The Maritime Advanced Warfighting School (MAWS) is a Chief of Naval Operations-directed, thirteen-month, advanced warfighting curriculum that started at the Naval War College in 1998. Following this September’s graduation, MAWS will have graduated 509 students to include 59 Army, 324 Navy, 51 Marine Corps, 65 Air Force, four Coast Guard service members, and six Defense Intelligence Agency analysts.
The purpose of the course is to teach naval and joint planning skills to selected active duty officers for follow-on assignment to numbered fleet, service component or joint force operational staffs. The course is similar to the Army School of Advanced Military Studies, the Marine Corps School of Advanced Warfighting, and the Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.
MAWS students complete an integrated syllabus including core courses Theater Security Decision Making, Strategy and Warfare, and Joint Maritime Operations; three elective courses tailored to combined arms tactics, operations, and planning foundations; and a capstone three-month planning project in direct support of Navy and joint operational commanders. MAWS graduates are awarded with a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies, the Naval War College diploma, Joint Professional Military Education Phase I certification, and designation as operational planners.
The September 2018 MAWS graduates commenced their studies in August 2017. They will be assigned to operational planner tours either immediately or following warfare community assignments.