"C" in LCS Stands for Combat

By Vice Admiral Hank Giffin, U.S. Navy (Retired), and Rear Admiral John Tozzi, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
January 2003
On 8 November 2002, the U.S. Navy issued six Focused Mission Ship 90-day study contracts that will lead to a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) class before the end of the ...

Littoral Warfare Needs a Specific Ship

By Rear Admiral George R. Worthington, U.S. Navy (Retired)
January 2003
The heated debate over littoral warfare is being confused by a big ship-small ship controversy that ignores the limitations of deep-draft ships in restricted waters. This argument holds that critical ...

It's the Air Plan, Stupid

By Dr. Chris M. Duquette
January 2003
Ten years ago, the nation was introduced to the political slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." For carrier-based aviation units, you could replace "the economy" with "the air plan." If their ...

Book Reviews

January 2003
No Room for Error: The Covert Operations of America's Special Tactics Units from Iran to Afghanistan Benjamin F. Schemmer and Col. John T. Carney Jr., USAF (Ret.). New York: Ballantine ...

A Commander’s Network-Centric Odyssey

By Lieutenant Commander Curt Copley, USN
January 2003
At least one critic has suggested that the implementation of network-centric operations (NCO) foreordains the death of operational art (op art). As outlandish as this claim sounds, it may gain ...

Combat Fleets

By A. D. Baker III
January 2003
An official model of the latest Russian Navy frigate design, Project 20380, was displayed at the Euronaval exposition near Paris last October. The first of the 2,100-ton (full-load displacement) ships ...

U.S. Navy: "It's a What?"

By Norman Polmar
January 2003
Is it to confuse the enemy? Didn't they know better? Were they trying to be clever? These are some of the questions that followed the recent announcement that the Secretary ...

Get the Terrorist Threat Right

By Raymond J. Brown
January 2003
We are getting it wrong. Federal government authorities and the legion of security "experts" who popped up since the 11 September attacks often are focusing on the belief that the ...

A Global Navy Needs a Global Network

By Rear Admiral Charles L. Munns, USN
January 2003
The Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) initiative will establish one digital, secure network across the naval shore establishment and tie it to our forces at sea. It will link about ...
U.S. AIR FORCE (TONY TOLLEY)

Preemptive Strategy Is Viable

By Major Roger D. Carstens, USA
January 2003
The release of President George W. Bush's national security strategy raised questions (and eyebrows). Immediate questions arose as to the legality of his new preemptive doctrine. Did the policy pass ...
U.S. NAVY

Lest We Forget: Attack Squadron 64 (VA-64)

By Lieutenant Commander Rick Burgess, USN (Ret.)
January 2003
Attack Squadron 64 (VA-64) was established at NAS Oceana, Virginia, on 1 July 1961. The Black Lancers were equipped with A4D-2N (A-4C) Skyhawk light attack jets.Like many attack squadrons of ...

Joint Fighter Calls for Joint Training

By Lieutenant Commander J. P. Nichols, USN
January 2003
In 2010, the largest effort by the Department of Defense to establish aviation jointness in the armed forces will be realized when the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) enters initial operational ...

Publisher's Page

By Tom Marfiak
January 2003
I have three critical issues to address. First, the Nation, Navy, and Naval Institute lost a hero, author, and friend on 1 December, when Captain Edward Latimer (Ned) Beach Jr ...

Comment and Discussion

January 2003
"December Cover"(See December 2002 Proceedings)Master Chief Gunner's Mate William R. Wells II, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)While I normally do not consider the dress, or lack of it, of our uniformed ...

God Bless Gordon England

By John Byron
January 2003
Some months ago, Proceedings published a short essay of mine that led off with the words above. The context was Navy Secretary Gordon England's courageous and correct decision to pull ...

Access Is Not Assured

By Admiral Robert J. Natter, USN
January 2003
Assured access is a linchpin of both our naval and national security strategies. Although our most recent strike-intensive wars have been conducted virtually free from challenge at sea, this superiority ...

The American Way of War

By Arthur K. Cebrowski & Thomas P. M. Barnett
January 2003
The effort to identify and characterize the American Way of War is—in many ways—an attempt to understand how U.S. warfare evolves once freed from the bilateral and all-consuming competition with ...

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