By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 22, 2008 9:52:16 EDT
Deploying U.S. naval forces must be more flexible, able to split up and re-form in different combinations as situations require. The fleet still needs 11 aircraft carriers to meet its missions but more amphibious ships are required to support new missions. The number of formal and informal maritime partnerships will continue to grow. Even when mine-hunting Littoral Combat Ships come into service, a gap will remain in the Navy’s ability to combat the undersea threat. Ballistic missile defense is increasingly seen as a basic naval capability.
Those are some of the issues addressed in a working draft of the Naval Operations Concept (NOC) 2008, another in a series of documents meant to describe how, when and where U.S. naval forces will prevent conflict and prevail in war.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/defense_noc_102108/
