The US Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Daryl Caudle, has set out the US Navy’s new “Fighting Instructions” strategy, detailing the force’s new approach to conducting operations and building readiness.

Unveiled at Apex Defense 2026 in Washington, D.C., the plan acts as the “newest strategic guidance to the fleet,” guiding future naval investments, strategic priorities, and policy decisions into the 21st century, the admiral said.

“Underpinned by my priorities of the Foundry, Fleet, and Fight, the Fighting Instructions are designed to deliver homeland defense, sustain our global network of deterrence, and preserve our national prosperity,” the admiral stated. “It is our navy's answer to a simple but daunting question: How do we ensure we can fight and win across the spectrum of conflict under conditions we cannot entirely predict against adversaries who are increasingly capable?”

A core approach to supporting this, the admiral continued, is the force’s new “Hedge” plan, which will be released alongside the Fighting Instructions strategy in the coming weeks.

Hedge aims to augment and extend the reach of the navy to ensure it is “ruthlessly adaptable” to meet every pressing scenario, avoiding a force that is single-purpose. This will be achieved by leveraging modular, scalable units of high- and lower-grade capabilities that can be tailored to respond decisively to any number of scenarios, acting as a force multiplier to general-purpose forces.

“Tailored forces” and “tailored offsets” are core elements of Hedge, he continued. These scalable formations – consisting of crewed and uncrewed platforms, robotic and autonomous systems, and logistics nodes – will “manage risk, expand mass, force-multiply, improve response options, and preserve our combat advantage, he explained.

Explaining this in more detail, he said: "Tailored forces are the customized ensembles of general-purpose forces and the composite packaging of tailored offsets certified for specific missions in particular regions."

Together, these new plans and frameworks underpin a much wider effort to overhaul the US Navy and increase its lethality. In December, the US administration unveiled its ‘Golden Fleet’ initiative, for example, to boost lethality and shift the force back toward adopting larger capital ships.