By Emelie Rutherford
The initial congressional response appears positive to the Navy and Marine Corps’ planned study of the role of naval surface fires support in expeditionary operations, a capability previously envisioned for the DDG-1000 destroyer.
In a Sept. 8 “joint memorandum for the record,” the senior naval officers responsible for capabilities development commit to complete a Joint Expeditionary Fires Analysis of Alternatives (JEF AoA) in time for a Defense Acquisition Executive Review next June.
House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) said yesterday in an interview that he supports the Navy’s effort.
“If [Chief of Naval Operations] Adm. [Gary] Roughead thinks that that’s what they need to do, then I’m going to work with him on that,” Taylor said about the AoA.
The congressman had been a driving force behind the push to end the line of DDG-1000s at the two on contract, instead of buying all seven previously planned, and building more of the older DDG-51 combatants. While that plan didn’t play out exactly in the recently passed fiscal year 2009 defense authorization and appropriations bills–which authorize full funding for a third DDG-1000 while appropriating 60 percent of the funding for that ship–Taylor and others on Capitol Hill said they expect the funds for that third DDG-1000 actually will end up being used toward the DDG-51 program.
Because the DDG-1000 is optimized for surface-fires support, questions have swirled as to where that capability–to support Marines in near-shore operations–will come from.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense directed the Navy to conduct the JEF AoA, according to the Sept. 8 memo. The analysis is to be based on gaps identified by an Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) for Joint Fires in Support of Expeditionary Operations in the Littorals (JFSEOL)–a document previously approved by the Pentagon’s Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC).
The Sept. 8 memo is signed by Navy Vice Adm. Barry McCullough, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, and Marine Lt. Gen. George Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration.
“We believe this AoA is the appropriate process to determine the best solution for current gaps in 24/7 expeditionary fire support with an eye to refining the role of NSFS in meeting USMC and Joint needs across the Range of Military Operations (RMO),” McCullough and Flynn wrote.
They state they expect the AoA “to underpin the Department of the Navy strategy for NSFS (naval surface fires support) out to the 2020 timeframe, synchronizing our weapons, shipbuilding, and supporting capabilities efforts and investments.”
Taylor said he told Roughead that “I’m not going to tell him how to operate his ships, I’m not going to tell him what the threat is.”
“But…on the business end of this, I am going to help him do a better job of buying these things,” the lawmaker said.
Congressional aides cited no Capitol Hill criticism of the fires-support AoA.