Compass Points - Always Combined Arms
Marine Air Ground Task Force
Compass Points - Always Combined Arms
Marine Air Ground Task Force
June 21, 2024
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Over the last several decades, the US Marine Corps built the deployed Marine Air Ground Task Force into the best example in the world of a global crisis response force. The years have gone by. Is there anything the Marine Corps can learn today from military forces around the world?
The Romanian military is small with approximately 80,000 troops on active duty and an annual defense budget well under $10bil US dollars. Every spending decision is critical. No dollar can be wasted. Some might think that the Romanian military should de-emphasize conventional arms and instead focus solely on drones and other small technology devices. While Romanian Generals see the value of drones, they also understand that drones cannot be relied on for every military mission.
The Romania military has just agreed to spend nearly $1bil US dollars for a weapon first used in combat more than 100 years ago.
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The Romanian Ministry of National Defence has chosen the K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzer for the nation’s armed forces.
The country’s military is to receive a total of 54 howitzers with related gear, the ministry said in a statement.
The decision to buy the weapon, which is manufactured by Hanwha Aerospace, was announced on June 19 following a meeting held by Romanian National Defence Minister Angel Tîlvăr and his South Korean counterpart, Won-sik Shin. The meeting was part of the Shin’s official visit to Romania.
-- Defense News
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The Romanian military is focused on ground combat against Russia or Russian proxy forces. Ukraine is just over a hour flight time from Romania. Romania has studied the Ukraine's combat against Russia and concluded it needs plenty of mobile 155 howitzers.
Other European nations are also studying the fighting in Ukraine and coming to their own conclusions. For example, French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill has doubts about the viability of small, simple drones.
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The advantage now enjoyed by small aerial drones on battlefields including in Ukraine is but “a moment in history,” French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill said at the Eurosatory defense show in Paris.
While anti-drone systems are lagging and “leave the sky open to things that are cobbled together but which are extremely fragile,” countermeasures are being developed, Schill told reporters during a tour of the French Army stand at the show June 19. Already today, 75% of drones on the battlefield in Ukraine are lost to electronic warfare, the general said.
, , , ”The life of impunity of small, very simple drones over the battlefield is a snapshot in time,” Schill said. “Right now it’s being exploited, that’s clear, and we have to protect ourselves . . . ."
. . . The general said that situation won’t exist 10 years from now, and the question could be asked whether that might already end in one or two years. Schill cited the example of the Bayraktar drone, “the king of the war” at the start of the conflict in Ukraine but no longer being used because it’s too easy to scramble.
-- Defense News
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So if drones are not the sole answer to warfare in the near future what is? General Schill does not use the words “combined arms" but that seems to be the type of forces he believes in.
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The general said he doesn’t consider that the war in Ukraine calls into question the French choice of a maneuvering army built around medium armor, with a focus on speed and mobility.
-- Defense News
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Can the Marine Corps learn from military forces around the world?
Romania is buying 54 K9 Thunder 155 mm self-propelled howitzers to bolster their military.
French Army Chief of Staff General Schill says what is most important is not only small, simple drones, but a robust combined arms force, a "maneuvering army built around medium armor, with a focus on speed and mobility."
Where did Gen Schill and other European leaders get their ideas on the importance of maneuver, armor, speed, and mobility? Perhaps when Gen Schill was a young officer, he was deeply influenced by the world's premier combined arms, crisis response force, the US Marine Corps. Over the decades our allies have learned much from the Marine Corps, now perhaps the Marine Corps can learn from our allies and rebalance the world-famous Marine Air Ground Task Force.
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Defense News - 06/20/2024
Romania to buy 54 howitzers from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
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Defense News - 06/19/2024
Small drones will soon lose combat advantage, French Army chief says
By Rudy Ruitenberg
The main reason the Marine Corps bought the V-22 was for the over the horizon Amphibious Assault up to a MAGTAF level. The headquarters air staff had to show we had the air lifting capacity to lift a MAGTAF ship to shore in 1989/90. The V-22 program would have been cancelled by secretary Dick Chaney if we could not meet that requirement. I can see that Force Design 2030 will do great harm to to the MAGTAF mission capabilities.
One of the great assets of the combined arms MAGTF is that it is tailorable to fight anywhere against a multitude of forces. While it was an infantry heavy force, it possessed heavy artillery, and a credible armored component with tanks and light armor. It could be airmobile, infantry, or mech. Thus, it was a true general purpose combined arms team. The FD force is tailored to just one enemy and one mission. With the removal of most of the artillery and all the armor, it cannot conduct forcible entry or go up against a mech force. As large as the Marine Corps is, without armor and a heavy artillery component, it lacks credibility. It has become a giant commando force.
Now is the time to start planning on what comes next for a new combined arms MAGTF. While an excellent tank, do we still want the Abrams MBT, or something lighter? There are plenty of options: Italian Centauro II, or the Swedish CV90-120 to name just a few. Lighter armor will require a lighter logistics tail. For tube artillery, do we want to stick with just the M777? How about the truck mounted 777, such as the Army's tested Brutus 155? How about a light artillery piece to go with airmobile forces, such as the Hawkeye 105? Or, the 120mm mortar? Instead of the Navy developing a new class of landing ship, they could buy the Swedish CB90 as a rapid insertion vessel for amphibious raids.
One of the points regarding the Romanian military was, "Every spending decision is critical. No dollar can be wasted." We need to spend money, which is the taxpayers, as a precious commodity. No more money wasted on dead-end programs such as the Navy's LCS, or the Zumwalt Class destroyers.