Though the Navy had already advertised it was updating its desired fleet size and composition, after a 2016 effort pegged the future fleet at 355 ships, the service is now taking an even bigger step: working on an Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment that also includes emerging unmanned and expeditionary platforms to support new concepts of warfare, according to a memo signed by the chief of naval operations and commandant of the Marine Corps.
Are we actually going to have a seapower debate instead of the fruitless carrier debates that had both sides arguing past each other?
Let's hope so. We can't assume sea control as a given as we could during the post-Cold War era.
