Defense News: Navy Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) Concept

Key Chapter Title List

1. Introduction
2. Term Definition: Concept of Operations
3. Brief Overview of the DMO Concept
4. Operational Concepts of Other U.S. Military Services
5. Selected Navy Acquisition Programs Related to DMO
6. Potential Congressional Oversight Issues
7. Relevant CRS Research Products
8. Other Reference Resources

Document Introduction

This report, updated by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on July 3, 2024, focuses on the Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) concept jointly proposed by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. This concept is the core operational philosophy of the Department of the Navy for addressing high-end maritime conflicts, primarily targeting adversaries (especially China) possessing robust anti-ship missile and ship detection/strike capabilities. The report's core issues revolve around the adequacy of Congressional information access regarding the DMO concept and the alignment of related Department of the Navy programs with budgets, providing professional reference for legislative debate.

As an overarching framework guiding specific military forces in conducting operations, a concept of operations supports the implementation of strategies and war plans for specific conflicts and is also manifested through the actions of tactical units such as ships and aircraft. As a foundational operational concept for the U.S. Navy, the core objective of DMO is to penetrate China's maritime Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) system, ensuring U.S. forces can effectively conduct missions within the areas covered by that system. Its key characteristics include: dispersing naval units within an operational area to increase adversary difficulty in detection and targeting; distributing sensors and weapon systems to reduce combat power loss from the destruction of a single platform; enhancing the application of long-range weapons, unmanned ships, and aircraft; and relying on resilient communication links and network technology to build collaborative combat power capable of withstanding enemy cyber attacks.

The report also outlines supporting operational concepts from other U.S. military services, including the Air Force's Agile Combat Employment (ACE), the Army's Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), and the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) within the Department of the Navy. These concepts share common features emphasizing the use of unmanned systems and networked coordination among distributed units. Regarding DMO-supporting acquisition programs, the report lists key projects such as long-range weapons (e.g., Maritime Strike Tomahawk missile, Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile LRASM), Large Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSV), Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSV), Light Replenishment Oilers (TAOL), and Medium Landing Ships (LSM), detailing the functional role of each within the DMO framework.

Potential Congressional oversight issues cover multiple dimensions: the adequacy of information access to the DMO concept and the need for classified and unclassified reports; the analytical basis and exercise validation for the Navy's adoption of DMO; the degree of coordination between DMO and other services' operational concepts; the alignment of Navy budgets and programs with DMO and their impact on the shipbuilding and weapons acquisition industrial base; constraints on DMO implementation posed by long-range weapon inventories; technical challenges and wartime survivability of communication network technologies; risks of concept misuse; and the feasibility of proposed ship and weapon upgrade initiatives to advance DMO, among others.

The data and analysis in this report are entirely based on official Department of the Navy statements, operational concept documents, and related research. It provides comprehensive and authoritative information support for Congress in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities and assessing the strategic value of DMO, while also serving as a core reference for defense researchers seeking to understand the transformation of U.S. maritime warfare.