Project Horizon

Project Horizon was a Janpian revolutionary force initiative conducted from 1980 to 2010, meant to transform the Janpian Union of Revolutionary Navy from a submarine-based Ocean Denial Strategy focused on external defense, to an Ocean Control doctrine that is focused on projecting the Revolution abroad. It was initiated by Marshal Kemeliseki as part of his campaign promises to reform the Janpian Union of Revolutionary Forces and opening Janpia internationally. The Project initially received backlash, particularly from certain conservative members of the Union of Party Members Committee, calling it as unnecessary and claiming that it puts Janpia at the crosshairs of foreign capitalist states. They have also mentioned that Janpia can just remain isolationist, as a lorist revolution would inevitably occur, driven by prevailing material conditions. Despite these calls, the Project was greenlit and the expectations were passed to the Workers' Council of the Revolutionary Council.

Throughout the time period, the project was divided into 4 phases known as Rays, with each having their own defined limit to what should the Janpian Navy acquire and what objectives they should attain. These rays sets the number of personnel, what ship types and weapon systems to acquire, as well as the format for naval officers restructuring, which led the Revolutionary Navy to be one of the largest and most capable navy in Marinan by 2010.

Background

Since Operation Flower Festival, the entire defense doctrine of the Party relies on the use of nuclear weapons as a deterrent, and as a way to enforce its isolationist policy. Although the Party had limited foreign participation, particularly on aiding lorist movements worldwide, it largely remained closed off both politically and economically to any nations, with having little to no international relations. This in turn made the Revolutionary Navy much weaker as compared to any Hiakemirian nations at that time, and lacked any resources to sustain their naval assets. This has also led to the decommissioning of their Great War-era Lilyakitovosch-Class Carriers as well as the scraping some ships, including all their battleships in 1963, which reduced the Revolutionary Navy's projecting capabilities to defense roles. To cope with this shift, as well as to sustain their new objectives of just defending Janpia, the Revolutionary Navy adopted a doctrine separate from nuclear deterrence, wherein they will deny all sea lanes in Janpia with the use of cheap submarines or mines. Based on their lessons from the Great War, it was also figured that the nearby islands are strategically important when defending the Janpian mainland itself, which also led to another concept that they adopted, known as the Island Carrier Concept.

The general idea of these doctrines was premised on the assumption that an enemy are still capable of mobilizing its fleet after a nuclear strike, or that the Revolutionary Navy is forced on to a defensive conventional warfare scenario. In this case, the Janpian navy would hunt their surface fleet along the Janpian Domain, in an attempt to whittle their forces in an asymmetrical attrition warfare before they can reach the Janpian mainland. And by the time they reached the Janpian soil, they would be weakened enough to be neutralized by the army and the air force.

These changed under Marshal Kemeliseki's Open Janpia policy, which demands the Janpian Domain to be opened to the rest of the nations in political and economical terms. This means that they will also need to reform the Janpian Union of Revolutionary Forces for external uses, in order to project their interest abroad when necessary. Recognizing Janpia’s island geography, Project Horizon was initiated to prioritize Revolutionary Navy development and adapt it to an external power-projection role.

Although the Project was nearly shelved entirely during Marshal Khirelya's term, it nonetheless persisted given that the Revolutionary Navy was the most influential branch in the Revolutionary Council at that time, and the only branch capable of challenging Khirelya's authority. Considering that inter-faction rivalry was strong during those periods, and Khirelya was a Revolutionary General—he pursued the project as a way to keep the Revolutionary Navy from threatening his position.

Horizon Rays

The end goal of the Project was to create a navy that is capable of challenging any naval force within its zone of interest, particularly in Marinan, as well as securing future or current Janpian sea routes. This means that they have to further their capabilities beyond the Janpian Domain, and by doing so requires the Island Carrier Concept as well as its ocean-denial doctrine to be discarded, in favor of Ocean Control and all-domain warfare doctrines. The Decisive Strike Doctrine which had long been the pillar of the Revolutionary Navy was retained, as it was still seen as compatible and relevant. Despite this, the changing of the two doctrines also requires a new Janpian naval strategy as well as assets. But due to cost and changing commitments, requirement creep, and big expenses for the required assets, the project was divided into the different phases through different times, known as rays.

Ray 1 (1980-1990)

Ray 1 was the first phase of the Project which spanned for 10 years from 1980 to 1990, before being abrupted by General Khirelya's coup. Nonetheless, the Ray 1 was a program meant to reform the Janpian Union of Revolutionary Forces for external uses, which resulted to rearrangement on the officer corps, changing the curriculum on the Janpian naval academies, swapping Janpian doctrines and strategies, as well as reforming the fleet formation, with future accommodation for larger vessels in mind. The Island Carrier Concept as well as its ocean-denial doctrine was also discarded in favor of Ocean Control and all-domain warfare doctrines. After 17 years of having no aircraft carriers, construction for a new Janpian carrier has also begun in this period, with additional smaller support vessels and yards being built to support the future strike groups. Previous crew of the Lilyakitovosch-Class carriers were also returned back to the Revolutionary Navy to teach the new officer generation about naval aviation.

The Ray also generated a few ministries within the Revolutionary Forces, particularly the establishment of the Central Logistics and Procurement (CLAP), which is a separate command placed under the Revolutionary Council. The CLAP is meant to centralize and streamline the procurement, R&D focus, as well as the requirements, to make the process faster, and with better prioritization focus.

Ray 2 (1990-2000)

The Ray 2 was a continuation of the program under the term of Marshal Khirelya, which spanned from 1990 to 2000s. This phase aims to further develop the Revolutionary Navy's carrier strike groups, as well as to create a centralized electronic warfare and information sharing system for the navy. This led to the development of the Revolutsiya Combat Management System, which was first utilized on the Katayascha-Class, a new destroyer meant for systems testing.

Nevertheless, the Ray 2 phase was mostly met with problems, particularly on the lack of future proofing designs of other warships, such as the 2x newly built Hanosche-Class Carriers which utilizes a ski jump design, as well as other proposed warships that seems incompatible with the new armament designs. This made the Ray 2 phase mostly focused on streamlining the naval armaments and designs, which resulted to the Project 104800 carrier design, as well as Project 12200 destroyer design. The aim of Project 12200 was to rectify the design problems found earlier on the Hanosche-Class, while the Project 12200 destroyer design—which was based off of the Katayascha-Class hull—was meant to replace the aging Kalingrad-Class Destroyers and to serve as as a temporary backstop for more advanced future vessels in the strike group. Eventually, the destroyer design became known as the Hanschinburg-Class Revolutsiya Guided Missile Destroyer—which was produced as early as 1994—while the Project 12200 became known as the Revolution-Class Aircraft Carrier, which was produced much later at 1997.

Ray 3 (2000-2010)

1990-2010. New Revolution-Class Carrier meant to replace the 2 Hanosche-Class cope slope carriers. This program, although over, still technically continues to this day. Also add Hisshin acquisition.