via ID.
Count me among those who see this as training that will be used in theater for action one day.
In the 1980s the US Army deployed small special forces helicopters on US vessels in dealing with Iran during the Tanker War. Those Army helicopters did very well against small boat combat, and it is worth the effort to put Apache's into that role today to see what Navy needs to do to support it.
Over the last decade there have been a number of sea base proposals that never panned out. One of the proposals I was always particularly found of was developing the capability to field the 101st Airborne division from a Sea Base. I'd like to think this activity helps the Army clarify what needs to be done in support of that eventual capability.
Yeah. Operations at sea are fun until the first mishap occurs.
Go to Information Dissemination website to read the whole article to get a flavor of where he's coming from.
I think we're still in the embryonic stage of all this. Consider.
* Riverine is struggling to find its footing. Every time it seems to settle on a concept of operations it finds itself drifting into Naval Special Warfare turf...especially Special Boat Team territory.
* Marine Aviation should be looking for every chance possible to guard its turf. They better be anyway (not their fault Amos has put the wing in a terrible position). Every mission set that can be accomplished by the MV-22, AH-1Z and UH-1Y better be one where Marine Aviation is fighting to get that slot.
* Naval Aviation should be looking for every chance possible to guard its turf. If Naval Rotorcraft want to be seen as more than simply a supply service to do shuttle runs between ships then it better get into the littoral fight in a big way.
* Naval Unmanned Rotary Aircraft are going to be taking up deck space. FireScout B or C will be taking up deckspace, flying longer missions and hitting as hard as their manned brethren Additionally for the space of two Fire Scout B's you can get one MH-60? Yeah. Some smart boy in the Surface Navy is going to do the math.
Long story short.
It might make a pretty picture, and everyone might be fired up about the image it presents but its waaaay different from what we'll actually see in a combat zone.
