FRAGO 01/2019: A design for
Maintaining maritime superiority
DEC 2019
Our Navy’s strategic direction, focused on Great Power Competition, is sound. This Fragmentary
Order is written for senior Navy leaders to simplify, prioritize, and build on the foundation of
Design 2.0 issued in December 2018. We will focus our efforts toward Warfighting, Warfighters,
and the Future Navy, expanding on the momentum we have gained as a Navy over the past two
years guided by both the National Defense Strategy (NDS) and the National Military Strategy
(NMS).
Mission One for every Sailor – active and reserve, uniformed and civilian – is the operational
readiness of today’s Navy. Our nation expects a ready Navy – ready to fight today – and our
commitment to the training, maintenance, and modernization that will also ensure a Navy ready
for tomorrow. We will deliver this Navy.
Modern naval operations are in rapid transition, demanding the integrated, multi-domain
capabilities of our fleets. We will respond to this transition with urgency. Our fleets will be
ready to fight and win at sea – keeping that fight forward, far from the homeland. Underpinned
by resilient reach-back/reach-forward and logistics capabilities, we will deliver a combat credible
maritime force, ready to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations at sea. We must also
succeed in sustained, day-to-day competition, winning future fights before they become kinetic.
Together with the United States Marine Corps, our Navy is the bedrock of Integrated American
Naval Power, a force capable of fulfilling the mandate of the NDS and NMS. We will remain
steadfast in our alliances and partnerships, which remain indispensable in any future fight. We
will apply time, effort, and resources to grow naval power and think differently to find every
competitive advantage.
We will focus our efforts on Warfighting, Warfighters, and the Future Navy.

Warfighting
End State: A Navy that is ready to win across the full range of military operations in competition,
crisis, and contingency by persistently operating forward with agility and flexibility in an alldomain battlespace. Our Navy must be the best when the nation needs it the most. On a daily
basis, our objective is to have our fleet sustainably manned, trained, equipped, and integrated
into the Joint Force. Deployed forward, we will be ready to meet requirements directed by the
Secretary of Defense, the tasking of Combatant Commanders, and be prepared to surge with
the Joint Force in crisis. Our fleet will be a potent, formidable force that competes around the
world every day, deterring those who would challenge us while reassuring our allies and partners.
Joining with the Marine Corps, we will deliver decisive Integrated American Naval Power when
called.

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 To do this, we will:
Improve Ship Depot-Level Maintenance and Modernization. To responsibly grow and
dynamically operate the fleet, we will predictably and effectively maintain the fleet – in
peacetime and in support of conflict. As we have learned over the past decade, it is cheaper
to maintain readiness than to buy it back. Our toughest near-term challenge is reversing the
trend of delivering only 40% of our ships from maintenance on time. As the fleet ages, we must
continue to invest deliberately to modernize our weapons, sensors, and platforms to outpace
adversary trends. Working with the shipyards and leveraging data analytics to identify and close
performance gaps, the Naval Sea Systems Command, supported by the Type Commanders, will
deliver a plan in 60 days that develops and sustains the industrial base. We will further develop
and implement better productivity metrics and identify the key levers to deliver all depot
availabilities on time and in full. Our goal is to improve productivity, reduce lost days through
depot availability extensions by 80% in FY20 compared with FY19, and eliminate lost days
through depot extensions by the end of FY21.
Assess Our Force Generation Model. Recent revisions to the Combatant Commanders’
operations plans, the Joint Staff’s global campaign plans, and globally integrated base plans
will inform the Secretary of Defense’s Directed Readiness Tables (DRT). The FY21 DRT will drive
the readiness posture of the Joint Force to deploy forces. We will assess our Optimized Fleet
Response Plan to ensure our force generation: (i) meets top-down requirements for rotational
deployments while providing our Sailors stable, predictable deployment cycles; (ii) meets surge
requirements for crises; (iii) provides adequate time to maintain and modernize the fleet; (iv)
resets the force after a crisis; and (v) provides accountable logistics support. U.S. Fleet Forces
(USFF) will lead this assessment in coordination with Commander Pacific Fleet (CPF) and Naval
Forces Europe and Africa (NAVEUR) with results due by January 2020.
Leverage the Power of the Integrated Fleet. We fight and win as a team. We are greater
when we integrate more closely with the Marine Corps. We will build capability with our most
natural partner, tying more closely with the Marine Corps at all levels. Together, we will build
Navy-Marine Corps integration by aligning concepts, capabilities, programming, planning,
budgeting, and operations to provide Integrated American Naval Power to the Joint Force. Our
Deputy Chiefs of Naval Operations (DCNOs) – along with our Echelon II Commanders – will drive
this integration with their Marine Corps counterparts. Opportunities include our cyberspace
operations, war-game and exercise programs, development of the Naval Tactical Grid, and
potential Dynamic Force Employment options.
Design and Implement a Warfighting Development Campaign Plan. We will leverage
advances in our warfighting capability, by integrating and accelerating them with a Warfighting
Development Campaign Plan to provide effective deterrence today and ensure the Navy wins the
next war, should it occur. The plan will ensure alignment of the Navy’s strategy with higher-level
guidance, and provide strategic guidance for the fleet: design, architecture, command, control,
communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and targeting
(C5ISR&T) requirements, and resource decisions. It will accelerate Navy institutional learning
related to key operational problems; prioritize and align the Navy’s analytic efforts; and be fully
informed at all levels of classification by intelligence, our own capabilities, and operational plans.
OPNAV N7 will provide this plan by January 2020 and subsequently lead implementation.

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 Master Fleet-Level Warfare. Our fleet design and operating concepts demand that fleets be
the operational center of warfare. We will learn from fleet battle problems and the Large Scale
Exercise (LSE) 2020, then restore annual LSEs as the means by which we operate, train, and
experiment with large force elements. Fleet exercises will be led by fleet commanders leveraging
operational concepts like Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO), Expeditionary Advanced Base
Operations (EABO), and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE). Combined
with wargaming, the exercises will serve as the key opportunity for experimentation and the
development and testing of alternative concepts. These exercises and experiments will inform
doctrine and tactics; future fleet headquarters requirements, capacity, and size; and investments
in future platforms and capabilities. As we develop our plans for future LSEs, we will leverage
experience from Combatant Command, Joint, and other service exercises to better prepare the
Navy to integrate, support, and lead the Joint Force in a future fight. DCNOs will collect lessons
from these exercises to inform submissions for Program Objective Memorandum (POM) 23 and
beyond.
Accelerate Performance Improvement. Intensifying competition requires more from us and yet
we cannot expect our budgetary allowances to grow – we have to perform better under these
conditions. We will hold ourselves accountable for performing to plan (P2P) across our business
practices including force development, force generation, and force employment. We will broadly
embrace a P2P mindset, shifting our focus from rearward-looking assessments and activity to
forward-looking projections of key outcomes. Our leaders will find the real levers of performance
through data-driven insights. When confronted with a barrier to moving a key performance lever,
we must remove it or elevate it to a specific leader to address. OPNAV N8 will continue to serve
as the lead agent for our P2P efforts.
Expand our Digital Competitive Advantage. Effective DMO with integrated platforms,
weapons, and sensors requires a new, resilient operational architecture: Joint All Domain
Command and Control (JADC2). We will operate and defend this architecture as a warfighting
platform, enabling the secure flow of data to gain decision superiority across the Joint Force. We
will leverage the power of networks, cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
– including tactical clouds on our platforms and shore infrastructure – to connect all weapons and
sensors. Digitization increases lethality, integrates new technologies, and improves information
warfare capabilities. We will also transform our legacy business systems to improve our agility
and readiness. We will partner with other services, industry, academia, and our science and
technology community to deliver these capabilities. The Navy’s Digital Transformation Office will
deliver our initial operational framework in coordination with OPNAV N2N6 and supported by the
Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, in January 2020. Additionally, OPNAV N2N6 will
lead coordination with the Department of the Navy’s Chief Information Officer and implement
our integrated information management strategy.
Further Integrate Space, Cyber, Electronic Warfare, and Special Operations Into Fleet
Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs). While MOCs have resident intelligence, cryptologic
warfare, communications, and meteorology/oceanography capabilities, fleet staffs must
strengthen and synchronize space, full-spectrum cyber, electronic warfare (EW), and information
operations (IO) to fight effectively across all domains. We will leverage LSE 2020 to pilot a
dedicated Information Warfare cell integrated within a MOC to more effectively execute space,
cyber, EW, IO, and special operations forces into all-domain operations and enhance our ability

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 to operate in denied areas. USFF and CPF, supported by Naval Warfare Development Command
(NWDC) and the Information Warfare Type Commander (IW TYCOM), will deliver a plan to
achieve this integration in January 2020. This requires more than a “bolt-on” solution, and should
not necessarily cause manpower requirements to grow.
The results of LSE 2020 will refine the requirements and timeline for dedicated IW cells in all Fleet
MOCs as part of POM 22. Additionally, the IW TYCOM, supported by Fleet Cyber Command/U.S.
Tenth Fleet, will develop a plan to field small tactical cyber teams as forces for fleet commanders
by February 2020.
Build Alliances and Partnerships. While we prepare for the next war and provide effective
deterrence in the meantime, we must recognize the fight we are in right now. Though we are
not exchanging fire with our competitors, we are battling for influence and positional advantage
today. Operating and exercising together with allies and partners, our fleet commanders will
focus on full interoperability at the high end of naval warfare. We will build on existing maritime
intelligence and logistics partnerships with allied nations, and expand relationships with partner
nations to broaden and strengthen global maritime awareness and access.
Assess the Navy’s Ashore Infrastructure Investment Strategy. Historically, we have assumed
significant risk in shore infrastructure investment by diverting funds to increase afloat readiness,
future force structure, and other priorities. This risk manifests itself over time with reductions
to combat readiness, productivity, and quality of life for our Sailors. The Navy must account
for infrastructure investments to support our force. Additionally, today’s networks need to be
resilient, agile, extensible, and maneuverable – ashore and afloat – to accomplish the mission.
Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) will deliver, by March 2020, an assessment
of readiness-based risk in the shore through FY26. Leveraging CNIC’s readiness assessment,
OPNAV N4 will generate by April 2020, a long-term strategy to mitigate these risks. This
strategy will also inform an enhanced readiness assessment and reporting structure whereby
shore readiness forms part of a unified fleet readiness picture assessed by and reported through
Fleet Commanders.

Warfighters
End State: A world-class naval force though recruitment, education, training, and retention of
talented American men and women – a force that also empowers Navy families through the
initiatives under the Navy Family Framework 3.0.
To do this, we will:

Accelerate Ready, Relevant Learning (RRL). To retain our competitive advantage, I expect that
every U.S. Navy Sailor be trained better than his or her Chinese or Russian counterparts. Sailors
who enlist today are learning in vastly different ways than in the past. RRL is the Navy’s answer to
this cultural reality. From the waterfront, to traditional brick-and-mortar schoolhouses, to mobile
devices at home, RRL’s agile learning methods provide what operators need on the deckplates
and the flight line to be ready to fight. At the heart of this effort, we will empower Sailors

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 to master skills critical to naval warfare and we will use technology as a tool to enhance that
capability. USFF, as executive agent for RRL, will provide an assessment as described in the Vision
and Guidance for RRL by December 2021, focusing on implementation outcomes and promoting
alignment between training requirements and budgetary authorities.
Integrate and Align Naval Education Into Warfighting Development. Learning is the ultimate
warfare enabler and the intellectual development of our Sailors provides our most critical
warfighting capabilities. Under the Naval University System, we will prioritize and align academic
efforts and resources for all naval education activities to achieve warfighting advantage. Student
and faculty research in warfighting concepts and technology will contribute directly towards
this end. Longer term, we will instill continuous learning behaviors to broaden and deepen
warfighting knowledge which will enable adaptation, improvement, and strengthen mission
command to outthink and outfight any adversary. OPNAV N7, in consultation with the Navy’s
Chief Learning Officer, will provide a naval education strategy by January 2020.
Mature and Expand Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) Training. Computational power and
tactical clouds are blurring the boundaries between real and simulated training such that these
distinctions no longer matter. We must embrace LVC Training to preserve our advantages,
allowing units at all stages of force generation to maximize training for high-end warfare. To
retain our readiness advantage, OPNAV N9 will continue development of a LVC environment,
integrating the intensity of live with high-fidelity synthetic representations. LVC will allow us
to optimize training time and enable operators to develop and master tactics, techniques, and
procedures in secure, controllable conditions.
Build on a Culture of Excellence (CoE). Aiming to simply avoid doing the wrong thing is too
low a bar; we will actively pursue the things that are right. The CoE emphasizes signature
behaviors, those that capture the high ideals espoused in our Core Values of Honor, Courage,
and Commitment. Within the next several months, the Chief of Naval Personnel (CNP) will pilot
a comprehensive suite of tools to assist commanders, commanding officers, and the Chiefs’ Mess
in promoting a CoE. We will use analytics, decision aids, and the assessments provided by the
Navy Inspector General to empower leaders to intervene before destructive behaviors arise,
make risk decisions, and emphasize the role of character in promoting trust and confidence within
the Navy and with the public we defend. Recruit Training Command (RTC) Warrior Toughness
Training Initiatives will provide our newest Sailors with the strength and resilience required to
achieve a CoE by using a spirit and character-based approach that incorporates mental and
physical techniques. This holistic training must continue to evolve, leveraging the most advanced
concepts of the behavioral sciences. Further, we must strengthen the Warrior Toughness ethos
across a Sailor’s entire career such that we never lose the momentum built during initial training.
Assess our Strategic Depth. The Navy relies on its reserve component to provide a sustainable
source of additional manpower, critical skills, and equipment to deter and defeat our adversaries
in all of our nation’s conflicts. The Chief of Navy Reserve (CNR) will lead a full assessment of the
reserve component’s resourcing, manning, mobilization, and capability to meet great power
competition demands in coordination with fleet commanders by April 2020.
Transform Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education. CNP conceptualized and rapidly
implemented tools to reduce the burdens on Sailors and their families.

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 We will not stop until our pay and personnel system rivals that of the world’s most successful
companies. We will continue to use digital applications and cloud computing to free Sailors from
the distractions of complex life events that occur during a career of service. We must man our
platforms at their stated requirement. CNP will develop a plan by April 2020 to ensure manning
wholeness by building and properly allocating the distributable inventory to the fleet, thus
minimizing gaps at sea.
Integrate Decision Science Into Leadership Development. Advancements in decision science
are enabling better decisions at all levels of leadership. Improved decision-making – from the
deckplates to the Flag Bridge – is a decisive advantage in stressful conditions, particularly during
combat. Further, the quality of decision-making by our leaders enables successful mission
command. Decision science will be included in leader development in all levels of training and
education to improve our understanding of human judgment and, through that understanding,
improve decision-making and leadership. OPNAV N1 (for training) and OPNAV N7 (for
education) will provide a plan to integrate decision science into leader development by February
2020.
Make Cybersecurity Part of our DNA. Cybersecurity is commanders’ business. Commanders
need to own it. Commanders will understand the status of their networks and systems and the
potential operational risk they are assuming if readiness has degraded. By January 2020, Fleet
Cyber Command, supported by Naval Information Forces, will create operational cyber readiness
training for all commanders and a standardized cyber readiness dashboard so commanders
understand the integrity of the systems upon which they and their forces rely, and the risks they
are assuming.

Future Navy
End State: A Navy fully prepared to fight and win. Our Navy will be equipped with the
right capabilities and numbers to execute our operating concepts. In order to maintain the
maritime competitive advantage envisioned in our fleet design, we will ensure the wholeness of
combat capable and lethal forces maximizing the benefits of Distributed Maritime Operations,
Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment.
We will develop and field affordable, lethal, numerous, and connected capabilities. We will use
experimentation, exercises, and wargames to determine what is required to operate forward
– firepower, capacity, command and control, and logistics; build the fleet to match; and train
together until we achieve seamlessly integrated combat power across the naval and Joint Force.
To do this, we will:

Enhance and Exploit our Core Warfighting Advantages. The Navy’s first acquisition priority is
recapitalizing our Strategic Nuclear Deterrent. We will continue to drive affordability, technology
development, and engineering integration efforts to: (i) support COLUMBIA’s fleet introduction
on time or earlier; (ii) maintain mastery of the undersea domain; and (iii) sustain a formidable
forward presence through our aircraft carrier fleet.

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 Develop and Field Platforms and Weapons to Support Precision, Long-Range, Lethal
Fires. Numbers matter. We will fully realize the inherent flexibility of DMO when we provide
the capability to mass fires and effects from distributed and networked assets. Setting our
operational tempo by the need to aggregate forces limits our responsiveness. We will have
an offensive capability from first contact. We will re-examine our force structure and 30-year
shipbuilding plans through continuous, integrated assessment with the Marine Corps to define
and develop the platforms – both manned and unmanned – needed to provide overwhelming
fires to fleet commanders. These capabilities will establish maritime superiority when and where
needed. OPNAV N7 will adjust my budget guidance to align with this document and, with
DCNOs, make clear-eyed evaluations of the relative warfighting value of Navy programs in this
strategic environment. OPNAV N8 and all DCNOs will adjust their programs to meet this end
state in POM 22. OPNAV N9 will lead our Warfighting Requirements Process to develop and
approve warfighting requirements to achieve a more highly integrated end state.
Incorporate Manned and Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) and Autonomy. The congested and
contested operating environments of today will only become more challenging. We will leverage
technology to expand our reach, lethality, and warfighter awareness. We will increase funding
for experimentation and development of technologies to advance autonomous and MUM-T
systems employment in undersea, surface, and air warfare. OPNAV N9 and N4 will develop and
incorporate unmanned systems to make the fleet more survivable and resilient, and increase
the lethal challenges and operational dilemmas we pose to an adversary, especially in terms of
transforming, modernizing, and revolutionizing mine warfare.
Make Naval Logistics More Agile and Resilient. Our naval logistics enterprise enables the
effective and efficient employment of our forces in dispersed, forward environments across
the spectrum of conflict. Repair capabilities, weapons magazines and reload, sustainment and
resupply, refueling capability, and the provision of combat medical services to revive our forces
will be aligned to support operational requirements of DMO. In conjunction with the Navy’s
Ashore Infrastructure Investment Strategy, we will examine naval logistics structure, basing,
capabilities, and business systems to support the forward fleet, with the goal of driving inventory
readiness and accountability as demonstrated through audit. OPNAV N4 will lead this effort in
coordination with other DCNOs.
Bend the Cost Curve. We have developed exquisite defensive capabilities that have a very high
cost-per-shot, designed to defeat threats with a very low cost-per-shot. In an era of constrained
budgets and facing competitors with similarly sized economies, and with the low barriers to entry
presented by rapid technological development, we must be exceptionally disciplined in allocating
resources to improve the offensive power and defensive strength of the fleet. This will include
fielding high-return technologies such as directed energy (OPNAV N9) and electronic warfare
(OPNAV N2N6).
Improve Fiscal Stewardship. Ongoing reform and audit initiatives allow the Navy to better
leverage the capital we have, better invest financial resources, and better enable us to deliver
more warfighting capability for every tax dollar entrusted to us by the American people. We will
relentlessly pursue transparency and accountability in our accounting, business, and inventory
systems through audit and evaluation. DCNOs will lead coordination with all Navy budget
submission authorities to achieve this goal.

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 Conclusion
I am confident that we will maximize the Navy we have today while delivering the Navy that
our nation will rely upon tomorrow. We will do so with urgency. As we focus on the future, we
will value and celebrate our heritage. Our Core Values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment
and our attributes of Integrity, Accountability, Initiative, and Toughness will always guide us.
They underpin who we are as members of the profession of arms: united by our common oath,
dedicated to our special standards of ethics and character, and constantly honing our unique
expertise in the art and science of naval warfare.
We will continue to challenge our assumptions. As we do so, we may find areas to adjust within
these priorities. I will update this FRAGO when necessary to ensure our efforts remain aligned.
We have much to do. Your tenacity, drive, and initiative will take us where we need to go - and
do so at a flank bell.

M. M. Gilday
Admiral, U.S. Navy
Chief of Naval Operations

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