The Submarine Force: Utility in the Future NMS?

Abstract

Impelled by a state of mind that has lasted the past seven years, the Department of Defense has been struggling with the concept of a comprehensive military strategy for an uncertain future In this quest, force structure debate has often supplanted strategic consideration in the decision making process Our "great object" is to craft a strategy, that can drove the decision making process, but our lack of innovative thinking may indeed be the "fiercer hell" to which Keats referred The Base Force, the Bottom Up Review, and the current Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) are all attempts to arrive at a force level prescription without understanding the strategic disease In these attempts, force structure is usually reduced in a horizontal fashion, thus "the dinosaur that we know as the Armed Forces hopes to escape extinction or radical alteration by becoming a mini dinosaur "l One of the elements of this force structure is the nation's robust nuclear submarine force, both in its attack and ballistic missile variety.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA442607

Entities

People

  • Robert L. Thomas

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Attack Submarines
  • Battles
  • Boats
  • Budgets
  • Cold War
  • Control Systems
  • Employment
  • Force Structure
  • Los Angeles Class
  • Military Strategy
  • National Security
  • Navy
  • Nuclear Powered Submarines
  • Seawolf Class
  • Submarines
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies