NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy and Marine Corps’ globe-spanning Large Scale Exercise (LSE) is underway now, with lead officials detailing the effort to bring together an array of assets and live, virtual and constructive (LVC) training elements to stress the force’s ability for command and control and Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) in realistic conflict scenarios.
“The Large Scale Exercise recognizes that we are a global nation and that the threats are global also. You’ve seen recent real world examples where our competitors are increasingly cooperating with one another and are more increasingly sailing and operating further afield, which further underscores the need for the Large Scale Exercise and our ability to find, track and monitor potential threats and to do so across the globe among commanders whose headquarters are linked at all times,” Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, told reporters during a media briefing on Aug. 11.
Officials first detailed LSE 2023 in late July, noting the second iteration of the event would run Aug. 9-18 and cover 22 time zones, six combatant command areas of responsibility, seven fleets and participation from over 25,000 sailors and Marines (Defense Daily, July 25).
The exercise is bringing together elements from Indo-Pacific Command, NORTHCOM, SOUTHCOM, EUCOM, AFRICOM and CENTCOM along with nine Maritime Operations Centers , which will act as nerve centers to route fleet maneuvers, and is involving six carrier strike groups, two live and four virtual; three Amphibious Readiness Groups, one live and two virtual; 25 ships and submarines; and another 50 virtual ships.
During a media visit on Aug. 11 to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, which is serving as the central hub for LSE 2023, Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, noted it’s “extremely infrequent” to have three-four star commanders participating in the same exercise, which includes his involvement along with Paparo and Adm. Stuart Munsch, commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Europe and Africa
“I think we have substantially improved Large Scale Exercise in its construct and its design and its interoperability and its scenario realism, [and taking] the utilization of live, virtual and constructive [training] to a whole new level,” Caudle said. “We continue to be on a roadmap of our integration to be able to do that more and more effectively.”
The Navy and Marine Corps have also brought in 13 retired generals and admirals to support LSE 2023, with Ret. Adm. James Foggo, former commander of Naval Forces Europe and Africa, serving as the stand-in for the defense secretary of Joint Chiefs chairman role as the senior higher headquarters role player, and Ret. Adm. Scott Swift, former Pacific Fleet head, leading the exercise steering group.
“We’re taking it to the edge of what we think the force can do and then pushing the force beyond it to get through the science of warfare, get to the art of warfare and how do you work when you don’t have enough to do the things that you do. This is about learning. We all want to win…We’re going to push this thing so that it’s really hard for them to win. We want to find the failure points,” Swift said during a briefing from the Naval Warfare Development Center in Norfolk.
While officials declined to reveal details of the specific scenario for LSE 2023, Caudle noted the aim is to ensure the entities across the globe can coordinate from the same operational picture with a goal to gain “tactical, operational and strategic” lessons.
“The scenario is already stressing that our unified command plan carves up the world into areas of responsibility for our combatant commanders to operate forces to conduct warfare if called upon and in certain geographic areas. Of course, our adversaries and competitors understand this perfectly well. And so, it’s in their best interest to see if there’s a soft underbelly there at those seams and work those seams to understand whether or not we’re well coordinated to handle crossflow coordination. In this type of level of conflict and this type of exercise, that’s really the most challenging part,” Caudle said.
To achieve the realistic scenario and test the force’s ability for DMO, Foggo said the virtual component of the exercise had to be “as good as the live.”
“This is very, very realistic. It’s what you’re going to face in a real operation where you’re going to need to deter an adversary and, if necessary, fight the adversary,” Foggo told reporters.
Paparo added that the more LVC environment for LSE 2023 was ensuring the Navy and Marine Corps could “stress the command centers to get them up onto a wartime footing.”
“[It ensures] that the habits of mind and habits of action in commanding in a global threat environment across a wide geography across hundreds of units and thousands of warfighters becomes ingrained in the key warfighting headquarters’ staff to train them. The saying is, ‘The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in conflict.’ And that’s what’s at work here,” Paparo said.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) aircraft carrier is tied to a pier in Norfolk, but operators onboard are participating in LSE 2023 “virtually” as if conducting their mission from sea, with Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, commander of Carrier Strike Group Two, noting the value of the “reps and sets” ahead of its next deployment.
A “live” portion of the LSE 2023 includes Marines from the Combat Logistics Regiment 2 operating a forward arming and refueling point (FARP) out in an expeditionary advanced base with a small landing strip in Oak Grove, North Carolina.
Reporters witnessed the refueling of a CH-53E heavy lift helicopter, with Marines noting the scenario is helpful in refining the logistics requirements that would be needed to operate and adapt the FARP within the DMO concept.
Caudle declined to specify new capabilities or technologies being experimented with LSE 2023, while suggesting that more details could be forthcoming following the exercise.
“I’m not going to address that here. And I think we’re going to wait until this kind of finishes up and rolls up before we talk about that, just from an operational security perspective,” Caudle said.
Swift noted he will put together an after action report on LSE after the event concludes, while the Center for Naval Analyses will work on a more detailed report to be published a few months from now.
“This is much better than [LSE] ‘21. And we hope that ‘25 will be much better than ‘23, based on the lessons learned and the implementation of those lessons learned,” Foggo said.