The US Army has Logistic Support Vessels in house that can be used to provide a "rebirth" of the Army's amphibious operations or to provide a platform for US Army Special Forces and Rangers.
I prefer the latter.
This from Naval Technology pretty much sums up my idea.
LSV - HELICOPTER CAPABLEWow.
The LSV-helicopter capable variant in service with the Philippine Navy provides concealed transport, deployment and retrieval of both helicopters and patrol boats.
Attack helicopters are concealed below a modular flight deck while patrol boats and intercept craft are behind the stern ramp. The configuration presents the appearance of a logistic supply ship without the obvious display of force.
Another lesson learned from our friends. It would be a tremendous asset for the Special Forces and Rangers. And it can be done today.
As far as revitalizing US Army amphibious ops, check this out from a Defense Tech story on this ships...
...as far as the platform goes, an LSV–with its slow speed, tiny draft, mid-sized crew (a core of about 30) and long legs (5,000 miles) would be a perfect “presence” tool for Africa and the Pacific Islands. Capable of carrying the equivalent of 28 Abrams M1A tanks, the LSV can bring a lot of stuff to a lot of places.28 Abrams ashore in one lift?
That's approaching the old LST in lift capability. No. That is matching the old Newport class LST in capability.
The Army and Navy signed an agreement to transfer ships...I don't recall if these were included or if it was just the JHSV's, but if they were then the Army should seek to reverse that decision and possibly base a few of these in Guam or Japan or even Hawaii.
The future is in the Pacific or in operations off Africa stretching into the Middle East. Either way, Soldier would be well served by keeping these ships in Army hands.
well i know you prefer the latter but IMO the great thing about it is it can become what we need at anytime, if we need a SF capable ship it can do that, if we need a floating emergency hospital ship, it can be made to do that, if we need to deliver alot of firepower to shore real quick it can do that, its ships like this that can do alot with only slight configurations.
ReplyDeleteJust to comment but the Philippines version does not carry a helicopter amidships but rather has a pad aft. It doesn't seem practical to carry a helicopter below on the main cargo deck and then raise it high enough to clear everything, losing say half the cargo deck and then still require it to operate small boats. Moreover, it's a 12 knot ship. We can do better than this and in fact LCS is good for this mission, however useless the class is in many other mission areas.
ReplyDeleteThe page at Naval Technology is in fact wrong that it carries a helicopter as is obvious from the picture right there or any other picture of the class found online. It's helo capable via a landing pad aft with no possible way to fit a hanger there.
As an aside the Army's last LSV (LSV-8) is a modified design which adds a bow to cover the ramp and the mechanism is really rather unusual:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pby5a/1388979143/
the PI are building these ships to their specifications. as such they operate and build them according to their needs. i believe the information provided by Naval tech is accurate.
ReplyDeleteas far as only 12 knots is concerned, again its to meet local conditions. landing craft have usually had slow water speeds in part to the need of them to extremely shallow draft.
LCS has one big problem. no hanger facilities. while i'm sure the Naval Special ops will grab hold of one or two, what i do know is that these ships are available today and only performing exercises. this is a way to get them into the fight. now not later.
Sol the two ships the Philippines has are almost 20 years old. The first batch of US Army LSV's were commissioned in 1988. This is not a new ship design and Naval Tech is clearly wrong in stating the Bacolod City class has any aviation facilities other than a landing pad on the extreme aft of the ship.
ReplyDeleteBoth versions of LCS have a hanger for 2 MH-60's. LCS-2 has twin hanger doors and LCS-1 has one. Their entire concept of operations revolves around the helicopters. They're designed to carry troops and can do raids via helicopter or RHIB- they can also dock and offload RO-RO armored vehicles operating as a fast transport. It's actually well designed to support various insertions. Too bad it doesn't do any primary mission area even adequately.
just go to a Philippine Navy website and look at what they're doing. no one is saying that its a new design, what is new is the modifications.
ReplyDeleteeveryone and his mother knows what a landing pad is and no one would make that kinda mistake.