By Dmitry Filipoff

From October 26 to November 2, 2020, CIMSEC launched a special Force Structure Perspectives Series to provide insight into the new Battle Force 2045 fleet design that was announced by Secretary of Defense Esper. This new fleet design aims to revamp much of the U.S. Navy to make it more operationally flexible, capture advancements in technology and tactics, and ultimately make the fleet better able to deter and prevail in great power conflict.

CIMSEC invited select contributors to share their views on this new fleet design. In these wide-ranging interviews and pieces, contributors shared their thoughts on the benefits and pitfalls of this new fleet, lessons on the intervention of the Office of the Secretary of Defense into fleet design, and what it will take to make this new fleet real.

The featured contributors are listed below. We thank these contributors for their excellent contributions.

Capt. Trip Barber (ret). on Building a New Fleet
Capt. Jeff Kline (ret.) on Bringing the Fleet Into the Robotics Age
Capt. Sam Tangredi (ret.) on Shopping for Studies
CDR Phil Pournelle (ret.) on Chasing Legacy Platforms
Col. T.X. Hammes (ret.) on Experimenting for Adaptation
Capt. Robert Rubel (ret.) on OSD Seizing Fleet Design
“A Decisive Flotilla: Assessing the Hudson Fleet Design,” by Capt. Robert Rubel (ret.)
Congresswoman Elaine Luria on Getting Congress Involved
Dr. John T. Kuehn On Designing for the Long War
“The Navy Should Stop Talking About the Future and Start Building It,” by Frank Goertner

Dmitry Filipoff is CIMSEC’s Director of Online Content. Contact him at [email protected].

Featured Image: SOUTH CHINA SEA (March 15, 2020) The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads ships from the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the America Expeditionary Strike Group during a transit of the South China Sea during a photo exercise, March 15, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brandon Richardson/Released)