ABSTRACT
Over the past century, the U.S. Navy has encountered critical moments when the emergence of new technologies and competitors caused paradigmatic shifts, undermining established operations and force structures. Today, the rise of an assertive China and its new anti-access and area-denial capabilities threaten the aircraft carrier-based maritime dominance of the U.S. Navy. Simultaneously the U.S. Navy finds itself at a disadvantage due to the enormous distances between home ports and forward-operating bases in the Western Pacific and a decade-long practice of packing too much capability onto relatively few ships. The solution to these problems can be found in a “bimodal” fleet design that produces forces intended for sea denial and other forces intended for sea control.
