Effectiveness of Naval Surface Fire Support to the Army Brigade Commander in a Littoral Campaign

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, the Army has been engaged in an unprecedented number of joint contingenc y operations that run the gamut from humanitarian efforts in Cuba and Haiti to peace-enforcing and peace-keeping in Bosnia to full scale war in Southwest Asia. These operations, the result of an increasingly complex international security environment, hint at future missions involving American forces aimed at protecting U.S. interests worldwide. To engage and defeat future threats to our national security, the Army must transform itself into a more strategically responsive, lethal force. The Army is faced with the challenge of lightening the force while simultaneously increasing its survivability and lethality. Reach-back technologies from sea, air, and space can provide Army units with added lethality without encumbering them further. This thesis analyze s the ability of the Army to effectively utilize Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS) to provide indirect fire in support of brigade-sized units. The Fire Support Simulation Tool (FSST) takes the capabilities and limitations of weapon systems being studied and simulates their employment in the context of a well-defined scenario for analysis. The output from the simulation provides the input for the analysis of NSFS. By comparing the utility of several well-constructed courses of action, the FSST can help decision-makers determine the effectiveness of NSFS within the context of the scenario being considered. The results of this analysis determined that although a myriad of issues such as training, mistrust, and synchronization must be addressed to make reach-back fires successful, there is strong quantitative and analytical evidence to support the effectiveness of NSFS to an Army Brigade commander engaged in a littoral campaign.