The Future of Strategic ASW

Written at the end of the Cold War, this 1990 conference paper foreshadowed the arguments that would determine ASW force structure in the next 30 years. Today, with great-power competition near another peak, the US Navy struggling to project power into anti-access/area denial ""bastions"", and China investing heavily both in oceanic power projection and space surveillance of the oceans, strategic ASW once again may rise to the forefront. This document discusses the importance of strategic anti-submarine warfare (ASW) in the maritime strategies of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France in the 1990s. It explores the potential impact of ASW on the survivability of strategic submarines and the nuclear balance between these countries. The document concludes that while the prospects for success in a dedicated ASW campaign against an adversary's strategic submarines are poor, there may be some benefit in tying down non-strategic naval forces. The importance of ASW varies depending on the country and its specific strategic nuclear capabilities. This annotated edition illustrates the capabilities of the AI Lab for Book-Lovers to add context and ease-of-use to manuscripts. It includes five types of abstracts, building from simplest to more complex: TLDR (one word), ELI5, TLDR (vanilla), Scientific Style, and Action Items; three essays to increase viewpoint diversity: Grounds for Dissent, Red Team Critique, and MAGA Perspective; and Notable Passages and Nutshell Summaries for each page.