Phil! Awesome find! Thanks!
My bud, Aussie Digger, shot down my assertion that the Australians needed to develop a Marine Corps. He made some good points, primarily that the force structure was too small to support the number of troops needed to man the planned amphibious ships that Australia was purchasing.
Well it looks like we both were wrong. This Australian Road Map document points to the Australian Army becoming a type of hybrid force. More Marine than traditional Army, and waaaay more amphibious than even the Army leadership could imagine.
I like it.
Australian Army Amphibious Road Map
Hey mate, neither of us were 'wrong' per se, but some of the info that document is a bit outdated and has been rehashed from ealier planning documents. ADF's amphibious capability is going to be on the lines of the "French" style as mentioned as an option in that paper, due to capability and resourcing limitations.
ReplyDeleteThat is what I referred to earlier with a particular battalion rotating through the amphibious role.
You were correct earlier that we need either a Marine Corps or a Brigade at least permanently assigned to the amphibious role, but with only 7 regular battalions and no known plans to expand beyond this shows that we don't have the resources to devote nearly 50% of our regular battalions to an amphibious role.
On top of which, such an idea conflicts with Army's desire under it's "objective force" strategic plan to create 3 "identically" equipped and structured regular brigades.
Cheers,
AD