CNO Foreword           


For over two hundred and twenty years America's naval forces - the Navy and Marine Corps - have been forward - deployed, on call and ready to respond. In peacetime, crisis, and conflict we have answered our nation's call on countless occasions in every region of the world. Today, we find ourselves in an era of "chaotic peace" where the challenges, though sometimes ambiguous, are as daunting as ever. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, along with the availability of sophisticated weapons and commercial information technology on the open market contribute to uncertain and often dangerous international situations. Our nation's need for unencumbered, forward-deployed, expeditionary forces to provide true flexibility for rapid response will be critical in the 21st century. The unique expeditionary nature of our Service will permit America to respond whenever and wherever America's interests, citizens, or friends are at risk. Most recently, the Navy-Marine Corps Team has responded in real-world operations in the Caribbean, Africa, Bosnia, Albania, the Arabian Gulf, Western Pacific, and Northeast Asia.

The expeditionary nature of naval forces means that we will continue to be the force of choice for crisis response. Our unique ability to provide combat-capable, self-sustained, unencumbered forces on-scene, almost indefinitely, that can influence and "shape" events ashore, will ensure that we can prevent situations from developing into a crisis or conflict. Our ability to achieve and sustain full battlespace dominance will become ever more important. Naval Aviation ‹ Navy-Marine Corps Aviation - will play a critical role in ensuring that we have battlespace dominance in future conflicts. The twin centerpieces of naval expeditionary forces are our aircraft carriers with their embarked air wings and our amphibious assault ships with their embarked Marine Expeditionary Units. The multimission aircraft that are part of these units give us the unique flexibility to respond quickly and precisely. The question for our vision of the future is "How can we best leverage technology and implement innovation?" We must exploit the rapid changes in technology to better enhance our precision strike, battlespace superiority, operational maneuver, and information dominance to remain relevant in a still-dangerous world.

Implementing our vision for the future is important to ensure continued success well into the next century. We must be organized, trained, and equipped to meet the challenges that will confront us. Our goal, therefore, is to give our people the tools they need to do what they have always done - to go in harm's way and prevail. This document provides a vision of Naval Aviation's long-range strategic planning. It was produced not by policy-makers in Washington, but by a team of Fleet aviators from all communities. Our planning and programming decisions must be focused on being ready both today and 20 years from now. Our country deserves no less.
 

Jay L. Johnson
Admiral, U.S. Navy
Chief of Naval Operations
 
 

Naval Aviation Vision Statement  Chief of Naval Operations Forward  Commandant of the Marine Corps Foreward
  Introduction  New Challenges...Enduring Realities  Naval Aviation:  Capabilities for Today... and Tomorrow
Sharpening the Vision:  The Process  Section 1:  Element Definitions and Goals
Section 2:  Program Plans, Descriptions and Roadmaps  Acronyms  Director Air Warfare Closing Remarks