Libya, FAST Company and the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).

 We're seeing something of a type of mission creep for FAST Company if they're now doing the Embassy Reinforcement mission.  A quick wiki passage sums up the mission set nicely...

The Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) is capable of rapidly deploying to immediately improve security at United States Government installations worldwide. FAST Marines are deployed at the discretion of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandant of the Marine Corps when the primary and auxiliary security forces of the Marines are unable to adequately respond to a security crisis. FAST goes through the Close Quarters Battle School in a specialized course known as Advanced Urban Combat. Once completed, they are given the MOS of 8154.
Established in 1987, FAST companies provide a limited-duration, expeditionary security force to protect vital naval and national assets. FAST maintains forward-deployed platoons at various naval commands around the globe, and possesses U.S.-based alert forces capable of rapidly responding to unforeseen contingencies worldwide. Each FAST company is equipped and trains with some of the most state-of-the-art weaponry and currently consists of around 500 Marines.
FAST maintains a high degree of readiness in order to conduct these short-notice, limited-duration contingency operations, as seen in the port security mission following the attacks on the USS Cole (DDG-67) in October 2000 and the American Embassy reinforcements in Liberia and Haiti. On 12 September 2012 a FAST team was sent to Libya in response to the 2012 U.S. diplomatic missions attacks.^[3]

FAST Company responds before an incident in order to deter threats.

I'll say it since no one else will.

1.  We either suffered a tremendous intel failure or...
2.  The Ambassador misread the situation and thought that relationships that he had established in Libya would protect him AND the people that he was responsible for.

But back to the subject at hand.  FAST is appropriate for Egypt.  FAST is appropriate for Kabul.  FAST is not appropriate for Libya.

Why?

Because situations can rapidly spiral out of hand.  IF.  I repeat IF, the time comes to evacuate US and allied civilians from that country then a FAST Company does not have the resources to do it.  After an attack on an Embassy proper worst case planning would require that the threat of follow on attacks would be high.  By deploying the capable but equipment poor (as in helicopters, vehicles and supporting ships off the coast) FAST Team you're limiting your options.

Finally, it must be asked.  If Embassy reinforcement is no longer an MEU mission then what is their new mission set?  Is it to be only Humanitarian Assistance?  I hope not and I hope that the Marine Corps isn't snatching another mission from the MEU.  Its our most capable formation...the most forward deployed formation...and the most useful formation that the Marine Corps fields.

NOTE:
One other possibility exists for why the FAST Company is being tasked with this duty and not the MEU.  The MEU operates as Theater Reserve.  IF intel is indicating some type of uptick in violence in Afghanistan then everything I've just written gets thrown out the window.  That's the problem with operating from outside looking in.  You just don't have all the info necessary to make more than educated guesses.

UK's Wildcat Helicopter in action.

FAST Company has embassy reinforcement mission now?

MSNBC is reporting a FAST Company is going to reinforce the embassy in Libya.

Interesting.

Traditionally the MEU has the reinforcement mission set.  IF a FAST Company is actually deploying then we're seeing the MEU being degraded to support specialty units.  The MEU's MV-22's will likely be "requested" to move them to the area and we will see their deployment pattern altered to support the supporters.

Curious.

Clarification:
FAST Company deploys ahead of an incident.  If intel indicated that trouble was coming then you'd send in a FAST Team.  Once trouble hits then you need the resources of the MEU.  If not then you're robbing the MEU to support the FAST Team.. not good.

We're probably looking at an "enhanced" AAV.

I just re-read the story by National Defense Magazine and this stood out...

An analysis of alternatives has been completed comparing six capability sets ranging from an enhanced AAV to the requirements originally sought under Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, Pacheco said.

The study was completed in June and is being analyzed with a fine-toothed comb to ensure the proposal is accepted by Congress and that industry can deliver the right vehicle affordably, Amos said.

“This is not a Cadillac Escalade we’re trying to build here,” Amos said. “This is a fighting vehicle that will come from ship to shore and go inland with likely a squad of Marines. We want to make sure we’re not trying to build something with capabilities that we either don’t need or can’t afford. From my perspective, we’ve got one opportunity to do this right.”

No date has been set, but the Marine Corps will release a request for proposals to industry some time in the fall.

Capability sets ranging from an "enhanced" AAV to the original EFV capability set.

"This is NOT a Cadillac Escalade we're trying to build here..."

"...we're not trying to build something with capabilities that we either don't need or can't afford."

He might as well come out and say it.  We're looking at an Enhanced/Upgraded AAV.   BAE has already shown us the future.  Check it out below.

I can see the spin coming from HQMC about this upgrade.

The enhanced AAV-12 continues a long line of Marine Corps amphibious vehicles.  Although it superficially resembles the legacy vehicles its new in every way.  From an upgraded engine, to a superb suspension system, blast resistant armor and seats to a dramatically improved weapon system, this is not your fathers AAV.

Yeah.  That's how they're gonna play it.

Its 9/12 all over again.

I didn't post anything about the 9/11 anniversary.  Instead, I chose to read what others wrote.

I was disappointed.

What I saw was a bunch of self important snivelling.  Alot of politically correct, finger in the air "talk" about how we'll never forget.

WHAT A PILE OF BULLSHIT.

Its 9/12 all over again.  Our Ambassador in Libya, a country that we recently helped free, is dead.  What do we get from leadership?

Condemnation.

Sorrow about the fact that another American citizen died at the hands of radical Muslims.

More words.

No action.

Isn't it time to turn that God forsaken land into glass?  If not that then how about we bomb them back to their level of civilization instead of rebuilding/building their countries?

We're soft as a country and when animals sense weakness they attack.  The rabid dogs have their teeth around our necks...but instead of action we just get more talk.  Yeah.  9/12 all over again and nothings changed.

ACV and MPC are just wishful thinking.

via National Defense Magazine.

The same goes for a portion of the existing fleet of Amphibious Assault Vehicles, said Manny Pacheco, spokesman for the Marine Corps’ Advanced Amphibious Assault program office. Of the 1,000 amphibious tracked vehicles in the service’s fleet, just under 400 will be reset, he said. It will be another in a laundry list of overhauls and upgrades the 40-year-old vehicles have been through since they came into service in 1972.

“We have to find a way to bridge that capability, to make some of these vehicles last, at least until the ACV starts to come online,” Pacheco told National Defense.

The tracked ship-to-shore fighting vehicles will have to pull their weight at least until 2030, when the ACV is scheduled to enter the fleet. Automotive upgrades should be in development and testing until 2014, with reset AAVs returning to active duty between 2015 and 2017, Pacheco said.

Resetting the AAVs will involve upgrading their armor, installation of blast-mitigating seats and adding beefed-up suspension systems.

AAVs that do not undergo reset and overhaul will eventually be replaced by Amphibious Combat Vehicles, the now-defunct  Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program under a different name. When that program was voluntarily shuttered in January 2011, Marine Corps engineers went immediately to work “redefining and refining” the service’s requirements, Pacheco said.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

The JLTV doesn't make sense for the Marine Corps and they haven't given a compelling reason for why its better than simply upgrading/retrofitting existing Humvees.

But that isn't the real kicker.  Read the whole article but I recommend you have a bottle of your favorite adult beverage within arms reach when you do.  Either that or go see the local drug dealer and have him sell you something powerful.  Cause you'd have to be drunk or smoking crack to believe what they're trying to sell.

The current AAV will have to soldier on till 2030.

That means that the basic design of the Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicle will be almost 70 years old before it BEGINS to be replaced.

Over the course of (lets be generous) 5 years, the production run of the ACV will be completed and we can begin buying Marine Personnel Carriers.  That means that the MPC will come online in 2035.

We're all being fed bullshit and we don't have defense reporters that are smart enough to realize exactly how crazy that timeline is.

You're talking about a longer development cycle for the ACV than you had for the EFV!

Let me give you the real news here.  The MPC is just a dream.  It won't make it to service. A 2030 timeframe for it to enter production?  Planning that far out never comes to fruition.  We don't even need to talk about that vehicle anymore.  ACV?  Ditto.  They can run numbers and do all the busy work but real is real.  If you're talking about it hitting the fleet in 2030 then you might as well believe in the tooth fairy.

We really only have two legit vehicle programs.  JLTV and the AAV upgrade.  Remember.  You heard it here first.

Know your enemy and a website you have to see.

China.

They're becoming the big bully on the block and they know it.  How are they responding?  They're getting their public relations act together.  I didn't even realize it existed but the Peoples Republic of China, Ministry of National Defense has an english website.  Its a must see and you can check it out here.

Osprey Stack

Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys with Marine Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 161, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), fly over the Arabian Sea Sept. 6, 2012. VMM-161 was transferring their aircraft to VMM-261, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, U.S.S. Iwo Jima.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Keonaona C. Paulo)