ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on maritime power projection and on two key means of projecting force ashore: naval strikes and amphibious operations. It examines recent trends, with a particular focus on the conduct of expeditionary operations at a time when access may be challenged in many ways. The maritime environment has offered an avenue for attack for as long as humans have been able to travel at sea, making proximity to the shore a source of vulnerability for those unable to control the sea, and providing an opportunity to those that can. The capacity to conduct combat operations from the sea provides navies with a range of options that can be useful in war, peace and in all of the stages between. Maritime power projection capabilities may be employed to support peace keeping, peace support or peace enforcement operations under a UN mandate.
