Guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon , pictured here operating in the Red Sea, faced Houthi missile and unmanned systems attacks, informing naval operational concepts. (Janes/Michael Fabey)
The new US Navy (USN) ‘Navigation Plan 2024 for America's warfighting navy' by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Lisa Franchetti, released on 18 September, focuses on creating a USN force to fight a possible war with Chinese forces by 2027.
“This Navigation Plan drives toward two strategic ends – readiness for the possibility of war with the People's Republic of China (PRC) by 2027 and enhancing the navy's long-term advantage,” Adm Franchetti said in a forward to the plan.
“The Chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has told his forces to be ready for war by 2027 – we will be more ready,” the document noted.
“The challenge posed by the PRC to our navy now goes well beyond just the size of the PLA [People's Liberation Army] Navy [PLAN] fleet,” it said. “Through operational concepts like multidomain precision warfare, grey zone and economic campaigns, expansion of dual use infrastructure (for example, airfields) and dual use forces (for example, Chinese maritime militia), and a growing nuclear arsenal, the PRC presents a complex multidomain and multiaxis threat. The PLA Navy, Rocket Force, Aerospace Force, Air Force, and Cyberspace Force are coalescing into an integrated warfighting ecosystem specifically designed to defeat ours, backed by a massive industrial base. The PRC's defence industrial base is on a wartime footing, including the world's largest shipbuilding capacity now at the hands of the PLAN.”
Project 33
The navy will work towards achieving that 2027 readiness via “Project 33”. Adm Franchetti is the 33rd chief of Naval Operations.
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