The Pentagon Will Spend More On Air-Sea Battle Than On The Nuclear Triad

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Source: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. | Greg Jaffe, Gene Thorp, Bill Webster/The Washington Post. Published on August 1, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Air-Sea Battle to Cost $524.5 Billion Through 2023 -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat

A new report finds the U.S. Navy and Air Force will spend more on ASB than the nuclear triad over the next decade.

The U.S. military is increasing its spending on capabilities to implement an Air-Sea Battle (ASB) concept to overcome adversaries’ anti-access area denial (A2/AD) strategies, according to a new industry report.

The report by G-2 Solutions, a market intelligence firm, analyzes the “Fiscal Year 2014 Navy and Air Force procurement and RDT&E budgets through the Air-Sea Battle (ASB) lens.” From these, G-2 Solutions deemed a total of 191 programs and program elements to be included in the report, based on the “increased importance their capabilities will bring to an aggregate Air-Sea Battle capability.”

In total, the U.S. military will spend $31 billion more in FY 2014 versus FY 2012 on ASB enabling capabilities. Altogether, G-2 Solutions predicts that the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and U.S. Navy (USN) will spend $524.5 billion on ASB capabilities through 2023.

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WNU Editor: From the Washington Post: What is Air-Sea Battle? China has invested heavily during the past decade in precision missile systems and sophisticated radar designed to keep U.S. ships and fighter jets beyond the inner island chain shown below. Air-Sea Battle is the U.S. military’s concept for disabling those systems using long-range bombers and submarines. The concept is designed not so much to fight a war as to convince the Chinese that any conflict with U.S. forces would be long and costly. Pentagon officials say Air-Sea Battle is not solely focused on China, which they describe as the “pacing” threat. The following approaches are the basis for the concept. Read related article.

Update: For more info on the air-sea battle concept .... U.S. model for a future war fans tensions with China and inside Pentagon -- Washington Post

What Is The Air-Sea Battle (ASB) Program

What ASB Is-And Is Not -- Bill Sweetman, Aviation Week

Last month, the U.S. chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, wrote that his Navy should support the U.S. Air Force's plan to develop a new bomber. This followed the endorsement by his opposite number, USAF Gen. Norton Schwartz, of the Navy's plan for more nuclear attack submarines.

In other news, the Pentagon turned bright orange, floated in the air and started drifting with the breeze in the direction of Tyson's Corner, Va.

The Air-Sea Battle (ASB) philosophy, an initiative long in the making and (finally) fully backed by both Navy and Air Force leaders, is an important and sensible development. As such, it disturbs a lot of people (not just outside the lead services) and they are trying to destroy it.

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My Comment: A easy to follow definition of what is air-sea battle doctrine.

Defining The Pentagon's Air-Sea Battle Concept

Air-Sea Battle: What's It All About, Or Not -- Aol Defense

Pentagon: If you ever wanted to be left nonplussed, you would have been well advised to attend the press conference about Air-Sea Battle.

We were told yesterday afternoon by three clearly intelligent defense officials that their new office -- staffed by 15 people -- would be a "focusing lens" for the services. Exactly what they would be focusing was a tad hard to discern, but it clearly had something to do with fighting against governments (China et al) and proxy governments (like Hezbollah) that can use long-range precision weapons to try and stop the American military from entering and holding territory (military terminology for this is anti-access and ant-denial).

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More News On the Pentagon's Air-Sea Battle Concept

Air-Sea Battle Office targets DoD blind spots -- Air Force Times
Pentagon's Air-Sea Battle -- Inside the Ring/Washington Times
Services promise to add Army to “Air-Sea Battle” -- DoD Buzz
Air-Sea Battle Office a Nexus of Networking -- Defense News
Military creates Air-Sea Battle Office -- Stars and Stripes
The Air-Sea Battle Concept Summary -- Dvids