U.S. to send floating floating drone base to Mideast, called an “afloat forward staging base.

U.S. to send floating floating drone base  to Mideast, called an “afloat forward staging base.(Stratfor).WASHINGTON—Within the president’s defense-budget plan is funding for an intriguing new item: a floating drone base that also could be used as a launching pad for commandos.
The vessel—called an “afloat forward staging base”—would be a platform that could be configured to carry and refuel small patrol boats, helicopters or pilotless aircraft.
Within the president’s new defense budget plan is funding for an intriguing new item: a floating drone base that also could be used as a launching pad for commandos. Nathan Hodge has details on The News Hub.It would also give the U.S. military the ability to stage a small strike force offshore—without obtaining a permission slip from another country for access to a land base.
Details are still emerging, but the project offers insight into how the Obama administration envisions a military that in some ways is more lethal even as it contracts.
Plans for the specialized vessel fit neatly with the Obama administration’s plans to grow special-operations forces, while slimming down conventional forces such as the Army and Marine Corps.
Senior officials want to provide military commanders with affordable sea-base options without necessarily sending a big-deck aircraft carrier and a full complement of escort ships.
James Jay Carafano, a national-security expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation "this kind of capability was “not a silver bullet,” because such vessels would still have to be sustained and protected by conventional forces.'“It’s a very limited capability,” he said, adding: “Normally, when we do stuff like this, they wouldn’t want to advertise it. It does seem to be a PR campaign for a smaller, leaner, more flexible military.”Read the full story here.