The Navy should use the weapons it currently has for a more offensive posture and build on existing platforms for adding capabilities as it encounters fewer dollars for spending on new ship classes, according to a recent study by the Center for Strategic Budgetary Assessment (CSBA).

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at CSBA and former naval officer and assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, said much of the space on ships is consumed by defensive weapons when the Navy should be looking for longer reach offensively, especially in emerging anti-access area-denial environments.

An SM-6 fires off the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53). Photo: U.S. Navy
An SM-6 fires off the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53). Photo: U.S. Navy

Clark pointed out that the SM-6 missile the Navy is currently developing for long-range air-and ballistic-missile defense should be modified for offensive strike to take out enemy aircraft as well.

“Today, (cruisers) and (destroyers) vertical launch system (VLS) magazines are filled predominantly with weapons that are only useful for defense (anti-air warfare),” he said in his study, Commanding the Seas, A Plan To Reinvigorate U.S. Navy Surface Warfare.

“The Navy needs a new concept for sea-based defense AAW to free up VLS space for long range offensive” anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and anti-air warfare weapons, the study says.

Clark also suggested that the Navy build more copies of the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), a small transport platform designed quickly to ferry personnel and equipment in theater. More vessels could be configured to host the electro-magnetic rail gun the Navy is developing to strike enemies with projectiles. The JHSV could operate with aircraft carrier battle groups to assist in defense.

Clark said the Navy’s currently multi-layered approach to ship missile defense overly relies on long range interceptors, which he says are at a disadvantage in terms of cost and capacity.

“The Navy should implement a new defense AAW concept with only one shorter-range layer to make more VLS space available for offensive weapons, increase the density of the air defense screen, and improve the cost exchange between U.S. air defenses and enemy anti-ship cruise missiles.”