By Robbin Laird Our focus over the past few years has been upon the shift from the Middle Eastern Land Wars to the refocus on peer competitors. The preparation for the high-end fight is a key part of this refocus, but not as the sole focus of attention; rather it…
By Robbin Laird Recently, 3rd Fleet completed what it called its “Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21” exercise. Here the Navy was able to work with a number of different companies bringing either their maritime remotes or autonomous systems to be seen and tested in a number of mission areas. To…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake With the strategic shift from the land wars, and meeting the evolving Russian challenges, Admiral Richardson, then the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), directed the re-establishment of the U.S. 2nd Fleet in 2018. He put VADM Lewis in charge of the command, but it…
By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake As the U.S. Navy works its 21st century approach to fighting as a distributed but integrated fleet, a key element of success in doing so will be its ability to work more effectively with allied navies as they evolve as well. As the maritime…
By Robbin Laird II Marine Expeditionary Force supports service and Combatant Commander’s initiative as required. At the same time, II MEF is in transition and must focus on preparing for future operations, and shape new ways to do so while being able to operate now. This is hardly an easy…
By Robbin Laird While reshaping how it will operate in the future, II MEF has to be ready to fight now. And to do so for 2nd and 6th Fleets as well as EUCOM. This means reshaping what it can do but to rework how it is integrated with the…
By Robbin Laird As the U.S. Navy reworks how to do blue water expeditionary operations into and through the North Atlantic with integrated capabilities with our Nordic and Baltic allies, how best to shape an expeditionary approach for an offensive-defensive enterprise? What building blocks are essential to work more effective…
We have heard a good deal about the desire to work Navy and USMC integration. What can be forgotten in this discussion is how important USMC air is in such an effort., It is not surprising for as the U.S. Navy refocuses on the high-end fight, at the heart of…
