JUSTIFICATION AND DETERMINATION OF THE RATIONAL COMPOSITION OF UKRAINE NAVY GROUPS IN PEACETIME UNDER THE CONDITION OF STATE RESOURCE LIMITATIONS

Abstract

The goal of the article is to outline the modern reformation tendencies in the Naval Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and specify the requirements for both quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the naval combat arms. The article sets forth the technique to substantiate and determine the peacetime balanced naval task force (group) composition being relevant to the Naval Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the state’s material financial resource limitation conditions in the context of the fundamental principles of national maritime component reformation having been derived from the national interests and the military (naval) doctrinal requirements for joint (multi-component) task force warfare (operations) in the modern multidimensional combat environment. In the course of the study, a set of factors, i. e. the objective conditions within the state, the present overseas security thread level, likely character of military operations, and mission-capable force ratio, have been examined in order to find out their potential impact on the naval force combat readiness and force capabilities of safeguarding the state against an aggression by sea. As a result, the article postulates that the state’s economic potential in support of naval task force generation is to be defined within reasonable limits depending on the effects caused by the factors examined, and, having grounded on this assertion, nominates the upkeep of cost-effective naval forces being capable of deterring or repelling an overseas aggression to be a high-priority constituent of national security under the present conditions. The article also upholds the notion that the optimum combination of instant-readiness naval forces and different-priority (ready, stand-by, retired) reserves might essentially reduce the state’s military expenditures on permanent peacetime naval posture and provide for its prompt build-up. The results of the study might be applied within the frameworks of military-political situation analysis, state resource strategic planning, and naval posture estimation.