Navy reserve

Overview

The Navy's overriding goal is to establish and maintain a seamless and fully integrated Total Force. Navy policy is that RC units will be equipped to accomplish all assigned missions and will have an equipment and distribution program that is balanced, responsive to mission requirements, and sustainable. With ongoing integration efforts, equipment requirements will be determined by the AC, thereby enhancing equipment compatibility with AC.

Navy Plan to Achieve Full Compatibility Between AC and RC

The Navy will continue to manage Total Force equipment inventories to provide the most capable systems to meet mission requirements and minimize the effects of equipment shortfalls and incompatibility. The Navy stresses interoperability as part of the Total Force concept and makes no distinction between the AC and the RC.

Equipment acquisition, upgrade programs, and equipment redistribution from the AC have reduced problems in the areas of RC equipment compatibility and capability with both active and joint forces. Sea Enterprise, part of the CNO's "Sea Power 21" vision, seeks to improve organizational alignment, refine requirements, and reinvest savings to buy needed platforms and systems. In light of the GWOT and the CNO's vision for the future (Sea Power 21), the AC and RC have been directed to implement ways to build a future Navy Reserve that is seamlessly blended into Sea Power 21, and is fully integrated with and operationally relevant to the active Naval forces.

For example, in FY07, Navy is establishing a Civil Affairs Battalion for government, public facilities, economics/commerce, and special function areas. The bulk of this force beginning will be RC and will provide units for regional engagement with host nations as a means of building cooperative interaction. When tasked, civil affairs can provide support to combatant commanders for stability operations, theater security cooperation, disaster and humanitarian relief, and other missions in support of the global war on terrorism.

The goal of the Navy is to transform the Navy Reserve so that it is fully integrated with the active force. Working groups have been developing actionable end states in five separate areas: organizational structure, personnel management, readiness and training, hardware, and resources and funding. The redesign implementation plan is evolutionary in nature and will be pursued with congressional concurrence.

The targeted areas for improvement include:

1. The AC establishing requirements for readiness and training of the RC

2. The AC developing, implementing and funding training of the RC

3. Consolidation of AC and RC equipment where feasible

4. Simplification of the funding processes

5. Validation of RC requirements by the AC to provide required capabilities

As a part of this transformation, the Navy has initiated a plan to fully integrate the RC air force with the AC air force. This plan integrates and merges some RC squadrons while establishing Fleet Readiness Units (FRU). This integration aligns RC aviation assets and personnel in the helicopter and fixed-wing communities with the AC to increase aircraft commonality, enhance operations support and develop increased warfare capability while fostering a closer integration with AC missions and requirements. This initiative will result in a fully integrated Naval air force and achieve the optimum mix of equipment for the total force.

The RC consists of hardware units and augmentation units. Equipment availability has a direct impact on unit training, unit readiness, and the ability to perform assigned missions, particularly in hardware-centric units. Systems Commands, i.e., Naval Supply Systems Command, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Naval Air Systems Command, and Naval Sea Systems Command, act as project managers to establish equipment allowances for designated RC hardware units to support operational requirements.

RC hardware units currently consist of 24 ships and 199 aircraft, as well as 19 NCF, 14 NAVELSF, 44 NCW and four Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units. All RC ships, NCW, NCF, NAVELSF and EOD units are under the operational control of Fleet Forces Command, and RC aircraft squadrons are under the operational control of Commander, Naval Air Forces.

The RC provides all of the Navy's organic intra-theater medium and heavy airlift capability. This airlift provides direct logistics support for Fleet Commanders worldwide and airlift support to all military departments within the continental United States.

The RC's Fleet Logistics Support Wing consists of 15 squadrons operating C-40, C-9, C-20, C-37, and C-130 aircraft. The RC's C-9 aircraft average over 30 years in age and require substantial avionics upgrades and engine replacement to meet globally mandated noise abatement and navigation requirements. A significant airlift recapitalization was initiated in FY 1997 when $120M was provided through NGREA.

Navy Reserve Aviation

The Naval Air Reserve consists of four air wings:

1. Commander, Reserve Patrol Wing (CRPW)

2. Commander, Carrier Air Wing Reserve Twenty (CVWR-20)

3. Commander, Helicopter Wing Reserve (CHWR)

4. Commander, Fleet Logistics Support Wing (CFLSW)

The RC possesses 100 percent of the Navy's organic medium and heavy airlift and adversary training capability, 33 percent of the Navy's maritime patrol squadron capability, 12 percent of the Navy's rotary wing capability, and 9 percent of the carrier air wing capability.

Fleet Air Logistics

To date, nine C-40As have been accepted by the RC and are being operated by VR-59 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Fort Worth, Texas, VR-58 at Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Fla., and VR-57 at Naval Air Station, North Island, Calif.

Reserve Maritime Patrol Aviation

The RC currently provides 33 percent of the Navy's Maritime Patrol squadrons, primarily providing counter narcotics operations and anti-submarine warfare exercises support. The RC has six P-3 squadrons, three with an aircraft allowance of six and three with an aircraft allowance of four. All RC P-3 squadrons report to a single Patrol Wing Commander. Of the 27 P-3 aircraft required by the geographic Unified Commanders to be forward deployed, the RC provides one.

In FY03, the RC completed the installation of eight P-3 Update III modification kits procured with NGREA funding, bringing to 14 the number of RC P-3C aircraft in an update III configuration. Additionally, the RC received four state-of-the-art AIP P-3 aircraft, with two more aircraft presently undergoing modification to AIP. An AIP capable Reserve force is essential to the MPRA community's ability to satisfy Fleet Response Plan requirements and keeps the RC in lockstep with the AC in progression to MMA.

Reserve Helicopter Wing

The RC provides five helicopter squadrons to the Navy's rotary wing fleet. In addition, the RC provides personnel and equipment (seven MH-53E helicopters) in support of two composite (RC and AC) Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) squadrons. This represents 12 percent of the Navy's total helicopter inventory, as well as all of the Navy's helicopter combat support special squadrons and 35 percent of the AMCM assets. The squadrons perform a variety of critical missions including search and rescue, logistics support, anti-submarine warfare, AMCM, and counter narcotics operations.

The RC helicopter inventory consists of the HH-60H, SH-60B, SH-60F, UH-3H, and MH-53E aircraft. During OIF, HCS-4 and HCS-5 were partially mobilized and deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, participating in the support of special operations ground forces missions in urban and rural areas, supporting psychological operations, and helping with medical and casualty evacuations. The RC squadrons are also significantly involved with counter narcotics operations.

Reserve Carrier Air Wing

The RC provides one of the Navy's eleven Carrier Air Wings. The wing (CVWR-20) comprises of six squadrons, three F/A-18A/B, one EA-6B, one E-2C, and one F-5E/F. In addition to CVWR-20's operational requirements, its squadrons are engaged in providing peacetime fleet operational support in the form of adversary training and counter-narcotic coverage. Five of the air wing squadrons are also tasked with maintaining a pre-determined crisis response posture in the event of national crisis. CVWR-20 provides nearly all of the Navy's adversary mission capability, and 100 percent of the Navy E-2C counter-narcotic flight support, while participating regularly in fleet exercises.

Navy Surface Reserve Force

Navy Reserve Force (NRF) Ships. The RC consists of twenty-four ships, homeported throughout the United States. RC ships regularly deploy to support the Navy's operational requirements, relieving the operational tempo of AC ships. These ships are significant fleet assets as well as important training platforms for Navy Reservists.

The RC surface combatant force consists of nine OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class frigates (FFG). In FY03, the RC received three (SH-60B capable) FFGs replacing three older ships and in FY04, one additional SH-60B capable FFG was transferred from the AC. The RC has approximately 60 percent of the Navy's surface ship mine warfare capabilities.

The total number of RC Mine Warfare ships is 15: ten Mine Hunter Coastal (MHC) and five Mine Counter Measure (MCM) ships. All are home-ported in Ingleside, Texas.

Naval Coastal Warfare (NCW)

The NCW organization consists of eight NCW Squadrons (with deployable C4I detachments), 20 Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare (MIUW) units, 16 Inshore Boat Units (IBU). NCW units provide surface and subsurface surveillance of coastal areas including ports, harbors, and the seaward approaches, operational command and control of those assets, and surface interdiction capability to support force protection operations required by Combat Commanders.

NCW units provide all of the Navy's capability for shallow water and very shallow water surveillance and detection of surface craft, subsurface craft, and swimmer threats.

MIUW units will fully upgrade all of 22 Radar Sonar Surveillance Center suites to V (4) mod 2 configuration over the next three years. This new configuration will enhance NCW capabilities, improve readiness, and lessen the training requirements to man the system. NCW will continue to make improvements to these systems, seeking to develop and field newer, lighter, and more expeditionary systems, capable of providing increased capability for force protection.

Following the terrorist attack on the USS Cole, several NCW units were recalled to active duty to provide in-theater force protection in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Since 9/11, the demand for NCW units has increased dramatically. Immediately after the attack, over one-third of the 4,000 person NCW force was mobilized and deployed to provide force protection and coastal surveillance in support of Naval Commanders throughout the world.

Naval Construction Force (NCF)

The Reserve Component of NCF provides 66 percent of the Navy's combat construction capabilities in support of Unified and Navy Component Commander operational requirements. The Active and Reserve Components are an integrated force, with like units having the same operational chain of command, mission, readiness standards, and equipment. OPLAN support is provided by a mix of active and Reserve units, with the most ready units being married up with the most ready equipment sets in theater.

Under the operational control of FIRST Naval Construction Division, the Reserve portion of the NCF consists of four Naval Construction Regiments (NCR), twelve Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCB), two Construction Battalion Maintenance Units (CBMU), and one Naval Construction Force Support Unit (NCFSU).

To improve the balance between early and late flowing units to support existing OPLANs, the two RC CBMUs will move to the AC in FY06. This allows rapid deployment to support USMC headquarters base camps, elimination of 17 smaller, specialized active duty Construction Battalion Units (CBUs), assumption of the mission to support Navy Expeditionary Medical Units (formerly Fleet Hospitals), and provision of a greater capability to respond to CBRNE incidents within the United States.

During OIF, nearly 1,800 Reserve Seabees were recalled from 17 different units for direct in theater operations in the CENTCOM area of responsibility (AOR). Follow on OIF/OEF presence has been provided in six-month rotations by over 400 Reserve personnel per rotation. Current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan now employ 588 Reserve personnel on six-month rotations to provide base camp support to USMC security forces, as well as to provide a robust construction capability to repair Iraqi infrastructure and support for SOF. This represents half of the NCF presence in the CENTCOM AOR, and based on current planning assumptions, will ultimately require mobilization of every reserve NCF unit to fill rotational support operations through the end of FY06.

Naval Expeditionary Logistics Force (NAVELSF)

NAVELSF's RC units constitute more than 90 percent of the Navy's expeditionary logistics support capabilities. NAVELSF units provide a wide range of logistics capabilities, including ship loading and discharge, operating air cargo terminals and freight forwarding terminals, warehouse operations and mobile mail centers. In addition, cargo handlers maintain their skills during peacetime by carrying out ship offloads and backloads for Naval Expeditionary Medical Support Command, the Maritime Prepositioning Ships, and other Military Sealift Command shipping, and by providing operational support to Naval logistics commanders in the European, Pacific and Central Command AORs. They have been fully integrated with AC since the beginning of FY05 when the Navy's active duty cargo handling battalion transferred to the operational and administrative control of NAVELSF.

NAVELSF's most recent operational commitment has been their involvement in joint operations with the Army and Marine Corps in support of the Global War on Terror. To date, NAVELSF has deployed approximately 1,900 personnel of their 4,000 AC/RC Force to the CENTCOM AOR in direct support of OIF. Additionally, NAVELSF provides mobilization, training, equipping, and administrative support to provisional Customs Inspection Battalions of 445 RC personnel each. Two Customs Battalions have already been deployed to OIF. These efforts are scheduled to continue into OIF 5-7 and beyond.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)

Under the operational control of COMARFPCOM, Reserve EOD forces comprise four of the 10 EOD Mobile Units in the Navy. EOD units provide combat ready forces to eliminate ordnance hazards, clear harbors and approaches of obstacles, and salvage/recover ships, aircraft and weapons lost or damaged in peacetime or combat in support of the national military strategy.

Summary/Conclusions

As the Navy strives to seamlessly integrate the RC with the AC into a cohesive Total Force capable of meeting all operational requirements in peacetime and in war, RC equipment requirements will continue to be addressed through a combination of new equipment procurement, redistribution from the AC, modernization of equipment held in the RC inventory, and aviation unit integration.

The top equipment priorities for the RC are procurement of the procurement of CESE and MHE equipment for RC NCW, NCF and NAVELSF units; upgrade of the F/A-18A aircraft and procurement of the F-5, C-40A and MH-60S aircraft. As in the past, the Navy will continue to balance resources to best equip the AC and the RC to support mission requirements.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Reserve Officers Association of the United States
COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group