04 May 2004
US considers overhaul of amphibious forces
By Andrew Koch JDW Bureau Chief, Washington, DC
The US Marine Corps (USMC) and navy are considering a radical restructuring that will change the way units ashore are organised to fight and alter plans for at least two new ship class designs to support those forces.
To pay for these dramatic moves, they could axe up to four of the existing 12 amphibious ready groups (ARGs) and buy fewer San Antonio-class LPD-17 amphibious transport dock ships than planned, a US defence source and senior navy official said.
Noting that "we had better have a military that is mobile and agile", the senior navy official said that the US will face political constraints on the use of its armed force in the future, as was witnessed during the build-up to Operation 'Iraqi Freedom'. Therefore, the official said, being able to operate from seabases rather than aggregating forces ashore is going to become increasingly vital. "The issue of sovereignty is going to be more important in the next 30 years than it ever has in the past ... What we saw in Turkey is just the beginning."
To solve the problem, the navy is looking to build a group of ships to base forces to be projected ashore. The new ships will include a modified Wasp-class multipurpose amphibious assault ship (LHD-8) baseline design that is optimised for aviation under what is known as the LHA-R programme.
Those ships would work in conjunction with Maritime Preposition Force-Future (MPF-F) vessels equipped with full flight decks to provide much of the logistical needs and space required for the marines. Other future ships such as DD(X) destroyers, which are expected to eventually be armed with electromagnetic railguns capable of firing a precision projectile more than 200nm inland, would provide naval gun fire support.
