SWOBOSS Highlights Competitive Edge 2.0 at 2025 Surface Navy Association National Symposium

by Joseph Millar

14 January 2025
UNITED STATES

ARLINGTON, Va.— Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, commander, Naval Surface Force, emphasized the Competitive Edge 2.0 strategy and 250 years of our Navy’s ability to fight and win during his keynote remarks at the 37th Annual Surface Navy Association (SNA) National Symposium in Arlington, Va., Jan. 14.

McLane outlined his vision for the Surface Force centered on the new Competitive Edge 2.0 strategy and alignment of his efforts with the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti’s NAVPLAN initiatives to achieve 80% combat surge ready warships.

“CNO, in her NAVPLAN, charged us to ensure 80% of our Force is combat surge ready by 2027,” said McLane. “Combat surge ready is defined as a ship that’s complete with Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training, or ‘SWATT,’ and is ready to go.”

Competitive Edge 2.0 builds on the original by acknowledging what we have accomplished, what we have not accomplished, what we have learned, and where we need to change course. We retain the five Lines of Effort (LOE), as they are elemental to our approach to success for the Force.

“We’ve learned a lot from the last year in the Red Sea, and from recent years of fleet experiments with directed energy weapons and with unmanned surface vessels, and from our recent study of amphibious ship maintenance,” said McLane. “All of this rapid learning has been applied to our update of the Competitive Edge strategy. Thanks to the hard work and collaboration with our Flags, retired and active, especially NAVSEA, SURFLANT, N96, and SMWDC, we have revised our roadmap to achieve and sustain 80% of our warships in a combat surge ready state by 2027.”

The Competitive Edge 2.0 strategy details five broad lines of effort, assigning accountability, responsibility, and leadership roles while providing action items with prescribed timelines. Those lines of effort are:
- Develop the Leader, Warrior, Mariner, and Manager
- Produce More, Ready Ships
- Achieve Excellence in Capability Introduction
- Create Clear and Innovative Operational Operational Concepts
- Strengthen the Foundation for the Future Force

“Like any organization competing at the highest level, we update our strategy with the times and as we learn,” said McLane. “This strategy provides the demand signal to our enterprise to think and act differently, taking advantage of our opportunities, and accelerating our quest for a more ready Surface Force.”

For the U.S. Navy to maintain and extend its warfighting advantage in the decade ahead, the Surface Navy must achieve higher fleet readiness while simultaneously integrating new and upgraded platforms and capabilities, and most importantly, developing our warfighting Sailors.

“Our Sailors are the key to our warfighting advantage—our competitive edge,” said McLane. “One of the shortcomings of the original Competitive Edge Strategy was its insufficient emphasis on our Sailors, we are turning this around by concentrating on them as our key to sustained success at sea. Starting with Enlisted Leadership Development, we are moving out with a cultural renovation that produces a Surface Force with leaders who can assess, problem solve, innovate, and execute better and than any strategic competitor. We’ve achieved much here already with Warrior Toughness and Get Real, Get Better and that fires me up for the work ahead.”

McLane further emphasized line of effort 1 in the Competitive Edge 2.0 strategy - develop the leader, warrior, mariner and managers.

“To make better managers, we are operationalizing our Get Real, Get Better mindset, skillsets, and toolsets in our Wardrooms, Chief’s Messes, and into our work centers to methodically improve our standards with a bias for root cause analysis and transparency,” said McLane. “To make better warriors, SMWDC is refining our Surface Warfare Combat Training Continuum, or SWCTC. Think of what we’ve done for Mariner skills and apply that to warfighting. We are creating warfighting training paths that span the professional life of every tactical watchstander from E1 to O6. To make better leaders, we are starting a new Command Master Chief coaching program, running a Chief Petty Officer Academy pilot program, and have begun developing advanced engineering instructors.”

McLane closed with acknowledging the significance of this momentous time for our Force, our Navy, and our Nation. 2025 represents the 250th anniversary of our Warfighting Navy and the 50th anniversary of our Surface Warfare TYCOMs.

SNA was incorporated in 1985 to promote greater coordination and communication among the military, business, and academic communities who share a common interest in naval surface warfare and to support the activities of surface naval forces. SNA is dedicated to recognizing the continuing contributions of the United States Navy and Coast Guard’s surface forces. It showcases professional excellence within the surface naval forces, deals with the challenges faced by surface naval forces, nurtures communication among military, academic, and business communities, enhances and preserves the heritage of surface naval forces, and provides forums on professional matters affecting the surface naval forces.

The mission of CNSP is to man, train, and equip the Surface Force to provide fleet commanders with credible naval power to control the sea and project power ashore.

For more news from Naval Surface Forces, visit https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/.

For a transcript of SWOBOSS’ keynote, his Competitive Edge 2.0 strategy and to view the Status of the force video, visit https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/sna-2025/.