Game Changers--Undersea Warfare

The United States has been dominant in the undersea domain for decades and benefited immensely from it. Superiority in this domain has enabled the United States to collect sensitive intelligence, hold at risk foreign fleets, attack targets on land without warning, and maintain the secure secondstrike capability that is essential for deterrence. America's ability to project power overseas is currently being challenged by the rapid growth of other nations' military forces and the fielding of novel capabilities that undermine our freedom of maneuver and action and threaten to deprive our Nation of the many benefits we derive from our command of the seas. If the U. S. remains on its present trajectory, its seapower and power projection capabilities may be eclipsed and its influence eroded in critical regions overseas. In the past, Congress has responded to similar threats by undertaking great expansions of air and maritime forces. These buildups reenergized American seapower and projection forces and sustained them for another generation. Given the challenges and constraints of the present, a different response from Congress and the Pentagon is required. Building more things will be part of the solution, but we need innovative capabilities and concepts that will, "change the game," in the many areas of military competition where the trends are unfavorable. While surface ships and forces ashore are coming under increased threat from anti-access/area-denial [A2/AD] capabilities and being forced to operate at longer ranges, U. S. submarines still enjoy freedom of maneuver and the ability to operate with near impunity under the sea. In the view of many respected defense leaders and analysts, this provides an enduring strategic advantage that the United States should leverage to offset competitors' growing strength in other areas.