STUDIES OF FLEET PLATFORM ARCHITECTURES FOR THE NAVY.

SEC. 216. STUDIES OF FLEET PLATFORM ARCHITECTURES FOR THE NAVY.(a) Independent Studies.—(1) The Secretary of Defense shall provide for the performance of two independent studies of alternative future fleet platform architectures for the Navy.(2) The Secretary shall forward the results of each study to the congressional defense committees not later than January 15, 2005. (3) Each such study shall be submitted both in unclassified, and to the extent necessary, in classified versions.(b) Entities to Perform Studies.—The Secretary of Defense shall provide for the studies under subsection (a) to be performed as follows:(1) One study shall be performed by a federally funded research and development center.(2) The other study shall be performed by the Office of Force Transformation within the Office of the Secretary of Defense and shall include participants from (A) the Office of Net Assessment within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, (B) the Department of the Navy, and (C) the Joint Staff.(c) Performance of Studies.—(1) The Secretary of Defense shall require the two studies under this section to be conducted independently of each other.(2) In performing a study under this section, the organization performing the study, while being aware of the current and projected fleet platform architectures, shall not be limited by the current or projected fleet platform architecture and shall consider the following:(A) The National Security Strategy of the United States.(B) Potential future threats to the United States and to United States naval forces.(C) The traditional roles and missions of United States naval forces.(D) Alternative roles and missions for United States naval forces.(E) Other government and non-government analyses that would contribute to the study through variations in study assumptions or potential scenarios.(F) The role of evolving technology on future naval forces.117 STAT. 1419(G) Opportunities for reduced manning and unmanned ships and vehicles in future naval forces.(d) Study Results.—The results of each study under this section shall—(1) present the alternative fleet platform architectures considered, with assumptions and possible scenarios identified for each;(2) provide for presentation of minority views of study participants; and(3) for the recommended architecture, provide—(A) the numbers, kinds, and sizes of vessels, the numbers and types of associated manned and unmanned vehicles, and the basic capabilities of each of those platforms; and(B) other information needed to understand that architecture in basic form and the supporting analysis.