Inside the Pentagon -- The Defense Department is poised to announce the creation of a new multiservice office charged with implementing the AirSea Battle concept to counter emerging Chinese weapons.
A memorandum of understanding signed in September by the vice chiefs of the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps lays the foundation for the office, which will be staffed by captains and colonels and overseen by admirals and generals, said military officials familiar with the plans.
The agreement outlines the development of the office, which will coordinate military and interagency efforts related to AirSea Battle; supervise how the concept is implemented in terms of organizing, training and equipping forces; and guide, facilitate and monitor the execution of AirSea Battle "force development," a Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed.
The captains and colonels manning the effort will work together in one office, said a service official. And senior leaders in the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps will oversee the effort. Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, head of the Navy's irregular warfare office, is slated to be one of those senior officers, sources said.
"The office is in the process of standing up," the Pentagon spokeswoman said, declining to elaborate. Inside the Pentagon reported June 9 that the joint office was in the works. Defense officials are slated to meet this week to discuss how to publicly roll out the initiative.
The AirSea Battle concept is "still developing and undergoing senior leadership review," the spokeswoman noted.
The concept aims mainly to address "anti-access and area-denial" weapons being developed by China. A recent DOD report to Congress warns that China is "pursuing a variety of air, sea, undersea, space counterspace, information warfare systems and operational concepts" to achieve anti-access and area-denial capabilities. The report cites China's "sustained effort to develop the capability to attack, at long ranges, military forces that might deploy or operate within the Western Pacific."
ITP reported Sept. 29 that DOD would likely boost investment in Air Force and Navy capabilities associated with countering China in accordance with the classified Defense Planning Guidance that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed in late August. And in a speech last month, Panetta said the future of U.S. national security in this century will be determined largely in the Asia-Pacific region, where the American military must maintain its presence despite China's development of new weapons that threaten U.S. power projection capabilities.
Without mentioning China, the Pentagon spokeswoman said the AirSea Battle concept would better integrate existing military capabilities across the air, land, maritime, space and cyberspace domains. This would "ensure U.S. freedom of action" in and "access throughout the global commons," enabling combatant commanders to "project force" in defense of American and allied interests and sustain stability despite "emerging, modern anti-access/area-denial challenges," she said.
The concept, she said, seeks to maintain an American edge in the face of increasingly sophisticated conventional ballistic missiles, long-range precision cruise missiles, advanced integrated air and missile defense systems, electronic warfare, cyberwarfare, submarines, surface combatants and modern combat aircraft.
The goal, the spokeswoman added, is "a global capability that focuses on responding to the capabilities being developed through advancements in science, technology and industry by a growing number of state and non-state actors that challenge U.S. operational freedom of action."
DOD is also concerned that the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, armed fighters in Afghanistan or other potential foes could wield guided munitions that are simple compared to high-end Chinese systems but still amount to deadly anti-access and area-denial weapons. Earlier this year in Singapore, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates cited Hezbollah's possession of "anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of more than 65 miles that potentially puts our and other ships at risk off the coast of Lebanon."
"While Iran is unlikely to initiate or launch a preemptive attack, it could attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz temporarily, threaten U.S. forces and regional allies with missiles and employ terrorist surrogates worldwide," Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March.
The Naval Research Advisory Committee recently launched a new study on Marine Corps capabilities for countering precision weapons. "The intel community is seeing greater proliferation of relatively inexpensive Guided Rockets, Artillery, Mortars, and Missiles (G-RAMM), which can pose a great threat to future Marine operations," states the draft terms of reference for the study. "This threat is yet another example of cheap technologies with the potential to have a huge impact on future missions, much like the [improvised explosive devices] have had on recent ones." -- Christopher J. Castelli
