15th MEU sailing without tanks is exhibit #1 for moving forward with my Reinforced MEU Concept!

Remember the story earlier today of the 15th MEU sailing without tanks?  This is exhibit number one for why my Reinforced MEU Concept makes sense!

Consider.

1.  The world in which the Aviation Centric, Light Infantry dominated USMC was based on has long passed.  We have seen the birth of Terror Groups that are able to destroy nation state armies.  These same groups have tanks, artillery, APC/IFVs and anti-tank weapons.  They are mobile, lethal and from what we've seen in Afghanistan/Iraq and Syria...quite effective.

2.  In light of the first it must be admitted that the only force capable of holding the line against this type of formation is the combined arms team that the USMC has perfected over the years.  Without tanks, its no longer the winning team that we expect it to be.

3.  How do we get that team back?  We sail as a complete unit and we don't leave gear on the pier!  How do we do this?

We slightly mod the MLP (I refuse to go with the ESB rebranding...that former "thing" known as the SecNavy doesn't even deserve that amount of respect) by building a vehicle deck enclosure.  We maintain its ability to "sink" but we give our AMTRACKERS an enclosure from which they can work on their vehicles and even accommodations for them to eat, sleep, exercise etc...

The question isn't whether it can be done.  The real question is cost and the will/courage to admit that the first two ships of the America class were a terrible mistake and that we have to regain lost capability.

Does that will exist at HQMC?

I'm not sure but confidence is not high.

USMC to replace the LAV????

via Inside Defense (behind paywall)

General Dynamics Land Systems plans to build a prototype for the Marine Corps' armored reconnaissance vehicle program, set to be a new-start effort in fiscal year 2019. Phil Skuta, Marine Corps and Navy director at GDLS, told Inside Defense Sept. 13 the company aims to construct its prototype in 2018. The ARV would replace the Light Armored Vehicle. The ARV will be a "radical" departure from the LAV because the platform will integrate unmanned aerial systems, unmanned ground vehicles...

That's it gents.

That's all we get before we have to dig in pocket and I'm not.  Even for an article this enticing!

This is what I mean by propaganda news.  These manufacturers and even the Marine Corps place news in certain publications.  That's inherently unfair but it is what it is.

Having said that I have to wonder what the thinking is.

We're about to (or suppose to) select a new vehicle for the ACV program.  Why isn't a modded version of that vehicle being considered.  Ogden (long time reader...appreciate ya buddy) has often mused out loud why they don't develop a 6x6 version of whatever vehicle is selected to replace the LAV.  Assumedly that would give LAV Bn's a vehicle that can swim from ship to shore or from connector to shore in high intensity fights.

I never gave it much thought because I figured the LAV would continue to serve for many years since they just upgraded it to the LAV-A2 configuration but if this is true then Ogden's idea deserves a run around the block.

I don't understand the thinking but this program will be telling.

I don't care about the manned/unmanned/UAV capability.  My belief leads me to think that we will soon see the vulnerability of unmanned systems that will make equipping our Marines with decent armor instead of hoping tech can save us a no brainer.

What I do care about is the platform selected.

If they demand that this new LAV be air-transportable inside a MV-22 then all hope is lost.

We'll see what we'll see.

NATO Chief talks N. Korea with Sputnik

via Sputnik.

"We have stepped up our analysis, our monitoring of the situation in the region of the development of nuclear weapons and missiles in North Korea. We are enhancing our cooperation with partners in the region, especially South Korea and Japan. We have had several meetings with our partners in NATO over the last months," Stoltenberg said.

Wow.  I'm still amazed that NATO is somehow becoming involved in events on the other side of the planet.  The charter is expanding and I'd like to know exactly how far NATO reaches now and what are the limits (if any) that exist on military planning/involvement.

Then this.

 Asked if North Korea was capable of attacking the United States, Stoltenberg said: "They are in the process of developing those kinds of capabilities. And that's exactly why this is of great concern, not only for the United States and NATO but for the whole international community. This is a threat to international peace and security. It's a global threat, and it has to be met with a global response."

Story here. 

Interesting isn't it.

A news organization that the FBI has labeled a mouthpiece of the Kremlin has gotten an exclusive interview with the NATO Chief.

Not only fascinating but awesome.

The rationale for NATO involvement in the N. Korea drama is sketchy as hell but at least he attempts to explain it.

41 more Super Hornets for the US Navy!

via UPI

Boeing Co. has received a $676.6 million modification to an existing contract for the production of F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter aircraft for the U.S. Navy.

The modification, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense, provides for the manufacture of six lot 41 F/A-18E and eight F/A-18F fighter jets. The production run is expected to be completed by February 2019.

Story here.

Well I guess we got word on that report that Mattis commissioned comparing the Super Hornet to the F-35.

Words don't matter in defense procurement.  You MUST follow the money!

Hurricane Irma News. Final Dispatch from JD Strike in Georgia. LEO perspective on the ground

Below is a report that I received from JD Strike and his experiences in Georgia during and after Hurricane Irma hit.

 I thought about a few more things.  Our County Sheriff’s department handles the rural area outside the main city limits.  Those boys were out in force at the east end where the islands and low lying areas.  I could hear over the radio the guys were doing good things out there trying to assess the storm surge, down trees and such.  They had a lot to deal with closing off roads and trying to get to those who had life threatening emergencies.  They also had to man and establish road blocks during the evacuation to keep the outflow going but to minimize the influx of people creeping around or try to get in from the highway looking for fuel and supplies.

I can’t overstate how lucky we had it.  Everyone was trying to compare the effects of Matthew last year and the shortcomings we had during our response.  We definitely got out in front of it this time.  Unfortunately this brings out a thought.  The hype last year to prepare and evacuate coupled with the effects was one thing which led to this time people preparing but not evacuating.  We definitely had more stay home this storm.  I am afraid the lack of damage this time coupled with the mass medias reporting how much worse this one was going to be, then add in the lack of massive damage to the area as compared to what was projected is only going to give false confidence to the people.  The next storm is going to be telling.  I have a gut feeling most people are going to be complacent and if we get smacked it’s going to be bad.

We had 12 hour operations going with all hands on deck.  This was all our uniformed patrol, our Detectives division and our Vice unit out on the street.  On average we had 30 officers out into 4 beats (sectors)  throughout the city.  Normal operations is an average of 8 per watch for the same 4 Beats.   We had a lot of troops out there.  I have to say we had a decrease in calls for service for Minutiae calls. No barking squirrels, no my neighbors making too much noise and no “my 12 year old is not listening to me” calls.  We had legitimate calls.  Suspicious acts, domestics and of course property crimes.   We focused on property protection through active/ visible patrols at businesses and residential areas.  Lifesaving calls were and always priority, but most calls were not that bad.  Almost all traffic stops were to clear the roadways and inform people of the hazards.  We had a few Drunk drivers but that’s stupid on crack.  No time is good for drunk driving but when there are limited to no cars on the road and we had 30 guys out there, no chance.

Fort Stewart ordered mandatory evacuation on Thursday night to effectively start on Saturday to coincide with the States Evac orders.  This was to be expected for family members and DA civilian workers. I expected the troops would be either Shelter in place or moved inland to another base to be on standby for deployment for relief.  I saw the announcement in the news and a copy of the evacuation order.  What got me was they were sending out the troops and family members out under TDY orders for up to 400 miles away.  You know keep your receipts and do a travel voucher to be reimbursed.  OK I get the force protection motivation along with getting the families out of dodge.  No word on whether they left a contingent to be on standby for emergency deployment.  Later found out they left essential workers on base, MP’s and EOC staff, and maybe a representative for the units to keep eyes on property.   These same troops were coming off base to find places to eat during the curfew.  Talked to a young E-4 MP who said they were essential workers left in place to guard facilities but had no mess capabilities.  Not sure if they were just not eating MRE’s or they had no chow.  Soldier did say they had no mess halls open.  So who knows.  I think about the optics on this one.  You have a regional Major Army base, which in itself gives a sense of security in case something happens, announcing a mass evacuation and closure.  I can tell you the City big wigs have been heard before saying if something really bad happens the Army Base would be there to help.  Not to mention how much the City Officials like to preach how tight knit our relationship is with the Military base.  To me looking in from the outside this was a slap of cold water that they were closing down.  I didn’t see any reassuring messages being put out to us civilians that the base would have any assets available in case the storm was catastrophic.  I Felt no confidence The 3rd ID was here to lend a hand.  Did they have a contingency? I don’t know.  They didn’t advertise or reassure the public with their order to Evacuate.

We did have a rash of Burglary reports that came in overnight based on returning residents.  Again most of these were caused by two legged vultures taking the opportunity DURING the storm.   We didn’t have any reports of home invasions or looting.

Time to get back to work.

If you've been keeping up with this short little series of notes from Law Enforcement Officers on the ground during these events then you'll notice similar themes.

I have a few things that are just turning my wheels...

1.  Ft Hood in Texas and Ft Stewart/Ft Benning in Georgia were capable of deploying massive numbers of troops.  Why weren't they sourced?

2.  Still working thru the thoughts of criminals actually committing crimes during the storms.  If you bug in and hear a bump you can no longer assume its a tree falling in the yard.  If you don't investigate you might be set upon at a time and place NOT of your choosing.

3.  T talked about how they arrived in Houston to give the LEO's there a bit of rest.  JD Strike didn't seem to get that favor.  Why don't the State Bureaus of Law Enforcement or State Police not better coordinate these events?  Those guys have to be dragging after a few days of almost non-stop operations.

4.  Saying it again.  The Federal Govt was just too slow.  Can this be corrected or is it just the way it has to be?

Much more and I'll try and put up a lessons learned or maybe just observations tomorrow.  I don't begin to have half the answers to all the questions I have.

15th MEU deploys without tanks. Weak, Impotent & Lacking is now a Marine Corps thing?

via Navy Matters Blog

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, now, and it’s finally happened.  The Marines are deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) without any tanks.  Perhaps it’s happened before and I just didn’t notice.  As noted in the May 2017 issue of Proceedings,

“Despite the maneuverability, lethality, and survivability that tanks provide, the 15th MEU will deploy without its battalion landing team’s (BLT’s) M1A1s.  The unit will embark on the USS America (LHA-6), the USS San Diego (LPD-22), and the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52);  these ships lack adequate space for the unit’s equipment, driving the decision to deploy without the tanks.”

The article’s author goes on to note that, in addition to the obvious benefits of armor, firepower, infantry support, and survivability, tanks also offer a great deal of flexibility due to their dozer blades and mine plows which allow the tanks to create and remove obstacles, clear safe paths through mine fields, provide breeching capability under fire, etc.

Story here. 

Navy Matters Blog won't be judgemental but I will.

This is "weak, impotent and lacking".  I didn't know that was a Marine Corps thing.

But in the lust to push for the Aviation Centric Marine Corps, risks have been adopted and two big deck LHDs were built without well decks.

That asinine decision will affect Marine Corps operations for decades.

Congratulations.  The generation of military leaders that have involved the US in two 15 year wars without victory, badly mishandled every social issue that has come down the pike in the last 10 years and committed at the very least fraud, possibly moral turpitude on a level that the Marine Corps has never seen before with the forsaken/ill begotten F-35 have compounded the errors with this latest bit of silliness.

I don't think the Aviation Centric Marine Corps will work.  I'd almost bet body parts that it won't.  What's worse if I'm right?  Leadership has enshrined the mistake so we won't be able to correct it.

Explaining the British Army’s Strike Concept

Thanks to Jonathan for the link!

via RUSI

Nothing that has so far been said about Strike has anything in common with those things that arguably made FRES something to ridicule. Strike is a concept, not a replacement vehicle programme, and one on which the future of the field army as a deployable land force might depend. It will be given physical expression in the shape of at least two vehicles and possibly more, and there is no demand for them to be deployed by air.

Strike is predicated on a completely different starting point to that which informed FRES. The rationale for Strike acknowledges the real limitations of the existing force, both operational and economic, and offers infantry brigades the ability to march and manoeuvre under armour at far greater distances than is currently possible.

Although understanding the field army as having ‘light’, ‘medium’ and ‘heavy’ formations is somewhat simplistic, it may have to suffice for brevity. One of the main flaws of FRES was that it was part of a medium force capable of delivering the effect of a heavy force but with a lower logistic footprint, as well as being capable of air deployment. Strike will be neither a heavy armoured brigade nor a light infantry brigade, but an infantry brigade moving and maneuvering under armour.

Then this.

 The conceptual and perceptual problem with Ajax is its strong similarity with the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) once fitted with the new 40 mm CTA turret. However, the supposed duplication or problematic division of labour is not as some in the media have suggested. In very simple terms, the heavy force will be CR2 with Warrior, where the latter will carry the heavy force’s dismounted component. In a Strike Brigade, Ajax will be fulfilling the heavy force CR2 equivalent, with MIV transporting the dismounted force. Any suggestion that Ajax is somehow akin to Warrior by virtue of a common main armament is not, therefore, valid from the perspective of force structures. Nor is the epithet of Ajax as a poor man’s ‘mini-tank’ well informed; Ajax will provide effective direct fire support for MIV’s dismounted personnel in Strike’s concept of employment.

Story here.

This is the best explanation of the British Army's Strike Concept that I've read.  Not saying it will work but at least I get what they're trying to do.

 

EAGLE 6x6 will enter trials shortly for a part of the UK’s Multi Role Vehicle – Protected (MRV-P) programme

Wow.

Do the Brits just like to run programs for the sake of running programs?  They're already buying JLTVs from the US in a sale I didn't see coming and now instead of just using a variant of that vehicle they're gonna do a competition for possibly a different one?

Baffling!

Open Comment Post. Aug 14, 2017

More US Army armor arrives in Poland.

via FrontNews.

Gdansk: 87 tanks "Abrams", 103 infantry fighting vehicles "Bradley" and 18 self-propelled howitzer "Paladin" of the US Army arrived in the port of Gdansk, which should strengthen the US armored brigade, which is based in Poland. Portal Morski writes about this.

According to the chief of logistics of the American ground forces in Europe, Major-General Stephen Shapiro, all on board the transport ship that arrived in Gdansk on September 13, one thousand eighty-seven units of various equipment.

As you know, after joining the Crimea in Russia in 2014, the United States took the initiative to increase its presence in Europe, which is part of the Atlantic Resolve operation to ensure the continued presence of the US armed forces in Europe.

At the beginning of the year, the Third Armored Brigade of the Combat Group of the 4th Rifle Division of the US Army, numbering 3,500 troops, over 400 caterpillar vehicles and more than 900 wheeled vehicles arrived in Poland, including 87 tanks, 18 self-propelled howitzer "Paladin", more than 400 cars and 144 infantry fighting vehicles "Bradley".

Story here. 

The theory is that forward presence is suppose to lower tensions and promote stability.

These moves are doing anything but.

How would we react if Mexico made an alliance with Russia and we wake up the next morning and they have the 1st Guards Tank Division sitting just across the border?

If the Russian ambassador hit us with words like "these forces are only there to promote stability, lower tensions and reassure allies" I'd be the first one to tell the bastard to eat shit and die.

But we're doing the same.

During a time of budget stress on the military.

During a time when our forces are overstretched.

During a time when OPSTEMPO is forcing people out of the military.

Someone, somewhere is not thinking.

Canadian Army @ Operation REASSURANCE at Camp Ādaži, Latvia...pics by Sergeant Bernie Kuhn, Task Force Latvia

Hmm.  Wonder why the Canadians use towed artillery when they're the closest force in NATO to being an almost fully mechanized entity.  Not tracked mech...except for their tanks they're heavy into the wheels thing but why not their artillery? I don't envision them doing much air assault/heliborne raid type stuff so why did they roll with the M-777 instead of Archer, Caesar or even the S. African setup?

Korean Marine Exchange Program 17-13....Pics by Cpl. Aaron S. Patterson

SUESONGRI, Republic of Korea (Sept. 12, 2017) - Republic of Korea Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicles eject smoke clouds during Korean Marine Exchange Program (KMEP) 17-13 aboard Suesongri live fire range. KMEP 17-13 enables the Republic of Korea and U.S. Marines to focus on exchanging tactics, procedures, and increasing interoperability. The Hawaii-based battalion is forward deployed to Japan as part of the Unit Deployment Program.