LCAC vs. the Ground Combat Vehicle.

Riedel Ship to Shore Connector

The good people at the Marine Corps Sea Basing Website are stressing the importance of the Sea Base being able to support not only Marine Corps Units but also US Army Combat Brigades and Allied Forces.

But Houston, we have a problem.

The Ground Combat Vehicle or for that matter the next generation Stryker/Bradley A3 will strain our current and interim Ship to Shore Connector...the LCAC.

The LCAC's are in the middle of a service life extension and are due to serve for another 10-20 years until the Navy gets around to replacing them.

The problem is this.  The LCAC is capable of carrying 74 tons at 35 knots over a distance of 25 nm or greater (pg 7 of the brochure).

That means that carrying the future Ground Combat Vehicle will be the equivalent of moving a Main Battle Tank for every sortie.  And with the future growth in weight of the Stryker and Bradley (once the Army gets around to recapitalizing it!) will place the Bradley close to the 35-40 ton range and the Stryker close to the 30 ton threshold.  Similar in weight to the EFV----but those systems can't swim!.

The US Army Heavy Brigade Combat Teams and to a certain extent the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (the middle weight force) are moving away from use in the Assault Echelon.  Before I hear howls of protest understand that the HBCT or the SBCT were not to be part of the first wave but were to be launched in a non-permissive environment.

With current vehicle growth they will be too heavy to move in any environment except one thats highly permissive---this also means that it will have to be an administrative movement---not combat.

Weight is going to be an issue and might keep the Army on the sidelines in the future.  Its obvious that the Army isn't taking into account strategic mobility or employment in their future vehicle force structure.  Infantry will once again rule ----whether Airborne, Air Assault, or Ranger---every other part of the Army force will be too heavy to get into the fight. 


*Note*
The US Army has virtually discarded what they called "Light" Infantry -read that to mean  Non-Airborne or Air Assault Infantry formations.

They're either Heavy or Stryker.  That means that the US Marine Corps will have to bear the burden of the fight if conflict erupts in Jungles....heavily urbanized areas or even in the arctic.  The 82nd or the 101st can deploy and fight as Light Infantry but they are tasked organized for short duration missions (especially the 82nd).  They aren't formed or equipped to last more than a couple of days in an active combat zone without support.