos cujo controlo
constitui, inevitavelmente, uma vantagem competitiva para aqueles que
estiverem em melhores condições para o exercer.
Deste modo, é incontornável que as marinhas de guerra assumam um papel
significativo no impulso expedicionário, não apenas pelas
características naturais dos litorais que exigem capacidade de
transporte pelo mar, mas também pela capacidade das forças navais
proporcionarem apoio às operações conduzidas em terra. O submarino,
elemento fundamental da estratégia e das operações navais, assume-se
como uma variável relevante na complexa equação das operações
expedicionárias e, consequentemente, nas operações conjuntas e
combinadas.
O papel dos submarinos nas operações conjuntas e combinadas
Características
Sem se ter a pretensão de descrever de modo exaustivo o elevado
potencial inerente à arma submarina, em particular, o seu efeito
dissuasor, evidenciam-se apenas cinco atributos, cuja relevância para
efeitos das operações conjuntas e combinadas, como de outras, é
significativa.
Discrição. A discrição é, porventura, a característica que confere ao
submarino a maior vantagem competitiva relativamente a outros sistemas
de armas. A discrição resulta não só da possibilidade do submarino se
manter em imersão, e por isso invisível, mas também do facto de ser um
meio que opera de forma silenciosa, tornando-se virtualmente
indetectável por meios passivos. Neste contexto, os submarinos
convencionais (não nucleares), com ou sem AIP [3], são a expressão
máxima dessa discrição.
Mobilidade. A manobra contribui para a exploração dos resultados, para
a conservação da liberdade de acção e para a redução das
vulnerabilidades. A mobilidade, sendo um elemento essencial do
potencial de combate, visa dispor uma força de forma tal que o
adversário fique colocado numa situação operacionalmente ou
tacticamente desvantajosa. No caso particular do submarino, a
mobilidade está directamente associada à sua velocidade, em particular
à velocidade em imersão e ao tempo durante o qual essa velocidade pode
ser sustentada.
Autonomia. Por autonomia entende-se a capacidade para operar no mar
sem apoios externos e, estão enganados aqueles que pensam que a
autonomia é apenas uma característica dos submarinos nucleares. Na
verdade, mesmo os modelos diesel-eléctricos mais antigos detêm uma
autonomia global (endurance) notável. Note-se o caso do submarino
argentino San Luis que, durante a Guerra das Malvinas, operando
isoladamente a 800 milhas do seu porto, se manteve no mar por mais de
30 dias nas vizinhanças da Task Force inglesa, condicionando
claramente o desenvolvimento das operações [4]. Para além da autonomia
global, atrás referida, é conveniente também relevar a autonomia em
imersão (submerged endurance), que confere ao submarino a capacidade
de se manter em paradeiro incerto por um período alargado de tempo,
virtualmente indetectável. Os submarinos convencionais diesel-
eléctricos, dotados de AIP, como é o caso da 5ª esquadrilha portuguesa
de submarinos da classe “Tridente”, constituem, a par dos submarinos
nucleares, uma expressão incontornável desta autonomia, podendo manter-
se em imersão profunda por períodos que vão para lá das duas semanas,
percorrendo, nesta condição, muitas centenas de milhas.
Flexibilidade de resposta. Os submarinos podem ter uma participação
determinante nas operações conjuntas e combinadas ao longo das
diferentes fases do espectro do conflito. Por exemplo, durante as
fases iniciais de uma crise (ou mesmo durante um conflito
generalizado), o submarino, dado o carácter furtivo que lhe é
conferido pela sua discrição e autonomia, pode conduzir operações de
recolha de informações ou lançar operações especiais em áreas muito
afastadas da sua base, virtualmente em qualquer parte do globo. Por
outro lado, o facto de existir a possibilidade de um submarino se
encontrar numa dada área marítima gera um efeito dissuasor tremendo
para as forças de superfície opositoras, coaginda-as e limitando-lhes
a iniciativa, isto é, negando-lhes parcialmente ou totalmente o uso do
mar.
A flexibilidade de resposta dos submarinos não é uma característica
que se identifica somente com o espectro da conflitualidade. De facto,
há exemplos que demonstram como é que os submarinos podem ser
empregues em operações de cariz não militar. No passado, o Canadá
empregou os seus submarinos do tipo “Oberon” na vigilância e na
recolha de informações relativas ao exercício ilegal da actividade
piscatória. A Colômbia e a África do Sul, por seu turno, têm usado os
seus submarinos para executar missões de surveillance no âmbito do
combate ao narcotráfico. Portugal tem empregue igualmente os seus
submarinos em acções de surveillance que visam percepcionar e
caracterizar eventuais alterações, não só das áreas de incidência, mas
também do modus operandi dos traficantes de droga na ZEE portuguesa.
Prontidão. Uma das potencialidades dos submarinos reside na sua
imediata disponibilidade para responder a contingências. Esta
característica assume contornos relevantes uma vez que o tempo é um
dos factores de decisão mais importantes na formulação e na
operacionalização das modalidade de acção. No actual quadro
securitário, a complexidade da conflitualidade favorece a rápida
transição de cenários de baixa intensidade para situações de crise e
de combate, o que impõe aos meios navais a capacidade de progressão
célere para uma postura mais combativa. Os submarinos, por serem um
sistema de armas compacto e muito integrado, com períodos de
aprontamento relativamente baixos quando comparados com outras
unidades navais, e por responderem rapidamente a qualquer crise sem
terem de esperar pela preparação do teatro de operações, pela
logística ou pela protecção de força, garantem uma elevada prontidão
na resposta às diferentes ameaças.
Capacidades fundamentais
Tendo em consideração as características já referenciadas e os
recursos operacionais e tecnológicos que hoje equipam os submarinos,
torna-se lícito deduzir que estas plataformas são proficientes num
conjunto específico de missões.
Uma das missões que o submarino conduz com perfeita mestria é a
recolha efectiva de informações, contribuindo decisivamente para as
operações de intelligence. Capacitados para monitorizar áreas de
diversa natureza [5] e recolher informações, essencialmente através de
fontes Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), que inclui Communication
Intelligence (COMINT), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) e Imagery
Intelligence (IMINT), os submarinos são indubitavelmente valiosos
porque suportam as funções chave da intelligence [6], contribuindo
decisivamente para desenvolver elementos essenciais à condução das
operações, nomeadamente no que se refere à disponibilidade de força, à
logística, à sobrevivência e à protecção de força.
O submarino é igualmente capaz de projectar poder que permita
influenciar os eventos em terra. Com efeito, as operações de
infiltração e de recolha furtiva de forças especiais nos litorais
podem ser executadas pelo submarino com um grau de sucesso
dificilmente igualável por qualquer outro meio. A projecção de poder
em terra também se pode materializar através do emprego de mísseis de
cruzeiro, ou outros, lançados a partir da plataforma móvel e
dificilmente detectável que é um submarino em imersão. Esta aptidão,
conjugada com a de outras unidades equipadas igualmente com esse tipo
de armas, confere ao comandante de uma força conjunta e combinada uma
capacidade de projecção de poder esmagadora contra os alvos terrestres
inimigos.
Por outro lado, as operações em terra a partir do litoral requerem
habitualmente uma acção conjugada de exploração e de controlo do mar.
Neste âmbito, os submarinos podem conduzir operações anti-superfície
com um nível muito baixo de risco próprio. Não menos relevante é a
circunstância dos submarinos também possuírem capacidade para conduzir
guerra de minas, ofensiva e defensiva, e para preparar a área de
operações através da localização e mapeamento das áreas minadas,
contribuindo deste modo para as operações de “shaping” e a inserção
das “follow-on-forces”.
Paralelamente, no que se refere à negação do uso do mar, o submarino
executa igualmente um conjunto de missões importantes orientadas tanto
para o nível estratégico, como para o nível operacional. Por exemplo,
os submarinos podem impor bloqueios e afectar a liberdade de
circulação nas linhas de comunicações marítimas, com inevitável
impacto nas economias dos países adversários. Ao nível operacional, a
negação do uso do mar pode ser exercida como parte da defesa avançada
de uma força ou de uma área.
Princípios de emprego
Percepcionadas as características e as capacidades dos submarinos,
torna-se possível determinar os princípios de optimização do seu
emprego, em quatro domínios distintos: operações autónomas, “shaping”
do teatro de operações, operações no litoral e exploração da surpresa
[7].
Operações autónomas. Não obstante a interoperabilidade crescente entre
os submarinos e as forças conjuntas e combinadas, em grande parte
devido ao desenvolvimento de tecnologia e de doutrina comum, os
submarinos continuam a ser ideais para missões que requeiram uma
actuação isolada e autónoma. Conjugando a sua discrição, mobilidade e
autonomia, o submarino possui uma grande capacidade de sobrevivência
em ambiente hostil, o que lhe permite capacidade de dissuasão e de
interdição do espaço do adversário, correndo menores riscos que outras
forças menos habilitadas para o efeito.
Operações de “Shaping”. Considerando as vantagens de pré-
posicionamento, de sobrevivência e de flexibilidade do submarino, o
comandante apoiado pode conduzir operações de recolha de informações,
ataques contra terra, guerra de minas, luta anti-superfície, bloqueios
a portos, de modo a moldar o campo de batalha e potenciar a
subsequente condução das operações. Após a chegada das “follow-on-
forces” à área de operações, o submarino pode ser empregue numa outra
área que requeira preparação do espaço de batalha ou ser empregue na
protecção da força apoiada.
Operações no litoral. As forças conjuntas e combinadas que operam num
litoral hostil deparam-se na actualidade com uma complexidade de
ameaças que podem abranger, entre outras, submarinos inimigos, minas,
mísseis guiados de elevada precisão provenientes de terra, do ar e do
mar, bem como ameaças menos convencionais, por exemplo, lanchas e
pequenos aviões controlados por terroristas. No planeamento
operacional e na avaliação do risco, o comandante da força apoiada tem
a possibilidade de explorar as diferentes características do
submarino, articulando-as com os requisitos funcionais das forças
conjuntas e combinadas, nomeadamente no âmbito da protecção de força,
intelligence e joint targeting.
Exploração da surpresa. O último princípio optimizado de emprego do
submarino é o da exploração da surpresa. A sua aplicação assenta no
factor tempo, impedindo a antecipação objectiva e concreta de uma
acção em curso, criando por esta via uma situação para a qual o
adversário não está em condições de reagir eficazmente. Para a
concretização da surpresa por parte do submarino contribuem, entre
outros factores, a sua discrição, a aplicação de um potencial de
combate inesperado e uma informação e contra-informação eficientes.
Conclusões
O conjunto dos contributos com que os submarinos podem concorrer para
as diferentes funções das forças conjuntas e combinadas, abrangendo
áreas tão diversas como a Intelligence, a Manobra e Fogo, o Joint
Targeting e a Protecção de Força, decorrem, na sua essência, de uma
adequada articulação entre as características singulares, as
capacidades fundamentais e os princípios de emprego dos submarinos.
Note-se que estes contributos são também hoje sobejamente aplicáveis
para além do domínio das operações militares, nomeadamente, no plano
do exercício da autoridade do Estado nas águas sob sua
responsabilidade jurisdicional, sendo cada vez mais reconhecida a
flexibilidade de resposta e a eficácia do submarino em acções de
cooperação inter-agência no âmbito da segurança e defesa.
O papel do submarino ao longo da sua existência, tal como transparece
da história militar e naval, revela claramente que este meio constitui
uma variável incontornável na edificação das análises prospectivas
sobre as operações militares e, mais importante, na afirmação soberana
dos Estados. Obviamente, não é alheia a esta questão a formulação do
planeamento de defesa e de forças, matéria bem complexa, por
contribuir para as aspirações fundamentais dos Estados, como tal,
sujeita ao rigor metodológico e científico que permite mitigar, tanto
quanto possível, as vitórias do imprevisto.
A formulação estratégica de defesa e de forças deverá considerar na
sua equação, entre outros factores, o ambiente estratégico e as
soluções possíveis e adequadas, em termos de meios, conceitos e
objectivos, necessárias para a consecução da visão política. O
submarino, na qualidade de meio operacional, proporciona neste
contexto um conjunto de capacidades que podem contribuir coerentemente
para o planeamento de defesa e de forças em apoio das funções
estratégicas, orientadas para a manutenção dos fins teleológicos do
Estado e consequentemente, para o estado final desejado por qualquer
potência com cultura estratégica-operacional.
Os submarinos, longe de serem o único meio para o sucesso das
operações conjuntas e combinadas, constituem-se, todavia, como uma
arma poderosa e essencial, dotada de características e capacidades
singulares, que proporcionam múltiplas opções ao comando apoiado em
termos das funções e das capacidades das forças conjuntas e combinadas
e consequentemente na execução da arte operacional.
******
Referências bibliográficas
BOOTH, Ken (2007). Theory of World Security. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
BUZAN et al. (1988). Security: a new framework for analysis. London:
Lynne Rienner Publishers.
BUZAN, WAEVER (2003). Regions and powers. The structure of
international security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CHAGAS, CALM EMQ António (1993). A importância dos submarinos nos
sistemas de forças de potências marítimas. Lisboa: Instituto superior
Naval de Guerra.
CORTESE, CDR Michael (2003). Gaining rapid access for the joint forces
are we ready?. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College.
HEZLET, VADM Sir Arthur (1967). The Submarine and Seapower. New York:
Stein and Day.
KELLY, LCDR Christopher (1998). The submarine force in joint
operations. Alabama: Air Command and Staff College.
LÉRIAS, CMG ECN Rui (2007). A componente submarina em operações de
controlo ou de interdição do uso do mar. Anais do Clube Militar Naval,
Jul-Set, p. 618-625.
MEIER, CDR T.W. (1997). The Joint Task force commander and operational
control of attack submarines. Newport, R.I: Naval War College.
OLIVEIRA, Hermes (1947). O submarino: e as comunicações marítimas.
Lisboa: [s.n.].
TILL, Geoffrey (2004). Seapower: a guide for the twenty-first century.
London: Frank Cass.
FERNANDES, António, BORGES, João (2005). Enquadramento conceptual. In
Pensar a Segurança e Defesa. Lisboa: Edições Cosmos.
RODRIGUES, VALM Alexandre (2000). Submarinos: para que servem. Revista
da Armada, nº 332, Jun, p. 6.
RODRIGUES, VALM Alexandre (2004). De novo os submarinos. Revista
Militar, nº 10, Out, p. 911-916.
SACCHETTI, António (1999). Os submarinos na defesa nacional. Diário de
Notícias, Dez, p. 21.
Documentos oficiais
NATO (2004). AJP-3.1: Allied joint maritime operations. Brussels:
NATO.
NATO (2006). AJP-3(A):Allied doctrine for joint operations.
Ratification Draft. Brussels: NATO.
---------------------------------------
[1] Decorreu entre Outubro de 1814 e Junho de 1815. Os termos da paz
tinham sido anteriormente estabelecidos em Maio de 1814 no Tratado de
Paris.
[2] Vide: BUZAN et al. (1988). Security: A new framework for analysis.
London: Lynne Rienner Publishers; BUZAN, WAEVER (2003). Regions and
powers. The structure of international security. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press; BOOTH (2007). Theory of world security. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[3] AIP – Air Independent Power; por vezes também usado para designar
Air Independent Propulsion.
[4] O submarino não é capaz de realizar todas as missões de uma
marinha mas pode negar ao adversário a capacidade de executar qualquer
missão no mar.
[5] O submarino convencional, dada a sua configuração física e a sua
discrição, está particularmente apto para o fazer em zonas litorais,
levando aqui vantagem sobre os submarinos nucleares, mais volumosos,
mais ruidosos e com impacte ambiental incomensurável em caso de
acidente.
[6] São consideradas funções chave da intelligence as seguintes:
indications and warnings (I&W), joint intelligence preparation of the
battlespace, support to targeting, battle damage assessment e force
protection. As funções chave da intelligence estão descritas em
detalhe nas publicações doutrinárias da NATO.
[7] Adaptado da monografia Employment of Fast Attack Submarines by the
Operational Commander, de Gordon Williams.
[1] Oficial de Marinha
"A reconquista da soberania perdida não restabelece o status quo."
Barão do Rio Branco
Barão do Rio Branco
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Re: ESTRATÉGIA NAVAL
Muito bom o artigo, e note-se que o autor teve o bom senso de falar sobre o longo alcance dos submarinos convencionais. esclarecendo a grande confusão sempre existente neste ponto.Marino escreveu:Este artigo eu deixo para o Walter comentar :
O papel dos submarinos nas operações conjuntas e combinadas
José Rodrigues Pedra[1]
As recentes acções desenvolvidas por piratas ao largo das águas da
Somália, numa importante área de confluência de rotas marítimas,
vieram relembrar duas questões essenciais na área da segurança e
defesa internacionais.
A primeira questão diz respeito ao carácter difuso e incerto das
ameaças no século XXI e ao seu impacto na ordem internacional. A
segunda questão realça o papel secular e primacial da segurança das
linhas de comunicação marítimas e a sua importância para o
desenvolvimento e bem-estar das sociedades. O corte mais ou menos
significativo das linhas de comunicação marítimas pode constituir um
sério problema internacional caso os Estados não possuam alternativas
credíveis para garantir a segurança dos fluxos de mercadorias
essenciais ao funcionamento das economias nacionais. No passado,
dominá-
-las era uma preocupação constante e primária de cada um dos
adversários, o que levou Napoleão a afirmar ser a guerra uma questão
de comunicações.
Um século após o Congresso de Viena [1] colocar um ponto final nas
ambições napoleónicas, as grandes potências europeias envolvidas na I
Guerra Mundial testemunharam mais uma vez a importância das linhas de
comunicação marítimas, porém, com uma nova variável na equação
operacional do conflito – o submarino. Com efeito, pela primeira vez
na história militar, o submarino assumia um papel decisivo nas
operações navais desenvolvidas pela potência hegemónica continental, a
Alemanha, que se empenhava a fundo em cortar as comunicações marítimas
do adversário. Desde então, como resultado óbvio das suas
características, capacidades fundamentais e princípios de emprego, o
submarino tem mantido a sua relevância operacional e estratégica nos
mais diferenciados teatros de operações e cenários do xadrez
internacional.
O impulso expedicionário
A percepção política e global de que “if we do not go to the crises,
the crises will come to us” (Till, 2004: 238) impôs a mobilização dos
Estados e da comunidade internacional no desenvolvimento de uma
segurança desterritorializada e projectável [2] como o demonstrou a
intervenção do ocidente no Afeganistão em 2001, tendo em vista
eliminar o apoio do regime Taliban à Al Qaeda.
Para além da dimensão política, também a dimensão geográfica foi
determinante no desenvolvimento do impulso expedicionário. Bastará
notar que cerca de 70% da população mundial vive dentro de um raio de
320 km a partir do mar e que aproximadamente 40% das cidades mundiais,
com uma população igual ou superior a 500.000 habitantes, se localizam
no litoral. A isto acresce o facto de uma parte importante dos
recursos energéticos e minerais circularem por via marítima, através
de estreitos e de pontos de confluência estratégicos cujo controlo
constitui, inevitavelmente, uma vantagem competitiva para aqueles que
estiverem em melhores condições para o exercer.
Deste modo, é incontornável que as marinhas de guerra assumam um papel
significativo no impulso expedicionário, não apenas pelas
características naturais dos litorais que exigem capacidade de
transporte pelo mar, mas também pela capacidade das forças navais
proporcionarem apoio às operações conduzidas em terra. O submarino,
elemento fundamental da estratégia e das operações navais, assume-se
como uma variável relevante na complexa equação das operações
expedicionárias e, consequentemente, nas operações conjuntas e
combinadas.
O papel dos submarinos nas operações conjuntas e combinadas
Características
Sem se ter a pretensão de descrever de modo exaustivo o elevado
potencial inerente à arma submarina, em particular, o seu efeito
dissuasor, evidenciam-se apenas cinco atributos, cuja relevância para
efeitos das operações conjuntas e combinadas, como de outras, é
significativa.
Discrição. A discrição é, porventura, a característica que confere ao
submarino a maior vantagem competitiva relativamente a outros sistemas
de armas. A discrição resulta não só da possibilidade do submarino se
manter em imersão, e por isso invisível, mas também do facto de ser um
meio que opera de forma silenciosa, tornando-se virtualmente
indetectável por meios passivos. Neste contexto, os submarinos
convencionais (não nucleares), com ou sem AIP [3], são a expressão
máxima dessa discrição.
Mobilidade. A manobra contribui para a exploração dos resultados, para
a conservação da liberdade de acção e para a redução das
vulnerabilidades. A mobilidade, sendo um elemento essencial do
potencial de combate, visa dispor uma força de forma tal que o
adversário fique colocado numa situação operacionalmente ou
tacticamente desvantajosa. No caso particular do submarino, a
mobilidade está directamente associada à sua velocidade, em particular
à velocidade em imersão e ao tempo durante o qual essa velocidade pode
ser sustentada.
Autonomia. Por autonomia entende-se a capacidade para operar no mar
sem apoios externos e, estão enganados aqueles que pensam que a
autonomia é apenas uma característica dos submarinos nucleares. Na
verdade, mesmo os modelos diesel-eléctricos mais antigos detêm uma
autonomia global (endurance) notável. Note-se o caso do submarino
argentino San Luis que, durante a Guerra das Malvinas, operando
isoladamente a 800 milhas do seu porto, se manteve no mar por mais de
30 dias nas vizinhanças da Task Force inglesa, condicionando
claramente o desenvolvimento das operações [4]. Para além da autonomia
global, atrás referida, é conveniente também relevar a autonomia em
imersão (submerged endurance), que confere ao submarino a capacidade
de se manter em paradeiro incerto por um período alargado de tempo,
virtualmente indetectável. Os submarinos convencionais diesel-
eléctricos, dotados de AIP, como é o caso da 5ª esquadrilha portuguesa
de submarinos da classe “Tridente”, constituem, a par dos submarinos
nucleares, uma expressão incontornável desta autonomia, podendo manter-
se em imersão profunda por períodos que vão para lá das duas semanas,
percorrendo, nesta condição, muitas centenas de milhas.
Flexibilidade de resposta. Os submarinos podem ter uma participação
determinante nas operações conjuntas e combinadas ao longo das
diferentes fases do espectro do conflito. Por exemplo, durante as
fases iniciais de uma crise (ou mesmo durante um conflito
generalizado), o submarino, dado o carácter furtivo que lhe é
conferido pela sua discrição e autonomia, pode conduzir operações de
recolha de informações ou lançar operações especiais em áreas muito
afastadas da sua base, virtualmente em qualquer parte do globo. Por
outro lado, o facto de existir a possibilidade de um submarino se
encontrar numa dada área marítima gera um efeito dissuasor tremendo
para as forças de superfície opositoras, coaginda-as e limitando-lhes
a iniciativa, isto é, negando-lhes parcialmente ou totalmente o uso do
mar.
A flexibilidade de resposta dos submarinos não é uma característica
que se identifica somente com o espectro da conflitualidade. De facto,
há exemplos que demonstram como é que os submarinos podem ser
empregues em operações de cariz não militar. No passado, o Canadá
empregou os seus submarinos do tipo “Oberon” na vigilância e na
recolha de informações relativas ao exercício ilegal da actividade
piscatória. A Colômbia e a África do Sul, por seu turno, têm usado os
seus submarinos para executar missões de surveillance no âmbito do
combate ao narcotráfico. Portugal tem empregue igualmente os seus
submarinos em acções de surveillance que visam percepcionar e
caracterizar eventuais alterações, não só das áreas de incidência, mas
também do modus operandi dos traficantes de droga na ZEE portuguesa.
Prontidão. Uma das potencialidades dos submarinos reside na sua
imediata disponibilidade para responder a contingências. Esta
característica assume contornos relevantes uma vez que o tempo é um
dos factores de decisão mais importantes na formulação e na
operacionalização das modalidade de acção. No actual quadro
securitário, a complexidade da conflitualidade favorece a rápida
transição de cenários de baixa intensidade para situações de crise e
de combate, o que impõe aos meios navais a capacidade de progressão
célere para uma postura mais combativa. Os submarinos, por serem um
sistema de armas compacto e muito integrado, com períodos de
aprontamento relativamente baixos quando comparados com outras
unidades navais, e por responderem rapidamente a qualquer crise sem
terem de esperar pela preparação do teatro de operações, pela
logística ou pela protecção de força, garantem uma elevada prontidão
na resposta às diferentes ameaças.
Capacidades fundamentais
Tendo em consideração as características já referenciadas e os
recursos operacionais e tecnológicos que hoje equipam os submarinos,
torna-se lícito deduzir que estas plataformas são proficientes num
conjunto específico de missões.
Uma das missões que o submarino conduz com perfeita mestria é a
recolha efectiva de informações, contribuindo decisivamente para as
operações de intelligence. Capacitados para monitorizar áreas de
diversa natureza [5] e recolher informações, essencialmente através de
fontes Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), que inclui Communication
Intelligence (COMINT), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) e Imagery
Intelligence (IMINT), os submarinos são indubitavelmente valiosos
porque suportam as funções chave da intelligence [6], contribuindo
decisivamente para desenvolver elementos essenciais à condução das
operações, nomeadamente no que se refere à disponibilidade de força, à
logística, à sobrevivência e à protecção de força.
O submarino é igualmente capaz de projectar poder que permita
influenciar os eventos em terra. Com efeito, as operações de
infiltração e de recolha furtiva de forças especiais nos litorais
podem ser executadas pelo submarino com um grau de sucesso
dificilmente igualável por qualquer outro meio. A projecção de poder
em terra também se pode materializar através do emprego de mísseis de
cruzeiro, ou outros, lançados a partir da plataforma móvel e
dificilmente detectável que é um submarino em imersão. Esta aptidão,
conjugada com a de outras unidades equipadas igualmente com esse tipo
de armas, confere ao comandante de uma força conjunta e combinada uma
capacidade de projecção de poder esmagadora contra os alvos terrestres
inimigos.
Por outro lado, as operações em terra a partir do litoral requerem
habitualmente uma acção conjugada de exploração e de controlo do mar.
Neste âmbito, os submarinos podem conduzir operações anti-superfície
com um nível muito baixo de risco próprio. Não menos relevante é a
circunstância dos submarinos também possuírem capacidade para conduzir
guerra de minas, ofensiva e defensiva, e para preparar a área de
operações através da localização e mapeamento das áreas minadas,
contribuindo deste modo para as operações de “shaping” e a inserção
das “follow-on-forces”.
Paralelamente, no que se refere à negação do uso do mar, o submarino
executa igualmente um conjunto de missões importantes orientadas tanto
para o nível estratégico, como para o nível operacional. Por exemplo,
os submarinos podem impor bloqueios e afectar a liberdade de
circulação nas linhas de comunicações marítimas, com inevitável
impacto nas economias dos países adversários. Ao nível operacional, a
negação do uso do mar pode ser exercida como parte da defesa avançada
de uma força ou de uma área.
Princípios de emprego
Percepcionadas as características e as capacidades dos submarinos,
torna-se possível determinar os princípios de optimização do seu
emprego, em quatro domínios distintos: operações autónomas, “shaping”
do teatro de operações, operações no litoral e exploração da surpresa
[7].
Operações autónomas. Não obstante a interoperabilidade crescente entre
os submarinos e as forças conjuntas e combinadas, em grande parte
devido ao desenvolvimento de tecnologia e de doutrina comum, os
submarinos continuam a ser ideais para missões que requeiram uma
actuação isolada e autónoma. Conjugando a sua discrição, mobilidade e
autonomia, o submarino possui uma grande capacidade de sobrevivência
em ambiente hostil, o que lhe permite capacidade de dissuasão e de
interdição do espaço do adversário, correndo menores riscos que outras
forças menos habilitadas para o efeito.
Operações de “Shaping”. Considerando as vantagens de pré-
posicionamento, de sobrevivência e de flexibilidade do submarino, o
comandante apoiado pode conduzir operações de recolha de informações,
ataques contra terra, guerra de minas, luta anti-superfície, bloqueios
a portos, de modo a moldar o campo de batalha e potenciar a
subsequente condução das operações. Após a chegada das “follow-on-
forces” à área de operações, o submarino pode ser empregue numa outra
área que requeira preparação do espaço de batalha ou ser empregue na
protecção da força apoiada.
Operações no litoral. As forças conjuntas e combinadas que operam num
litoral hostil deparam-se na actualidade com uma complexidade de
ameaças que podem abranger, entre outras, submarinos inimigos, minas,
mísseis guiados de elevada precisão provenientes de terra, do ar e do
mar, bem como ameaças menos convencionais, por exemplo, lanchas e
pequenos aviões controlados por terroristas. No planeamento
operacional e na avaliação do risco, o comandante da força apoiada tem
a possibilidade de explorar as diferentes características do
submarino, articulando-as com os requisitos funcionais das forças
conjuntas e combinadas, nomeadamente no âmbito da protecção de força,
intelligence e joint targeting.
Exploração da surpresa. O último princípio optimizado de emprego do
submarino é o da exploração da surpresa. A sua aplicação assenta no
factor tempo, impedindo a antecipação objectiva e concreta de uma
acção em curso, criando por esta via uma situação para a qual o
adversário não está em condições de reagir eficazmente. Para a
concretização da surpresa por parte do submarino contribuem, entre
outros factores, a sua discrição, a aplicação de um potencial de
combate inesperado e uma informação e contra-informação eficientes.
Conclusões
O conjunto dos contributos com que os submarinos podem concorrer para
as diferentes funções das forças conjuntas e combinadas, abrangendo
áreas tão diversas como a Intelligence, a Manobra e Fogo, o Joint
Targeting e a Protecção de Força, decorrem, na sua essência, de uma
adequada articulação entre as características singulares, as
capacidades fundamentais e os princípios de emprego dos submarinos.
Note-se que estes contributos são também hoje sobejamente aplicáveis
para além do domínio das operações militares, nomeadamente, no plano
do exercício da autoridade do Estado nas águas sob sua
responsabilidade jurisdicional, sendo cada vez mais reconhecida a
flexibilidade de resposta e a eficácia do submarino em acções de
cooperação inter-agência no âmbito da segurança e defesa.
O papel do submarino ao longo da sua existência, tal como transparece
da história militar e naval, revela claramente que este meio constitui
uma variável incontornável na edificação das análises prospectivas
sobre as operações militares e, mais importante, na afirmação soberana
dos Estados. Obviamente, não é alheia a esta questão a formulação do
planeamento de defesa e de forças, matéria bem complexa, por
contribuir para as aspirações fundamentais dos Estados, como tal,
sujeita ao rigor metodológico e científico que permite mitigar, tanto
quanto possível, as vitórias do imprevisto.
A formulação estratégica de defesa e de forças deverá considerar na
sua equação, entre outros factores, o ambiente estratégico e as
soluções possíveis e adequadas, em termos de meios, conceitos e
objectivos, necessárias para a consecução da visão política. O
submarino, na qualidade de meio operacional, proporciona neste
contexto um conjunto de capacidades que podem contribuir coerentemente
para o planeamento de defesa e de forças em apoio das funções
estratégicas, orientadas para a manutenção dos fins teleológicos do
Estado e consequentemente, para o estado final desejado por qualquer
potência com cultura estratégica-operacional.
Os submarinos, longe de serem o único meio para o sucesso das
operações conjuntas e combinadas, constituem-se, todavia, como uma
arma poderosa e essencial, dotada de características e capacidades
singulares, que proporcionam múltiplas opções ao comando apoiado em
termos das funções e das capacidades das forças conjuntas e combinadas
e consequentemente na execução da arte operacional.
******
Referências bibliográficas
BOOTH, Ken (2007). Theory of World Security. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
BUZAN et al. (1988). Security: a new framework for analysis. London:
Lynne Rienner Publishers.
BUZAN, WAEVER (2003). Regions and powers. The structure of
international security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CHAGAS, CALM EMQ António (1993). A importância dos submarinos nos
sistemas de forças de potências marítimas. Lisboa: Instituto superior
Naval de Guerra.
CORTESE, CDR Michael (2003). Gaining rapid access for the joint forces
are we ready?. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College.
HEZLET, VADM Sir Arthur (1967). The Submarine and Seapower. New York:
Stein and Day.
KELLY, LCDR Christopher (1998). The submarine force in joint
operations. Alabama: Air Command and Staff College.
LÉRIAS, CMG ECN Rui (2007). A componente submarina em operações de
controlo ou de interdição do uso do mar. Anais do Clube Militar Naval,
Jul-Set, p. 618-625.
MEIER, CDR T.W. (1997). The Joint Task force commander and operational
control of attack submarines. Newport, R.I: Naval War College.
OLIVEIRA, Hermes (1947). O submarino: e as comunicações marítimas.
Lisboa: [s.n.].
TILL, Geoffrey (2004). Seapower: a guide for the twenty-first century.
London: Frank Cass.
FERNANDES, António, BORGES, João (2005). Enquadramento conceptual. In
Pensar a Segurança e Defesa. Lisboa: Edições Cosmos.
RODRIGUES, VALM Alexandre (2000). Submarinos: para que servem. Revista
da Armada, nº 332, Jun, p. 6.
RODRIGUES, VALM Alexandre (2004). De novo os submarinos. Revista
Militar, nº 10, Out, p. 911-916.
SACCHETTI, António (1999). Os submarinos na defesa nacional. Diário de
Notícias, Dez, p. 21.
Documentos oficiais
NATO (2004). AJP-3.1: Allied joint maritime operations. Brussels:
NATO.
NATO (2006). AJP-3(A):Allied doctrine for joint operations.
Ratification Draft. Brussels: NATO.
---------------------------------------
[1] Decorreu entre Outubro de 1814 e Junho de 1815. Os termos da paz
tinham sido anteriormente estabelecidos em Maio de 1814 no Tratado de
Paris.
[2] Vide: BUZAN et al. (1988). Security: A new framework for analysis.
London: Lynne Rienner Publishers; BUZAN, WAEVER (2003). Regions and
powers. The structure of international security. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press; BOOTH (2007). Theory of world security. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[3] AIP – Air Independent Power; por vezes também usado para designar
Air Independent Propulsion.
[4] O submarino não é capaz de realizar todas as missões de uma
marinha mas pode negar ao adversário a capacidade de executar qualquer
missão no mar.
[5] O submarino convencional, dada a sua configuração física e a sua
discrição, está particularmente apto para o fazer em zonas litorais,
levando aqui vantagem sobre os submarinos nucleares, mais volumosos,
mais ruidosos e com impacte ambiental incomensurável em caso de
acidente.
[6] São consideradas funções chave da intelligence as seguintes:
indications and warnings (I&W), joint intelligence preparation of the
battlespace, support to targeting, battle damage assessment e force
protection. As funções chave da intelligence estão descritas em
detalhe nas publicações doutrinárias da NATO.
[7] Adaptado da monografia Employment of Fast Attack Submarines by the
Operational Commander, de Gordon Williams.
[1] Oficial de Marinha
A parte que me toca é a interdição da retaguarda inimiga, atacando seus comboios de abastecimento, paralizando assim o que conhecemos em terra brazilis como o "trem da esquadra".
Só há 2 tipos de navios: os submarinos e os alvos...
Armam-se homens com as melhores armas.
Armam-se Submarinos com os melhores homens.
Os sábios PENSAM
Os Inteligentes COPIAM
Os Idiotas PLANTAM e os
Os Imbecis FINANCIAM...
Armam-se homens com as melhores armas.
Armam-se Submarinos com os melhores homens.
Os sábios PENSAM
Os Inteligentes COPIAM
Os Idiotas PLANTAM e os
Os Imbecis FINANCIAM...