The US Navy carrier strike group as a system of systems

A US Navy carrier strike group (CSG) is an important element of US policy projection through military assets. The CSG is a system of systems (SoS) representing both an organisation of people and a collection of ships, aircraft, and support equipment designed to support US global interests. The CSG is a metasystem composed of a number of separate subsystems (vessels, air wing, and staffs), and it fits the classic definition of a SoS proposed by Maier (1999). Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) subsystems in a carrier strike group (CSG) are a SoS supporting the larger CSG. This paper will introduce the reader to the US Navy CSG. It will include a summary of components in the CSG SoS, the SoS's mission, a description of the component systems, how the SoS is organised, and how the metasystem is purposefully directed by its command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) subsystems. The paper serves as an introduction to this issue's following papers that will use emerging system of systems engineering (SoSE) principles and methods to provide a more holistic frame of reference for understanding CSG C4ISR as a SoS.