AirSea Battle: A Point-of-Departure Operational Concept

This paper contends that the US military today faces an emerging major operational problem, particularly in the Western Pacific, as the fielding of robust anti-access/ area-denial (A2/AD) systems and operational approaches over time will make the current "American way of war" increasingly risky and, in some cases and contexts, prohibitively costly. Today the Air Force and the Navy each have their own largely independent plans and doctrine designed to preserve a stable military balance and, failing that, prevail in potential conflicts involving China that could arise in the Western Pacific. It will be argued here that confronting this problem successfully will require integrating many of the Air Force and Navy operations central to operating successfully in an A2/AD environment. The paper will offer some thoughts on key elements comprising an AirSea Battle concept, and conclude with some reflections on what it might take to implement it.