Prospective Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters

Prospective Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters | © Deutsche Marine

Nowadays the obvious and most important challenge we have is “to allocate our resources to the requirements in a more efficient way”. This challenge is dramatically getting more problematic due to the shrinking resources (financial, human). Therefore everybody is trying to anticipate the possible future scenarios/trends/threats in order to prepare our forces efficiently and effectively for the future. COE CSW as well as contributing/supporting countries are missing a holistic, uniform and consolidated future vision of the developments in Confined and Shallow Waters environment.


The main purpose is to produce a future vision basic paper which gives an outline about prospective operations in CSW through a global view and thus acts as a source to support COE CSW’s project officers with their projects. Furthermore it can be used as a solid foundation and a bridge for other command levels dealing with aspects of Operations in CSW. This paper is considered to be a living document and to be reviewed and updated periodically. In that regard, this paper should be an ever evolving document which provides a basis for continued development. Since COE CSW’s accreditation in 2009 additional criteria for the definition of CSW have been established due to a further developed and more precise understanding of the term inside the COE CSW. Hence, reviewing the existing definition of CSW and building a common understanding of CSW is one of the main concerns of this vision paper.

In order to have a look into the future, the current situation in CSW needs to be portrayed including current hotspots. What is today’s role in CSW operations. What are the major trends and divers which have significant impact and influence on future operations in CSW. What are the possible scenarios and which kind of operations are related to them as well as which threats both regular and irregular and which challenges are emerging therefore? These are the key questions to be dealt with in this work.

Exploring what changes, challenges  and opportunities the future might bring  into the Operational Environment of CSW is of great essence to be prepared and less surprised for the upcoming scenarios involving these areas. Only the constant systematic analysis and review of the developments will assure that the Alliance will be adequately prepared to face the future challenges end exploit the emerging opportunities in CSW.

Our aim is to give an operational view for future challenges and opportunities in confined and shallow waters environment

Our Work | © Deutsche Marine