Aviation Centric Assault Ship delivered...

Aviation-centric assault ship #TRIPOLI LHA7 delivered to US #Navy today 28 Feb fm @HIIndustries as Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula MS. Sister of AMERICA LHA6, TRIPOLI displaces nearly 45,000 tons. Will be commissioned in Pensacola later this year but date not yet announced pic.twitter.com/6080i65he9

— Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) February 28, 2020

I really have to wonder why we continue to walk the middle ground with these ships.  In reality they are no longer multi-purpose.  They've evolved to light carriers.

Full stop.

I like the idea of medium amphibious assault ships because the Ground Combat Element still needs a ride. 

Of course this brings me to the real point.

Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) need to be totally revamped.

From my chair the divergence is complete.  We have Marine Aviation that will be the main Corps force in fighting the sea battle (and make no mistake about it...all the talk from critics about being a second land army has made a terrible impression on the brass...so much so that I fear the loss of capability on the ground) while the GCE will still do MOST of the heavy lifting in small wars/embassy evacuations etc...

Since we tend to send MEUs to the hotspots around the globe and since in the past 50 years its been mostly a ground affair I propose we develop two separate MEUs.

One aviation based and the other biased toward the GCE.

How would that look?  MEU-Aviation would include a new jack LHA, a San Antonio Class LPD and that's it.  You could carry a Company Landing Team, JLTVs, and howitzers for limited ground actions.  It would be biased toward F-35s and MV-22s.  Extra space that would come from leaving a Battalion Landing Team behind would go toward aviation stores and enhancing attached artillery.

The GCE based MEU would contain a LHD, San Antonio Class LPD, 3 Medium Amphibious Assault Ships, an MLP (still can't latch onto the new designation).  It would have a reduced air wing based mostly on MV-22s, would carry what is now standard loadout for ground action in addition to reinforced artillery (both cannon and rocket).

Enough of the middling.  Time to get this done.