Pic of the day. May 27, 2010.

Members of the Brazilian Marine Corps Special Operations Battalion clear a house using tactics exchanged with U.S. Navy SEALs during a joint combined exchange training exercise. The bi-lateral training course was facilitated by U.S. Navy SEALS and special warfare combatant-craft crewmen.
Navy Visual News Service
Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Kathryn Whittenberger

RoK/US Amphibious Assault.

An old video but still entertaining.  The Republic of Korea and US Marines conduct an amphibious assault.  Highlighted in the video is the soon to be retired CH-46.

US Army goes from observing K-Max for Marine service to participating?

When the US Marine Corps first came out with a requirement for an unmanned helicopter to perform resupply missions for dispersed units, the Army stated that they would observe the program.  Seems like they've moved from observation to almost participation...this from DefPro.com

“Under the contract, Kaman Helicopters will be adding mission equipment to a test aircraft that helps elevate the reliability of unmanned aircraft to the standards the K-MAX attains in commercial operations,” stated Terry Fogarty, general manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Product Group for Kaman Helicopters. “While this is not a deployment contract, it continues our efforts as we prepare for a potential opportunity for a military deployment later this year.” Kaman’s commercial operators boast 98-99 percent availability rates in the harsh helicopter logging environment, where K-MAX rotorcraft deliver 6,000 pound loads 20 to 30 times per hour. A single K-MAX often moves more than one-million pounds of timber in a single day, and has exceeded two-million pounds in a single day on numerous occasions.

I wonder if they just tipped their hand on who the Marine Corps has selected for this mission.  It would make little sense for the Army to select a different helicopter than the Marines (at least in this role) in this age of austerity.

Center for American Progress slams Navy/Marine Corps Budget allocations.

The Center for American Progress has published a write-up of the latest from the House Armed Services Committee.  Suffice it to say that they're not pleased with continued funding of many of the service's programs.  Read more here.

The HASC bill also includes $65 billion for Navy and Marine Corps procurement despite Secretary Gates’s recent speech before the Navy League calling on the service to reexamine its force posture in the current operating environment. As Gates noted, the United States will maintain 11 carrier strike groups through 2040 when no other country has more than one. The $65 billion includes $5.1 billion to fund two Virginia class submarines—the first time the committee has ever authorized two of these boats in one year. And the committee’s FY 2011 authorization includes $1.7 billion in advance funding toward the purchase of two more Virginia class hulls in FY 2012. Including funding for the advanced purchase of these two submarines creates a strong incentive for lawmakers to allow the program to proceed in next year’s budget, which essentially ensures that the same misguided spending evident in this year’s markup will continue in FY 2012.
The list goes on. The HASC bill includes $361 million over what the administration requested for funding for ballistic missile defense despite the fact that the Pentagon already increased the budget by over $300 million from a year ago. The increased funding, which then-Senator Obama campaigned against, would fund missile defense at George W. Bush administration-levels if approved by the House and the Senate. HASC also revived funding for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, an unnecessary and deeply flawed amphibious vehicle that is vulnerable to the types of improvised explosive devices used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm not sure about many of the issues raised here.  What I do know is that the statement regarding the EFV is false.  It has been re-engineered to survive IEDs similar to those encountered in Iraq/Afghanistan.  I wonder what else they got wrong.

Terror Alert on Southern Border of the US.

via FoxNews.

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.
The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami.
In 2008, the U.S. government designated Al Shabaab a terrorist organization. Al Shabaab has said its priority is to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on Somalia; the group has aligned itself with Al Qaeda and has made statements about its intent to harm the United States.

Talk about the most under reported news of yesterday!  When a terrorist attack is tracked back to the Southern Border there will be hell to pay.

Now we know why the President decided to send an 1200 troops to the border.  He's probably worried about the possibilities.  It also explains the silence from the illegal immigration activist to the news.

Weird Timing.

Remember the dust up in the blogging community yesterday.  Well later that same day BlackFive contributor "Uncle Jimbo" was on the Rachel Maddow show supporting the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"...talk about a weird set of circumstances.  Blogger accused the guy of being a right wing fascist and then he shows up on the most liberal of talk shows promoting the repeal of a regulation that is supported by the majority of the Marine Corps (I have nothing to back that up, just going by conversations I've had)...Amazing!  Please note.  I haven't gone over to the dark side.  I watch her show to keep up with enemy opinion!

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Amphibs. The most useful ships in the fleet.

SURABAYA, Indonesia (May 26, 2010) - Members of the Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Laut (TNI-AL) Navy Band prepare to welcome USS Tortuga (LSD 46) to Indonesia to kick off Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) 2010. In its 16th year, NEA is part of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training series of bilateral exercises held annually in Southeast Asia to strengthen relationships and enhance force readiness. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Mike Morley)

Navy Partnership missions invariably include amphibious ships.  Despite their detractors, the amphib is the hardest working ship in the Navy.  But its useless without its Marine Contingent.  Many forget that and focus only on the ships themselves.  That is not only disingenuous but its also shortsighted.  This from the 7th Fleet.

“Naval Engagement Activity Indonesia plays an important role in our Navy’s maritime strategy of building global partnerships,” said Clemmons. “NEA is a great opportunity to build upon our pre-existing relationship with our Indonesian counterparts and to learn from each other what can be accomplished through our combined efforts.”

Training events held during NEA in Indonesia include search and rescue, flight deck familiarization, boarding exercises, medical and dental activities, an amphibious landing, salvage exercises as well as community service projects and performances by the U.S. 7th Fleet band Orient Express.

“The events planned for our NEA phase in Indonesia will help to promote our interoperability and foster better relationships with our Indonesian partners,” said Clemmons.

Do you notice that most of those events are directly related to the USS Tortuga and not the FFG or the T-ARS or the Coast Guard Cutter?

*Amphibious Landing---LSD-46
*Search and Rescue---All ships involved
*Medical and Dental Activities---LSD-46
*Boarding Exercises---LSD-46, FFG-48 and the Coast Guard Cutter
*Salvage Exercise---T-ARS
*Community Service---All ships involved

To be quite honest with the proper manning, the LSD could perform all these missions except the salvage exercise. 

The Amphib is the true multi-mission platform.