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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