NPS creates new warfare studies institute
MONTEREY >> The Naval Postgraduate School on Friday commissioned a new school geared specifically to pull together a number of technological and operational disciplines to address what it is calling the “great power competition.”
The Hughes Naval Warfare Studies Institute’s mission is to “coordinate NPS inter- disciplinary research and education to accelerate and enhance warfare concepts and capability development while preparing students for future conflict.”
The idea of the institute is to provide Navy and Marine Corps groups that have complex operational problems or perceived warfighting gaps access to 600 technical experts and students with operational experience, said retired Navy Capt. Jeff Kline, the director of the institute.
“This is an institution that can call on help from different people in different domains, different warfare chairs, different faculty and students to address key operational problems,” Kline said.
NPS refers to a “Great Power Competition” that realistically includes three nations: the U.S., China and Russia. The Navy says the Hughes Naval Warfare Studies Institute is critical in retaining a technological and tactical edge to prevail in potential future conflicts where adversaries increasingly threaten the Navy’s control of the seas.
For example, a new concept the institute could help direct is called “distributed maritime operations” that would enable a force that is capable of winning a fleet- on-fleet engagement with both manned and unmanned systems the use of deceptive tactics and the strengthening of units to conduct offensive strikes.
The institute is named after retired Capt. Wayne Hughes, who died last year. Hughes was known for his published works, notably “Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations” first published in 1986. It is considered a key resource for naval officers to study battle planning and tactical thinking, the Navy said.
Hughes, who was also a professor at NPS, was also known for his advocacy of smaller boats or drones — what the Navy likes to call “smaller weapons-carrying platforms.” These smaller boats can be thought of as newer cousins to the “swift boats” used in tactical operations in Vietnam.
Their modern versions are still in the concept phase, the Navy said.