Expeditionary Strike Group The Expeditionary Strike Group ( ESG ) is a United States Navy concept introduced in the early 1990s , based on the Naval Expeditionary Task Force . The U . S . Navy fields 12 Expeditionary Strike Groups and 11 Carrier Strike Group s , in addition to surface action groups . ESGs allow US naval forces to provide highly movable and self - sustaining forces for missions in various parts of the globe . The Marine Corps and the Navy are conducting a series of experiments to explore the ESG and ESF concepts . As noted , the ESG concept combines the capabilities of surface action groups , submarines , and maritime patrol aircraft with those of Amphibious Ready Groups and Marine Expeditionary Unit s ( Special Operations Capable ) to provide greater combat capabilities to theater combatant commanders . An Expeditionary Strike Force ( ESF ) integrates the CSG and ESG with the sea - basing functions provided by the Maritime Prepositioning Force ( future ) to provide an even more potent capability . History . Pre - 1990 . The United States Navy has always been involved in developing different military concepts to improve the rapid deployment of naval power and troops from one point to another . One of these concepts is the Amphibious Ready Group ( ARG ) . The ARG consists of a group of various ships known as an Amphibious Task Force ( ATF ) and a Landing Force ( LF ) which normally consists of United States Marines and , on occasion , could consist of United States Army troops . An ARG is composed of an Amphibious Assault Ship ( LHA / LHD ) , an Amphibious transport dock ( LPD ) Ship , a Dock Landing Ship ( LSD ) , and a Marine Expeditionary Unit ( MEU ) which includes a Marine Infantry battalion landing team , AV - 8B Harrier II aircraft , CH - 53 Sea Stallion , CH - 46 Sea Knight , AH - 1 Sea Cobra and UH - 1 Huey helicopters . The Navy had two to three ARGs deployed at a given time . Normally one of the ARGs can be found in Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf / Indian Ocean area , and the other two in the western Pacific Ocean area . Early 1990s - Present . In the early 1990s , the Navy introduced a new concept based on the ARG , the " Naval Expeditionary Task Force " or , as it is also known , the " Expeditionary Strike Group " ( ESG ) . The ESG is similar to the ARG except that with the ESG concept , the Navy would be able to deploy almost double the number of independent operational groups , from 19 to 38 . In addition , the ESG includes surface warships and submarine escorts , similar to a Carrier Strike Group ( archaiclly a carrier battle group ) . An ESG is composed of an Amphibious Assault Ship ( LHA / LHD ) , a Dock Landing Ship ( LSD ) , an Amphibious transport dock ( LPD ) , a Marine expeditionary unit , AV - 8B Harrier II aircraft , CH - 53 E Super Stallion helicopters and CH - 46E Sea Knight helicopters or , more recently , MV - 22B tiltrotors . Cruisers , destroyers and attack submarines are deployed with either an Expeditionary Strike Group or a Carrier Strike Group . As originally envisioned in the 1990s , the ESG concept allowed the Navy to field 12 Expeditionary Strike Groups and 12 Carrier Strike Groups , in addition to surface action groups centered around " Iowa " class battleships . Thus , the Navy and Marine Corps forces could launch Marines via landing craft and helicopters as warships and submarines struck inland targets with aircraft , missiles and shells . However , defense budget reductions in the mid - 1990s , coupled with retirements of older aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships without one - for - one replacements , has reduced the original 12 x 12 ESG / CSG construct to fewer groups due to fewer ship hulls to support those said groups . Expeditionary Strike Groups . The following is a list of U . S . military ESGs : Marine Air - Ground Task Forces . The Marine - Air - Ground Task Forces , or MAGTF , are a combined component of air and amphibious ground forces of the United States Marine Corps . They consist of either the Marine Expeditionary Force ( MEF ) , Brigade ( MEB ) , or the smaller Units ( MEU ) that deploys either from the United States Navy ' s Expeditionary Strike Groups or Amphibious Ready Group s . The MAGTF are composed of four basic elements :