The U.S. Navy Wants to Put Missiles on Everything
In an article at The National Interest, the Commander of U.S. Surface Forces, Vice Admiral Tom Rowden, discusses his new concept of "distributed lethality" and its implications for the U.S. Navy. The result will be a more heavily armed, lethal Navy with amphibious ships and perhaps even ammunition ships and oil tankers outfitted with the latest weapons.
According to Rowden, the U.S. Navy moved away from its core mission of controlling the seas after the end of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union left the Navy as controller of the seas by default, and it moved on to other missions such as support of ground forces after 9/11.
The rise of the Chinese and Russian navies, however, has changed things. The Chinese Navy is actively trying to contest the U.S. Navy's firm grip on the western Pacific, putting sea control back on the mission table.
Distributed lethality will put offensive weapons on ships that previously didn't have weapons before. Amphibious ships such as the San Antonio-class have traditionally carried only defensive weapons, but they under the new concept could be equipped with Mk. 41 vertical launch silos. These silos could carry a new generation of anti-ship missiles such as the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles, and other offensive missiles.
Amphibious ships wouldn't be the only ones to become more lethal. The U.S. Navy's fleet of replenishment ships, supplying fuel, food, munitions and mail to the fleet could also gain missile silos. After all, when they're sailing with a task force they're like any other ship. Armed with long-range missiles, they could hang back in the rear and contribute firepower while being relatively protected.
The concept also demands more offensive weapons across the board. One solution to this has been adapting the SM-6 air defense missile to the anti-ship role. While not exactly a ship-killer, the small warhead on a SM-6 will damage an enemy warship. More importantly the SM-6 could be carried by any ship with a Mk. 41 vertical launch missile silo.
Distributed lethality is a concept that could turn around the Navy's decline in firepower. It's a logical, cost-effective approach to making the US Navy more lethal without necessarily needing a larger fleet, made possible by the Navy's investment in advanced communications, data-sharing, and command and control technologies.
Read more at The National Interest.
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