Breaking Defense has a fantastic article about a "briefing" at the Center for Strategic & International Studies given by General Paxton. Read it here (and I recommend you do) but a few tidbits...
Even the Marine Corps’ own latest innovation, the land-based and air-deployed SP-MAGTFs (Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Forces) — the newest one officially created this week in Kuwait — are “suboptimal” compared to traditional Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) embarked on ships, Paxton said...That is huge! I've been saying the same thing for months. Quite honestly I don't understand the utility of the formation. Its expanded from the size of a "Company Landing Team" up to now a full Marine Infantry Battalion.
But the focus of the symposium was Amphibious Shipping, a report that CSIS has done a report on (you can get a copy here). The USMC has plans to place ramps on JHSVs and use them as transports for AAVs and MPCs from the sea base to launch points offshore. Check out what he says about that....
Amphibious warships are built with self-defense systems and highly resilient hulls. By contrast, while the JHSV is “a great opportunity,” Paxton said, “we should not delude ourselves in terms of its survivability and we should not delude ourselves in terms of the sea state [i.e. rough weather conditions] within which it can operate.”Again! THIS IS HUGE! I've been saying the same thing...it even applies to the LCAC!
“It is, I think, a splendid platform [for] doing exercises and building partnership capacity,” he said. “You could take a look [at JHSV] if we had to do a NEO [non-combatant evacuation, e.g. of a threatened embassy] or casualty evacuation, if the threat posture wasn’t severe. [But] I don’t see how you can legitimately put it into an operations plan for a major theater operation — unless you are doing long-term, later follow-on operations [i.e. after the main threat was defeated], nothing to do with the assault echelon.”
Adults appear to be reasserting themselves at HQMC. I couldn't be happier. If you have the time and the inclination you can check out the video of the event below.
Pardon me but I think the General has MISSED THE POINT about JHSVs! Sure they are transports not assault ships. JHSVs can of course be improved or even navalized within a reasonable payload range, but assault ships they are not nor should be. They are damn good fast transports (much improved from the APDs of WW2) for lower phase raids.
ReplyDeleteAll amphib ops are not, have not been excuslively, nor will be major assualts. All ships for amphib ops do NOT need a big well decks. nor do they need massive freaking ramps for splashing tracks – IMHO. Perhaps he does not get the huge cost involved in those expensive ship features? The Marines ALREADY have their billion dollar babies for assaults which he acknowledges are “capital challenges” as we have seen too damn expensive.
Based on history all amphibious shipping is NOT solely warships, so his assertion is myopic, and I believe, leads one to question if the Marines are willing to accept ANY ship which is not service-unique? The distinction between AE and AFOE is a doctrine which is no longer black and white.
There is nothing service-unique about HA/DR support so as long as BOG and some lighterage are available
I don’t buy the "cohesion" argument either. Marines are smart enough and fleixbe enough to operate off of several different ship types as they have done in the past.
I would agree that the LCS are hardly more than lily pad but they might be complimentary for littoral movements.