Surface Navy 2025: US fleet forces commander underscores need for navy peacetime force-generation model revamp

The US Navy (USN) needs to change the way it generates peacetime forces, according to Admiral Daryl Caudle, commander of US Fleet Forces Command.

“Our existing model of steady, peacetime force generation, the Optimized Fleet Response Plan or OFRP, was created during a period of unquestioned American dominance,” Adm Caudle said on 15 January during his keynote speech at the Surface Navy Association National Symposium 2025.

“Unfortunately, it is neither optimised nor responsive for flowing combat-ready units out of phase, with little to no notice,” Adm Caudle explained.

“The reason it falls so short of this goal is predominantly based on a key assumption that simply does not hold – that units returning from deployment would be sustained in a combat-ready status for at least six months,” he said, adding, “Maintenance and modernisation challenges prevent that from occurring. Not to mention shortages with ordnance and sailors.”

OFRP was designed to operate like a “36-month conveyer belt”, providing a steady flow of global forces that are “exquisitely” trained and equipped to execute multiple peacetime mission sets, in addition to high-end modern combat in an affordable manner, he noted.

Specifically, he said, “For years we've been able to ‘rob Peter to pay Paul' across bins between strike group units to meet our peacetime deployment and joint force presence requirements.”

Unfortunately, Adm Caudle pointed out, “Peer adversaries don't design their war plans around our OFRP. If OFRP is anything, it's predictable by design. That predictability coupled with the use of social media posts that illuminate our scheduled events … can only embolden our adversary's planning and confidence.”