via Marine Corps Times
“Imagine something with persistence, with a flight deck, with the ability to move a large amount of capacity on and off for [humanitarian assistance and disaster relief], for counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, for what some call the new normal in protection,” Greenert said. “Being able to respond to our embassies in North Africa, off the coast of Yemen, or actually up and around the Arabian Gulf.”Make no mistake about it.
These afloat forward staging bases are capable of holding MV-22s and the range of Marine Corps helicopters, and with some extensions to the flight deck could accommodate the F-35, he said. Greenert said the MLPs were designed to deploy alongside other ships in an auxiliary capacity, and could ideally assist in missions for which the Navy’s fleet of amphibious ships, which support the Corps’ seven Marine expeditionary units, are in high demand.
“They’re not amphib ships. They’re not replacing amphibs,” he said. “But these kind of ships can take the pressure off and help supplement the missions that are out there today that we’re having to use our amphibs for. And these ships can do those kinds of missions.”
This is a terrible idea. But before I dig into this, consider the sleeves situation. The Commandant reversed his decision on rolled sleeves for one reason and one reason only. Legacy. The next Commandant would have come in and the first thing he would have done is to reinstate rolling sleeves. That would be part one of rolling back the Amos legacy. Amos was just smart enough to take it off the table.
Now to the SPMAGTF-CR and the AFSB.
Its another legacy builder that Greenert is trying to help Amos with that will be rolled back by the next Commandant.
The main problem with this idea is that it starts looking a whole lot like an MEU. Its not as good as an MEU, can't do the work of an MEU and has MUCH less combat power than an MEU.
So why did Amos attempt to reinvent the MEU? One reason. To justify the MV-22 that is getting hard second looks around the Corps because it costs so damn much.
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A MEU can be called for any number of contigencies and one of the most frequent calls is for humanitarian assistance. This vessel could prove its mettle in those scenarios. Additionally, this platform could easily accomplish what the Ponce is doing currently...with almost as much, if not more, capability.
ReplyDeleteI have never understood why most amphibs are not built to commercial specifications instead of military. I do understand the need for the assualt shipping to be built to the standard, but all?
don't buy the hype. the Ponce has been doing jack shit. they put on good demonstrations for allies. it looks good doing mine sweeping ops, a few special ops units might bed down for awhile but it isn't at the forefront of anything.
Deleteeven the Riverines don't do much with it.
the deal is that this is being touted as a cheap amphib but the Navy is wanting the Marine Corps to leave its capabilities on the beach, rip the MEU to shreds and then call it adequate.
it makes no sense.
and ask yourself another question. why the push to put Marines on these ships? supposedly everyone was once vying to get aboard. SOCOM, Riverines, Mine hunters etc...now months later they're pushing a Marine Corps role?
something is fishy here.
you are wrong, go do some more research about Ponce ops
DeleteHow is a F-35B going to fly off of this thing? I know how a MV-22 is; it can take off vertically with a useful load. The F-35B cannot.
ReplyDeleteAs for the idea of the AFSB itself I am holding out hope for the future. Will it be a good home for the CRs of the future? Maybe, maybe not. Cannot be that much worse than what the Marines are forced to do to operate in Italy and Spain.
Still though from a cost point of view it would probably just be cheaper to vastly ramp up the MSG program and smartly redistribute the Marines throughout the hot spots of the world. You are looking at $400,000,000 ship. Six $90,000,000 MV-22 and one hundred highly trained Marines that cannot be used against anything more dangerous than an 2 dozen enemies with AKs and a couple dozen RPG rounds.
you're like the 6th Marine that is telling me i'm missing something with the AFSB concept. what is it?!!! i just don't see the utility. give me a dozen LSD that are simple and cheap and i'll show you real capability. i don't see it with these things.
DeleteI see a big floating target which will be spam in a floating can at the first sign of trouble.
ReplyDeleteSOL you are right about this being a bad idea, but for a different reason. The MLP is a cut down TANKER not a freighter. That is a dumb baseline to make into a new form of amphib support ship. Look at the many good amphib support ships already in service in other navies.
ReplyDeleteWhat CNO and many naval officers NOT familiar with ampib ops completely MISS is that the MLP nee AFSB has NO cargo spaces. He is just looking at these ships a lily pads. Why spend $500 a copy for what MANY sealifts ships already can do better? The MPF enhanced LMSRs are much more capable as an AFSB and have already performed as AFSB.