24th MEU Amphibious Raid

Photos by Cpl. Michael Petersheim

Arktos Amphibious Craft.

US Coast Guard Amphibious Craft.

Who knew?  The US Coast Guard has amphibius craft!  Too bad they haven't expanded this program to include smaller vehicles for use in the Southern US.  I can actually see them doing good work especially after a hurricane hits...AAV's played a huge role in the rescue of citizens after Hurricane Katrina and it might be good to see a few painted in Coast Guard colors.  On a side note maybe police depts need to be equipping with those type vehicles for real rescue work instead of MRAPs.

Type 26 Global Combat Ship

David Axe. You're a dumb ass!

Open note to David.

Dude!  I stepped up to defend you when those bubbas at SOFREP were handing you your ass over the statement made by the General in S. Korea when he made a weird statement about missions being run in the North.

I had forgiven you when it came to some pretty obvious school boy follower ship of the Dark Lord Sweetman and his critique of the F-35 program.  But this new little ditty is just too much.

Oh sorry.  Let me get everyone up to speed.  David wrote this article on the F-35...the whole thing is pretty pathetic but his part stood out.

No mention of the JSF program’s years of delays and rising costs, its reliability and performance problems and the fact that the Marines’ slavish dedication to the flawed stealth fighter means the Corps risks losing its ability to fight in the air.

Read the whole thing but that verbiage is straight out of the Sweetman, Air Power Australia and ELP playbook.  As a matter of fact he can probably get hit with plagiarism cause I'm sure I've read those exact words on one of those websites.

I would like to say that I'm disappointed but that would be a lie.  I expect this kind of behavior along with the secondary effect of Aviation Week linking to his site to help them prove that "we're not the only ones that dislike the F-35" theme.  Its all bullshit and David's a dumb ass. 

NOTE:  The F-35 program is up to speed/performing well and his statement about slavish devotion makes me want to punch walls.  Get a clue you son of a bitch. 

UPDATE:  I know the F-35 Haters Club like I know the inner workings of an M-16A4.  Sure as shit, Sean Meade linked to David Axe's story!  Check out the timeline on my blog posting and then go here to see the link for yourself.

UK cutting top billets. The USMC should do the same.

via BFBS.

The military's "top-heavy" command will be cut by a quarter under the latest in a wave of defence cuts to save £3.8 million a year.

Thousands of posts have already been cut after the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. These latest cuts were recommended in a report by Lord Levene last year.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond says one in four senior posts from the ranks of commodore, brigadier, air commodore and above will go and the top brass cull will take two years to carry out.
It means around 26 civilian and military head office posts are being axed and a new senior structure will come in from April next year.

A new streamlined head office will focus more on providing strategic direction. It will no longer get involved in the day-to-day management of the front line commands, which will take over responsibility for managing their own budgets.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: “At a time when we are making difficult decisions about defence spending and have had to accept reductions across the board we cannot ignore the volume of posts at the top. For too long the MOD has been top heavy, with too many senior civilians and military.

“Not only does this new structure reduce senior staff posts by up to a quarter in the next two years, but it allows clear strategic priorities to be set for the Armed Forces. It will hold the frontline Commands to account for their delivery and support them in the tasks they are set.

Acting Permanent Under Secretary Tom McKane said: “All parts of Defence are being restructured as we transform the way the Ministry of Defence does business, and Head Office is no exception. A smaller Head Office focused on strategic direction and policy, which hands more responsibility to the front-line commands, allows for a better-run organisation.”

Wow.

The Brits are actually doing what everyone has always talked about.

Take the US Marine Corps for example.  We're about to put 20,000 Marines out on the street, yet we haven't heard one peep about reducing the number of Flag Billets or seen a reduction in support elements.  All we know for sure is that several Infantry Battalions are going away.

AMAZING.

Time for the Corps to man up.  If you can kick LCPL Schmucatelli to the curb then you can do the same to General Don't Know Shit (said in jest...relax rank thumpers).

Seriously though.  Its time for the Marine Corps to seriously clean house.  Close down shops, combine functions and billets and make this a streamlined machine again.

NOTE:  This should also apply doubly so for all the civilian billets that dot the Marine Corps landscape.

Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch.

The Marine Corps does a good job of leveraging off the expertise found in other services when possible, one area where it isn't is amphibious vehicle testing.

Because of that the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch was established.  You can check out their website here, but unfortunately a unit history isn't provided.  To be quite honest I'm extremely curious and wonder how long they've been in existence.  What  I do know is that they've had a hand in bringing the improved AAV into existence and they were working hard on the EFV before it went belly up.

The AVTB.  One of the unknown units of the Corps.

First Army Parachute Battalion (1941)

Arsenal Ship/Missile Barge. Mike at New Wars view.

early arsenal ship concept.

early arsenal ship concept.

Mike at New Wars had this issue pegged a long time ago.  I really recommend you go back and read his take on the arsenal ship (heck you should read his blog even though he doesn't update it anymore, it covers issues that we're still banging around).  Bear in mind that when he wrote it, the issue was land attack only and the main threat that the arsenal ship represented was to carrier aviation being able to attack targets deep inland with greater precision and less risk than manned aircraft.

If we're being honest about it, the UAV is just another take on the arsenal ship, the only difference being that its being deployed from a carrier instead of a 'surface' ship.

But that's not the point.  Read his article but here's the juicy bit....

Besides an immense missile-firing platform, other unique extras in the design included:

• Very small crew-Only 50 were deemed necessary to operate the 500-800 foot craft. Compare this to 300 on much smaller destroyer, or 6000 needed to crew a Nimitz class aircraft carrier.
• Low cost-The initial version cost about $450 million, or about the price of the tiny new littoral combat ship. The huge weapons payload would have added to the cost, but still come in far less than the $6-$8 billion price tag of a heavy carrier.
• Water armor-Plans were for the ship to have ballast tanks similar to a submarine, which could be filled to provide a low profile in enemy waters. An added benefit to this, as proved in the Tanker War of the 1980's, is that such a vessel providing its own buoyancy would be extremely difficult to sink.
• A Digitized Warship-She could have been operated by remote control, with her weapons systems tied into to other Aegis Ships or AWACS aircraft, and aimed accordingly. She would have been an integral part of the US Ballistic Missile Defense program.

Guess what boys and girls.  That sounds like a mix between an LCS (small crew...but unlike the LCS, the VLS tubes don't need to be maintained so it would have been possible), and a DDG-1000 (digitized and networked...just like the arsenal ship was suppose to be). 

But even better is what a kid came up with.  I don't even know if he realizes how brilliant his idea is.  He goes by the name "Infinite Hunter" and he has some 3D models up on Google.  What he bashed together was a fictional ship.  An arsenal ship or missile barge --- he named it a Missile Support Barge (MSB-1) and based it on a container ship!  If this idea was followed, you'd have LOW platform cost, a double hull to help protect it against enemy action (and that doesn't include the armor that the launch cells have!), a small crew and room for any other option you decided to add to the ship!  I like it.

NOTE:
My buddy Joe likes to point to the Ohio class cruise missile subs as being able to fulfill this role.  The problem is that most of the subs missions are classified and have an intel angle to them.  Additionally when called upon they might not be in positon to providethe needed support without risking the boat.  We need responsive fires.  Thats why I like this concept.

We're going to need more VLS cells.

Chris Rawley has an article up on ID where he talks about the Tomahawk anti-ship missile and the issues that have in the past made them difficult to use and how they're overcoming those difficulties.

He also talks about the long range of the missile.

I say that's all well and good but one problem remains.  We're going to need more cells.  A subsonic missile is not hard to kill.  That means saturation attacks....or at the very least multiple missiles per target.

So you take your average Burke class destroyer and now you have to go to war with the thought that I need a war load that takes into account anti-air missions, anti-surface missions and land attack missions.  All these missions are fighting for space in my vertical launch system.

How do you figure out your warload?  Who's gonna get stiffed when it comes to needs?  Is it gonna be the Marine thats looking to the Navy to use its Tomahawks to interdict the enemy's supply lines in heavily defended air space?  Or is the carrier going to have to take a chance that the anti-air missiles that its depending on have been filled with anti-shipping missiles...or is it the LCS' guys that were hoping that big brother has enough missiles to tag more heavily armed ships if they popped up over the horizon?

We need more cells and this, while nice, just illustrates the problem.

*I just realized that this missile really has applications for the P-8, B-52 and even the J-8...remember every sensor must be a shooter and every shooter a sensor.  The Navy is simply providing a tool to get Air Force heavies into the anti ship battle!

Charles Adler BODY SLAMS F-35 critics! Wow!

via SLD...

Canada is getting a big wake up call with this type of reporting!

The final nail in the coffin for US Counter-Insurgency Doctrine.

via Battle Rattle...

The Afghan police and the Marines had a good relationship,’ said one Marine on the team, who arrived at the grisly scene shortly after the attack. ‘A few of the Afghan police even broke into tears afterwards when they realized what had happened.’

 A few things...

 *Anyone who is still talking about good relationships with Afghan forces after witnessing/hearing about all these attacks is smoking crack, doesn't deserve to be in a leadership position and should be immediately discharged.

*Hearts and minds, the backbone of US counterinsurgency doctrine, is dead as a door nail.  We have done nothing but pour money into that country, build roads/schools/infrastructure, basically we've brought civilization where it wasn't wanted...and yet we still haven't won them over.  Like a trying to turn a hooker into a housewife, it just ain't gonna work.

*General Allen has gone halfway to fixing the problem.  All personnel will be armed now.  Mind you its condition 3 on Jeff Cooper scale but at least they'll have ammo in their guns instead of running around with weapons and NO magazines (as has been the case until now).  People will still die because they'll fumble around trying to get there weapon setup to fire, forgetting that they have to chamber a round AND take it off safe but this is better than nothing.

Good guys are dying for people that just don't give a damn.  The Afghans are not worth the sacrifice.

Dauntless in the Falklands.

The Brits are playing off the Dauntless being in the Falklands with captions like this....

The bleak beauty of the Falkands on a glorious winter’s day provided the stunning mise-en-scène for HMS Dauntless.

The Portsmouth-based warship quickly proved a hit with islanders – youngsters especially – who visited her at the remote East Cove port on East Falkland.

That's cute with a big dash of British understatement but I believe we're seeing chess being played against the Argentinian government.  First we heard of a US oil company getting rights to oil exploration off the coast and now we see a powerful warship prowling the waters.

They didn't chest thump or make public pronouncements.  They made two shrewd moves and have their enemy in check!

pics via Royal Navy News...

Individual Rushes..

Photos by Lance Cpl. Ali Azimi

Lance Cpl. Thomas Overzet, rifleman, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, conducts buddy rushes on Range 105 Aug. 14, 2012. Approximately 150 Marines are visiting the Combat Center from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. as part of their Tactical Small Unit Leaders Course.

Lance Cpl. Cosmo Peters, machine gunner, Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, conducts buddy rushes on Range 105, during the unit's Tactical Small Leaders Course Aug. 14, 2012

Lance Cpl. Thomas Overzet, rifleman, Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, fires a round during a buddy rushing exercise at Range 105, as part of the unit's Tactical Small Unit Leaders Course, Aug. 14, 2012.

Lance Cpl. Luis Garces, rifleman, Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, kneels to the ground while conducting buddy rushes on Range 105, Aug. 14. Approximately 150 Marines visited the Combat Center from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., as part of the Tactical Small Unit Leaders Course.

Update. Kill the Mobile Landing Platform.

The above pic illustrates what we already have in service and why the Navy shouldn't allocate any more funds to the fictional sea base.

We already have what we need. 

We should better use the tools that we already have in our toolbox.

The Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) is a luxury that we don't need and can't afford.  'Nuff said.

A project we should kill. Mobile Landing Platform.

Name one project that we can afford to delay or kill.

Yeah that's right I'm saying that we can afford to delay or kill the MLP.

The MLP is the result of happy thinking and fat budgets.  Those days have definitely passed.  Can you honestly tell me that the sea base, as the Marine Corp envisioned it, is an absolute necessity to the US way of war? 

It isn't and since it isn't essential it should be done away with. Quite honestly the money would be better used to purchase more LCACs or even other really needed ships.  As for getting vehiclesashore in areas with limited port facilities...check out the pic below.

2nd Commando Regiment Counter-Terrorism Exercise

India Battery EFSS live-fire in Kuwait

Know your enemy. ZBD05 Amphibious Vehicle.

Pics are from Air Power Australia.  Note.  We can talk all we want but they have the best info on Chinese weapon systems with the added bonus of not having ugly ass watermarks all over the photos.  Go to their website for more info on this and other threat weapons.

 Army Recognition has this vehicle as having a top waterspeed of 45km.  I seriously doubt it and I've never seen any pics of it planing.

I also wonder how many troops it can carry with the turret placed directly over the troop compartment.  But on a sidenote.  I once laughed at the thought of the Chinese attempting to duplicate USMC capabilities. 

They're still not there.

But on a local level.

If they concentrate on say a particular island or island chain...They have the ability to "look" like US Marines in the assault.  Whats probably more disturbing is that the Chinese are using this vehicle as a building block to something more advanced, which will mean increasing combat capability in the future.

Know your enemy. Chinese amphibious landing op.