Think Defense has an article on the Maritime Support Ship that just had a solicitation released on it. Read it here, but what has my attention is how the Afloat Forward Staging Base and the MSV seem to be merging into the same ship. Are we seeing the ground work being laid for more AFSB's?
Correct me if i'm wrong, but the first AFSB is due to replace the interim AFSB USS Ponce in the Gulf in 2015, while the second is due to be assigned to the Pacific...
ReplyDeleteThe MSV might actually be an interim solution for the Pacific area until the 2nd AFSB is in service to replace it in permanent fashion?
thats a good point but even stranger to me at least is that we look like we're going to have too many ships and not enough forces to use them all....
DeleteThe Atlantic Conveyor in the falklands war was similar. They converted it into a carrier only to have it sunk in 1 day.
ReplyDeleteSOL well sort - not! Two distinct rqmts, acquired by different methods.
ReplyDeleteSOCOM has a tight set of rqmts for their NSW transport as reflected in the MSV solicitation.
The big blue Navy has a bunch of nebulous needs implanted onto a "platform of opportunity" being the MLP.
The former will be fully funcitonal for a quarter the cost of the MLP to AFSB conversion at $500 mil.
While the MSV could sail around more or less unnoticed, the MLP and AFSB will be like aircraft carriers coming into port.
You continue to conflate the needs of special warfare with the others of MIW and fwd basing small and specialized mil dets. One does NOT equal the other. Just because there is an NSW team on Ponce or the next AFSB does NOT make it an SOF support ship~
P.S. where did you get that dwg?
I should have seen this before? That dwg is the MLP hullform converted to be LX(R)
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