Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Australian Navy-US Marine Corps interoperability highlighted at RIMPAC.

07 July 2010
HMAS Kanimbla embarks amphibious assets

A contingent of US Marines and other allied forces came aboard HMAS Kanimbla the day before she sailed for the sea phase of the exercise.
The Australian Defence Force’s largest international maritime exercise, Exercise Rim-of-the-Pacific (RIMPAC) is designed to test interoperability with 14 Pacific Rim nations.
Approximately 1200 ADF personnel will be participating.
This year marks the 22nd RIMPAC. It is being hosted by the US Third Fleet over a five week period, finishing on the 1st August 2010.




Australia's second batch of F/A-18's arrive...


Two F/A-18F Super Hornets fly over RAAF Amberley.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet, A44-210, taxis for the first time on the runway at RAAF Base Amberley.
The old and the new. An F/A-18F Super Hornet, A44-210, taxi's past some F111's at RAAF base Amberley.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the second 'tranche' soon after arriving at RAAF Base Amberley.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the second 'tranche' soon after touching down at RAAF Base Amberley.
The first F/A-18F Super Hornet from the second 'tranche' taxis at RAAF Base Amberley.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the second 'tranche' taxis at RAAF Base Amberley.

Pic of the Day. July 6, 2010.

Marines with 4th Platoon, Company C, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, return to amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans (LPD 18) after spending July 4, 2010, repairing the transmission of an amphibious assault vehicle on a beach in Ancon, Peru. The Marines were embarked aboard USS New Orleans in support of Partnership of the Americas/Southern Exchange, a combined amphibious exercise with maritime forces from Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia.
 

Is it time to drop the M1A1 from the Marine Corps?


I've been extremely busy lately.  With that in mind, while I was looking over the latest offering from DefenseTech, a weird thought crossed my mind.  Greg Grant point out that the Marine Operating Concept which just hit the streets has these as main points.

“The process of leveraging emerging technologies should begin with a bottom-up reevaluation of all systems from individual equipment through large principal end-items with a specific focus on making each system smaller, lighter, and more efficient whenever possible.”
Toward that end the Marines will pursue the following objectives:

• With the one exception of the KC-130 aircraft, every item in the Marine inventory must be able to be embarked on an amphib and be employable from ship to shore without the use of a pier.
• Consideration should be given to requiring that all combat vehicles have scalable armor protection capable of being embarked separately from the vehicle.
• Infantry companies must be able to operate independently without combat vehicle support. To further reduce vehicle dependency, the Marines should buy the aerial cargo drone; reduce equipment density; reduce energy demands by emphasizing renewable and alternative energies; and reduce battlefield contractor dependence.
• All units must be self sustainable for 72 hours.
• Reexamine the basic building blocks of the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to determine whether its current organization accurately reflects the realities of where and how it will be employed.
• Lighten the logistical footprint required to support the aviation combat element (ACE) by buying newer, less maintenance intensive, aircraft. The ACE must also reduce the amounts of fuel and oil it consumes.
• Add Joint Terminal Air Controllers (JTACs) to the lowest echelon possible.

If this is our doctrinal direction then where does the Main Battle Tank fit?  Is now the time for the Marine Corps to divorce itself from perhaps the most "Army of Army" weapons?

Before you go high and to the right think about it.

The M1A1 goes against the concept in every regard...

1.  Heavy logistical tail...
2.  Difficult to transport...
3.  Unable to operate independently or as part of Company sized units of maneuver.

Others can probably easily expand on this short list.  With more accurate artillery.  With Marine Air being able to provide almost 24 hour-all weather support.  With UAVs being able to provide ISR and close air support, then do we really need the shock action of the M1's 120mm main gun?

Tankers will state that the best anti-tank weapon is another tank.  I agree but in these times of limited budgets, a changing doctrine and the focus on expeditionary operations from the sea--can we really justify the Tanks existence in Marine Corps formations?

I don't know but I think that it should be considered.

Note:
Marine Armor is approaching a "shatter-point" soon regardless.  The US Army is due to embark on its M1A3 upgrade program.  The Marine Corps is already facing the choice of Upgrading to maintain commonality, keeping the M1A1 and maintaining an independent supply chain (expensive) or abandoning the tank all together.  The choice of whether heavy armor stays in the Corps will be decided one way or the other real soon.

Is the Israeli Army losing its professionalism?

Dancing while on patrol?  They've lost their minds.  Oh and how about the propaganda victory for the terrorist?

Monday, July 05, 2010

Former Marine, Astronaut and now politician playing administrator.

I can't put my finger on it but I had a visceral reaction to the comments by this Former Marine and Astronaut.

I can't believe that they're so willing to throw away our leadership in space.  This is bad stuff....just my opinion but I really don't like this.

Watch it and be annoyed.

Tilt Wing was the way to go. XC-142A...another blast from the past.



And a vid showing it undergoing testing with NASA is here.

PEO Ships Brief. Another Blast from the Past.

Sometimes, it pays to peek back and see what the planning is on important topics.  This briefing fits the bill...of special note is the proposal to do a plug in to LHD class (slide 33)...In this budget constrained era it might become more attractive.
5860 Warner (Amphibious Ship Plan)                                                                    

Mobile Off-Shore Base. Another great idea abandonded.

It seems that innovation has been alive and well, but for some reason the better ideas are abandoned instead of being pursued.

The current model of sea basing is promising but the idea of the Mobile Off-Shore Base was truly revolutionary.  The idea of having a floating landing strip capable of landing C-17's floating off the coast of a hostile nation is 'awesome'!

Imagine the war in Afghanistan if these were now in service?  A Contingent of Marines/Soldiers would be easily resupplied without jumping through the hoops of crossing and establishing bases in fragile countries...Pakistan would lessen in its importance to the effort and our foot print on land would be dramatically reduced.

As an added bonus, Army forces would more easily surge into trouble spots to reinforce efforts by the Naval community.  It could have been a win-win.

With all the effort being made to field new classes of ships to get the sea base concept going (specifically the Mobile Landing Platform), a better move might be to fully fund this old (circa 2001), but still exciting idea.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

LPD-17 Class...now we know why LHA-6 was built without a well deck.

I've been mulling why bloggers (myself included...) always react to situations as if only we are aware of the issue.

Case in point is the LPD-17 and how it will fit with the LHA-6.  When the USS America plans first came out and it was without a well deck, I literally went high and to the right.  What idiot in the US Navy would design an amphibious assault ship without a well deck?  What good will it do?  How will it fit into an Amphibious Ready Group?  What about distributed operations from the sea and the vaunted mini-ARG concepts I keep hearing about?

But with the new Marine Corps Operating Concept, its starting to make sense.  With the numbers of LPD-17 class ships...its starting to make sense.  With the move toward LPD-17's and next gen LSD-X becoming the centerpieces of the amphibious fleet its making even more sense (especially if the LSD is built on the LPD hull form).

The F-35 will require a practically new operating standard when it comes online.  Its size has required revamped aviation spaces and the need for an aviation centric amphib is clear.  We will gain a warplane of tremendous flexibility.  The USS America class will be a platform that will enable it to demonstrate its abilities in full and it still has room for a battalion of Marines in either small boats or helos.

But my real excitement lies in the small picture to the right.  We're gaining a fast (able to keep up with a carrier strike group), flexible (able to land Marines by AAVs, LCVPs, LCACs or helos--many helos at that...) and dedicated amphib.

The SecDef and Admiral Mullen might be stuck on stupid with these partnership missions but its still sea time and its still getting Marines back aboard ship.

One last thing and the LPD-17 class will be perfect (sorry for all the critics but the engine problems and engineer snafus are really in the past...they've been ironed out)...either a 5 inch gun or provisions for NLOS missiles will take it to the next level.

Lastly for the small amphib crowd I kindly remind you that we've been down that road before and the results (from talking to Marines that rode on them) is that the LPH-2 class of ships were good for the times but woefully inadequate for today's equipment load outs.