The Navy’s decision to rename its expeditionary forces command followed years of internal review that began after the Afghanistan War ended. Rear Adm. Bradley Andros, who leads the recently rebranded Commander, Navy Expeditionary Forces, described the lengthy transition during a media roundtable Thursday.
Andros said efforts to convert the organization from a command into a type command began well before the official change on Oct. 1. The shift reflects a different organizational role for the Navy unit and its expeditionary personnel.
A command functions as a military or service branch component that performs numerous duties, including deploying forces. A type command, also known as a TYCOM, trains a specific class of sailor and oversees the maintenance and management of specialized weapons systems.
The organization was formed in 2006 as Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Its mission was to provide individuals or units to U.S. Central Command that were not operating afloat, flying or beneath the sea.
“Five years ago the question that was asked was, okay, we built this command to do that in the last war and so we reflected on what do we need for the next war,” Andros told Navy Times. That review raised a fundamental question about the organization’s continued purpose.
“Do we even need this anymore?” Andros said he asked himself at one point. Answering that question required the Navy to examine the command’s original purpose and determine whether it could adapt to and complement future combat environments.
When Navy Expeditionary Combat Command was established, its first responsibility was consolidating and managing scattered Navy components operating under different command and control arrangements. Those assets included reserve and active components that did not share the same organizational structure.
Some of the components reported directly to U.S. Fleet Forces Command or U.S. Pacific Fleet. Others operated under type commands, creating a varied organizational picture for the expeditionary elements the command was expected to manage.
The U.S. led Global War on Terror campaign then created joint force demand for multiple specialized forces to support combat operations. Such responsibilities would normally be handled by a type command, but the Navy determined that Navy Expeditionary Combat Command could perform those duties.
The command worked to ensure deployed combat forces met the capabilities and specific requirements requested by the U.S. Central Command commander. Its role expanded as operational needs required more personnel, specialized skills and reserve mobilization.
Navy Expeditionary Combat Command became an all purpose organization that trained sailors to temporarily fill personnel shortages. It also filled billets requiring specialized skills and mobilized reserve service members to support combat demands.
Once the Afghanistan War ended, the command was forced to reassess its future and determine whether it still fit into the Navy’s plans. The review focused on what role expeditionary forces would play in a future conflict.
Following studies and analysis, Andros and other Navy officials concluded that expeditionary forces would remain critical in the next fight. The Navy would continue relying on them as key enablers to mobilize, sustain and move the fleet forward.
The service decided the organization’s next step was designation as a type command, a structure aligned with capabilities it had already demonstrated. The renamed command will also work alongside the Navy’s continuing research and fielding efforts involving autonomous weapons systems.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle announced the rebranding in a C-NOte. Caudle said the expeditionary force was particularly important as the Navy developed new methods for employing unmanned systems in austere maritime environments and expanding seabed and subsea warfare capabilities.
The Navy’s Robotic and Autonomous Systems Warfighting Development Center is headquartered at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, where Navy Expeditionary Forces is also based. Andros said the partnership between Commander, Navy Expeditionary Forces and Christopher Miller, the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, was a natural fit.
“The way that robotic and autonomous systems are forming up, and the way that we have to man, train [and] equip these forces or these tools that are going to get inserted into the fleet, it looks more like what we do than what a ship or a submarine does to force generate,” Andros said.