CATF and CLF - Will These Traditional Roles Carry Us Into the 21st Century?
Abstract
It can be argued that amphibious operations are the heart and soul of the Navy-Marine Corps Team. A facet generally accepted as near sacred, and at a minimum as fundamental to these operations, is the formal command relationship between the Commander Amphibious Task Force (CATF) and the Commander Landing Force (CLF) The 21st century will experience a revolutionary change in how the United States armed forces will conduct amphibious operations. The driving force behind these changes is the Marine Corps' White Paper operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) and the Navy's papers, From the Sea, and Forward From the Sea. These forward thinking documents emphasize use of the sea as the operational commander's maneuver space from which seamless operations will be launched to dominate the littoral battlespace. Furthermore, they recognize that the Navy's and Marine Corps' roles must adapt to a changing environment and acknowledge the need for new doctrine. To address the need for doctrinal changes in amphibious operations, this paper will recap the development of current doctrine and examine calls to replace the traditional CATF-CLF command structure with accepted, joint terminology of "supported/supporting" command relations. This change will provide the operational commander with the best way to maintain both unity of command" and "focus of effort" while achieving the Joint Task Force Commander's intent and realizing the desired end state of an operation or campaign.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 13, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA348820
Entities
People
- David W. Elwing
Organizations
- Naval War College