Director Air Warfare: Howgozit

"Thinking Outside the Box"

The phrase, "thinking outside the box," seems to get a lot of play these days-too much in many cases. What sometimes passes for unconventional thinking is simply a new package around the same old plan. For Naval Aviation in recent years, just the opposite has been true. Without a lot of fanfare and catchy phrases, some brilliant and dedicated people have been doing some truly unconventional and creative thinking, questioning every aspect of traditional warfare practices, and developing new and truly transformational ways to employ our resources. At the same time, they are looking hard at future resource needs, and developing the right tools to enable our force to execute these new strategies to their maximum effectiveness.

So what does all this mean? In short, it means that our Navy, and Naval Aviation in particular, is determined to be ready to fight tomorrow's conflicts; while we want to learn from our past experience, we are not interested in preparing to fight the last war.

One recent example of this is the Fleet Response Plan, or FRP, a new way of looking at deployments that was announced last summer. The FRP changes the traditional deployment cycle from "presence," based on six-month rotating overseas deployments, to, in CNO's words, "presence with a purpose." Under the FRP, the fleet as a whole will maintain a higher degree of readiness, as we will need to be ready to respond to an unstable and less predictable world with an employment plan that is flexible and less predictable as well. The challenge will be in maintaining the surge capability that will allow us to direct a significant, ready force to an area of crisis with very little "ramp up" time. We at OPNAV must ensure that the resources to execute this plan are aligned with this vision.

The FRP is already having a ripple effect, from aircraft acquisition to maintenance planning to our approach to training to the grouping of aircraft and ships. To maintain an overall readiness level that will enable us to surge six carrier strike groups for immediate response, with two more soon thereafter, the traditional post-deployment "standdown" of equipment and personnel has changed. That means streamlining the pipeline to provide new and modified aircraft and air vehicles on a schedule that allows them to be available for surge operations on Day One. Depot-level maintenance and the interface with our supply system are being closely examined in the Naval Aviation Readiness Improvement Program (NAVRIP). Aircraft maintenance planning has to meet the FRP requirement.

With the TACAIR Integration Plan already well underway in many ways, it was the precursor to FRP. The cornerstone of TACAIR integration is the maintaining of current strike fighter assets at a high level of readiness, providing optimal support to surge operations. Through TACAIR integration, we enhanced the core combat capabilities of Navy and Marine TACAIR by providing a more capable, adaptable and affordable force. Over the next five to six years, each carrier air wing includes one Marine FA-18 squadron. Conversely, three Navy FA-18 squadrons integrate into the Marine Unit Deployment Program. Rather than maintain a large strike fighter force at widely varying degrees of readiness, we will reinvest the money saved in aircraft not purchased to maintain our smaller force at a higher degree of overall readiness. The result, a more flexible and surge-capable strike fighter force at a significant cost savings, is a blueprint for successful fleet-wide implementation of the FRP.

Another type of integration happening today that will enable us to provide surge-ready assets is the integration of our Naval Reserve assets into our FRP planning. The total force concept is becoming a reality under FRP. We are currently aligning reserve assets with their active counterparts, and are developing ways to employ them in new ways from personnel to aircraft augmentation that will optimize our overall surge capability. Along the same lines as the TACAIR integration plan, the goal of Reserve integration is to provide a smaller but more flexible and capable Reserve force that we can employ on short notice in the surge environment. This process requires significant "out of the box" thinking, as the integration plan presents a new concept for active-reserve employment. We will have a total force that is structured and trained to respond successfully to the requirements of the unstable 21st Century world and the prolonged war on terror that lies ahead.

To employ the FRP effectively over the long term, we also recognize that we must consider the impact of maintaining surge-capable readiness on our Sailors and Marines. In all of our new thinking, one consistent truth remains: our people are our most precious resource. They will always be at the core of our thinking as we continue to build a more responsive, capable and affordable Naval Air Force, ready to fight tomorrow's conflicts, wherever and whenever they may arise.

RADM Mark Fitzgerald

Copyright Association of Naval Aviation Winter 2003
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