New Command Will Unify Navy's Maritime Force Protection Units

Sea Power, Sep 2004 by Burgess, Richard R

Force protection has been a hot issue for the U.S. Navy since the terrorist bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in 2000 and the beginning of the global war on terrorism. The subsequent buildup of the Navy's force protection units and weapons will culminate next month with the establishment of a new fleet-wide command to bring them under a single umbrella.

The Maritime Force Protection Command (MFPC) will be established on Oct. 1 at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Norfolk, Va., where many East Coast force protection units are based. The command's mission is to provide forces to protect Navy units and other assets that are outside secure installations or facilities. Elements of the new command are protecting oil terminals in Iraq, for example, and it will be responsible for the security and protection of Navy ships that drop anchor at some foreign ports.

The creation of the MFPC is indicative of a major restructuring within the Navy hierarchy. Until now, responsibility for force protection units was buried in the administrative staff structure of the surface force-type commanders in the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific fleets, where force protection forces competed for resources with the large surface combatants and combat systems. With the creation of this new Navy-wide command, force protection rises to a level befitting its current importance in U.S. naval operations.

MFPC, an element of Fleet Forces Command, will be responsible for training, equipping and deploying force protection units, as well as developing their doctrine, tactics and other standard procedures.

Capt. Mark E. Kosnik, selected to be the first commander of MFPC, will direct the force structure of existing naval coastal warfare squadrons (including inshore boat units and mobile inshore undersea warfare units), explosive ordnance disposal units, expeditionary salvage (diver) units and the recently created Navy Mobile security Force detachments. With a budget of approximately $52 million, he will supervise the training of more than 5,000 naval coastal warfare sailors and 2,000 sailors from explosive ordinance disposal and expeditionary salvage units.

MFPC is not intended to provide security at installations that have resident security forces. "Expeditionary" and "mobility" are key descriptors of the command's mission.

"When there is a requirement for a high-value asset [to be deployed] outside the traditional security of installations, then it's our mission to provide protection," Kosnik told Sea Power.

The force to be protected could be a ship - such as a Military Sealift Command logistics ship in a foreign port not frequented by Navy visits - or a high-value aircraft - such as an executive transport carrying VTPs or a P-3 surveillance aircraft - staged to a remote airfield with no resident security forces. Protection of maritime facilities such as Iraqi oil terminals from sabotage and direct attack also fall within the mission of mobile security force detachments and naval coastal warfare squadrons.

In june, the first operational Mobile security Force detachment took over security of the Khawr Al Amaya and Al Basrah oil terminals in Iraq, when they relieved the Interim Marine Corps security Force Bahrain. Mobile Security Force detachments operate 25-foot patrol boats that are deployable by Air Force C-5 transport aircraft.

Despite its expeditionary character, MFPC expects that its forces frequently will be assigned to homeland defense roles. Naval mobile security forces and naval coastal warfare units already have supported Coast Guard missions. Kosnik said the MFPC will have an "evolving relationship with the Coast Guard."

MFPC will send forces overseas as required by combatant commanders. For the foreseeable future, Kosnik expects to maintain two mobile security force detachments in the Middle East and one in Europe, and to keep explosive ordnance detachments deployed overseas as well. he also expects the naval coastal warfare squadrons - all of which are reserve units - to rotate to the Persian Gulf on a routine deployment schedule.

Kosnik said the implementation of the Sea Basing concept, a part of the Sea Power 21 strategy of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, is likely to increase the role of MFPC forces. Mobile sea bases, such as prepositioning ships operating away from established ports, may require more protection from hostile small craft and divers.

MFPC will be working with Fleet Forces Command in the latter's active-reserve integration studies. At issue is the possibility of shifting the naval coastal warfare squadrons from the reserve to the active force structure, Kosnik said.

By RICHARD R. BURGESS

Managing Editor