Catamarans = Mini Sea Base

The leased U.S. Navy catamaran Swift -- "High Speed Vessel" in milspeak -- is headed to Latin America to test the Navy's new "Global Fleet Station" concept, which envisions transport ships acting as miniature sea bases, hauling and supporting contingents of engineers, boat crews, civil affairs specialists and doctors, all specializing in stabilizing and rebuilding failing states. Cue the press release!

Global Fleet Station pilot 2007 is a U.S. Southern Command-directed operation implemented by U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and carried out by HSV 2 Swift. Embarked on board Swift is the staff of Task Group 40.9 and several training teams from various U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard commands. U.S. Marine Corps and Department of State units are also planned to host information exchanges and training with the partnership countries.

I covered the fleet station idea with great excitement back in the fall for Defense Technology International:

[A] fleet station would be stacked with forces ideal for rebuilding ruined infrastructure, training foreign security forces and winning the support of suffering civilians, but its heaviest weapons would be the machine guns belonging to the transport-optimized riverine squadrons. ... Rear Admiral Don Bullard says this dearth of firepower is actually a strength for the mission. "The concept is to provide an unobtrusive persistent presence ... "

21st-century security means distributing smaller forces over a wider swath of territory to head off emerging crises and counter terrorist and insurgent groups by leveraging all aspects of soft power. The fleet station concept is perfect for these kinds of operations ... and would nicely complement the more heavily-armed but equally widely distributed Littoral Combat Ship force that would be tasked with securing coastal areas against smugglers, pirates and seaborne terrorists. Too bad the LCS is in danger of cancellation due to cost overruns.

Sadly, the High Speed Vessels, like Swift, that might support future fleet staions also are in danger of exceeding their budgets, as I report in the current issue of DTI:

Even if they can agree on Joint HSV’s layout, the [Army and Navy] face an uphill battle for funding. In light of their happy experience with WestPace Express, “the Marines would like to have a lot of these things,” [analyst Bob] Work reports. But with shipbuilding budgets stretched by cost overruns on LCS plus with new destroyers priced at $3 billion or more, tentative Navy plans call for buying only three JHSVs between 2009 and 2011 at a cost of around $200 million apiece. Work says that cost figure is unrealistic and that $400 million is more likely. The Army is planning to buy an initial four JHSVs over the same period, but appears unlikely reach its target fleet size if the cost grows, as expected. “The Army wanted 18 to 25,” Work says. “Once they get up to $400 million, the Army has to start saying that C-130s might be okay.” The bottom line for JHSV, Work says, is that “requirements, cost and program requirements all uncertain.”

Cross-posted at Ares