Distributed Operations (DO) is a war-fighting concept drafted by the United States Marine Corps and developed primarily by their Warfighting Laboratory as a response to the changing environment of the Global War on Terror.
The overarching goal of DO is to maximize a Marine Air Ground Task Force commander's ability to employ tactical units across the depth and breadth of a non-linear battlespace.
DO units will use close combat or supporting arms to disrupt the enemy's access to key terrain and avenues of approach.
Positioning numerous smaller ships over a vast geographic area and swiftly aggregate them, would better support counterinsurgency operations allowing a fast response to threats while maintaining the ability to overmatch adversaries through a well-integrated and enabled network with highly precise and coordinated fires.
In the disbursal mode distributed units spread out to find targets, gather intel, and secure lightly defended infrastructure.