Compass Points - Balikatan & Niger
US needs global crisis response.
Compass Points - Balikatan & Niger
US needs global crisis response.
April 23, 2024
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While the US military is busy with a major exercise in the South China Sea, what about Niger?
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More than 16,000 US, Philippine, and other allied troops are participating this month in the military exercise Balikatan 2024. This year a full ARG/MEU is not participating in the exercise, only two ships. The third ARG/MEU ship, the USS Boxer, had to steam back to San Diego for more repairs. For nearly four decades the annual exercise has increased military cooperation and helped to preserve security throughout the Pacific.
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American, Philippine, Australian, and French forces began Balikatan 2024 on Monday in a ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo, Manila. Translating to “shoulder-to-shoulder” in Tagalog, the Balikatan series of exercises has evolved from a small navy-to-navy drill during the Cold War to the premier annual military exercise held between the U.S. and the Philippines. In recent years, amid China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and Manila’s rapprochement of relations with Washington, Balikatan has expanded in both size and scope.
. . . During this year’s exercise, two amphibious warships – USS Somerset (LPD-25) and USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) – and their associated complement of Marines, landing craft air cushions, CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters and new Amphibious Combat Vehicles will conduct amphibious assault drills on the western coastline of Palawan facing the South China Sea. Elements from the 3d Marine Littoral Regiment will be participating in a counter-landing drill in Northern Luzon in the later stages of the exercise.
-- USNI News
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At the same time this year’s Balikatan exercise, the Philippine government has announced it has acquired new missiles to deter China's ships.
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Philippine forces have acquired supersonic cruise missiles from India, enhancing Manila’s ability to target China‘s forces in disputed areas of the South China Sea. “Its maximum extent in terms of range exceeds the West Philippine Sea,” Philippine National Security Council assistant director general Jonathan Malaya told local reporters, using Manila’s preferred name for the disputed waters. “This is more of a deterrent because we now have several batteries for this BrahMos cruise missile, which is going to be deployed to the Philippine Marines.”
-- Washington Examiner
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The Philippines will not allow the US Marine Corps to base missile units on Philippine islands. Instead, the Philippines have acquired their own cruise missiles and will have their own Philippine Marines employ the missiles on remote islands.
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With the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea all upgrading their defenses against China, but, with none of the nations wanting new US Marine missile units established on their remote islands, what should US Marines do now?
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Perhaps US Marines could refocus on worldwide crisis response.
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Far away from exercise Balikatan 2024, the US is getting kicked out of Niger. The Marine Times gently reports, "The US military will begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger." A less gentle headline is from Monica Showalter at the American Thinker, "U.S. hands over $110m base to Niger junta to release 1,000 U.S. Army hostages, watches helplessly as base goes to Russia."
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To combat al-Qaida, ISIS, and other terrorist operations in the northern and western African region, the US for many years has operated a remote drone outpost in Niger. The US base has been part of an ongoing struggle for influence in the region. Building influence requires diplomatic engagement, commercial investment, US government grants, and the presence of the US military.
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Now the battle for US influence in Niger has suffered a significant defeat. The roughly 1,000 US military and civilians will be unceremoniously marched out of the small US base in Niger. The base will be turned over the Russians. As the US exits Niger, Russia gets a new base, China just announced new business ties with Niger, and Iran will likely benefit from Niger's uranium reserves.
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It is unfortunate that US policy makers had so few options in negotiating with the military junta in Niger. US policy makers would have had many more options and a much stronger hand in negotiations, if a Marine MEU had been nearby. Currently, however, there is no Marine MEU in the Mediterranean or in the Gulf of Guinea. Thus, US policy makers had few options before abandoning Niger and giving a win to Russia, China, and Iran.
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The larger point is US adversaries, including China, pose a series of global threats.
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The US must be prepared to meet moves by China, Russia, Iran, and others around the globe. One important piece of protecting US interests around the globe is the Marine Expeditionary Unit, always on patrol across the oceans of the world, ready to arrive quickly and deter, assist, and fight. Then, should a crisis continue to grow, the small MEU can be multiplied in size and strength by the equipment and supplies of Maritime Prepositioning Ships along with fly in echelons from a much larger Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
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This crisis response progression from MEU to MEB to MEF gives US policy makers instant options around the globe.
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If the US is going to face worldwide crises in the future, the US needs a worldwide crisis response force today. The premier worldwide crisis response force has always been the powerful, capable, combined arms Marine Corps MEU, MEB, and MEF. It is time for Marines to stop focusing on small units of missile Marines on remote islands and focus once again on what the US needs for worldwide crisis response. For crisis response the US needs the upgraded, enhanced, and rebalanced MAGTF - Marine Air, Ground, Logistics Task Force, supported by a robust fleet of amphibious ships and maritime prepositioning ships.
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Compass Points salutes all the Marines participating in Balikatan 2024 and salutes all those across the Marine community -- including Congress -- working to refocus and rebalance the crisis response capability of the Marine Corps.
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USNI News - 04/22/2024
Balikatan 2024 Drills Prioritize South China Sea, Luzon Strait
By Aaron-Matthew Lariosa
https://news.usni.org/2024/04/22/balikatan-2024-drills-prioritize-south-china-sea-luzon-strait
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Washington Examiner - 04/22/2024
India Sends Supersonic Missiles To Philippines That ‘Can Hit’ China’s Ships
By Joel Gehrke
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Marine Times - 04/21/2024
The US military will begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger
By Jack Thompson and Sam Mednick, The Associated Press
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Wearetech Africa - 04/22/2024
China Signals Willingness to Collaborate with Niger in the Digital Sector
By Samira Njoya
One could ask Phil, which would he rather have to remove a precancerous mole, a surgeon’s scalpel or the mole exorcised using a dull hatchet? In the world of US policy makers currently, just say in the last 3 decades Jack hammers and mallets and temporary “permanent” forward bases have prevailed. How well exactly has that worked out? The latest foray is the “temporary humanitarian aid pier” which is so big it needs 3 US Army ships and 1 USNI vessel to get the structure to Gaza where it will theoretically begin to provide “humanitarian aid” in an open combat environment. The good news is that neither the Army or the Navy can manage to keep a vessel seaworthy long enough to get the structure to Gaza. One can imagine the scenario, American military and “civilian” contractors find themselves in the middle of a HOT shooting match between the IDF and Hamas et al and someone is WIA or worse KIA. The USS Maddox shot back at some North Vietnamese gun boats out in the Gulf of Tonkin! “Was Maddox shot at?” “Well not really Mr. President, but, but that’s the point damn it, we need to do something!” “Ah right! Land the Marines!” And so it goes. Want something a little more current how about 1/8 in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983, an amorphous peace keeping mission goes pear shaped fast, and we all know what happened next, some here lost good friends in the explosion.
If the need for humanitarian resources exceeds that of the MEU, maybe we should not be there doing it. It the regional combatant commander needs more than a MEU, maybe the tactical and strategic needs are beyond the norm. That said, you need a full MEU, that means all the major and minor elements of a complete MAGTF and the amphibious lift to support it. If the citizens of the United States don’t like the Marine Corps and the MAGTF philosophy and that of maneuver warfare then go to Congress and rewrite Title X, Goldwater Nichols and additional mandates. SIF in one region at the expense of TO and TE needs of the Corps inhibits mission accomplishment of Title X, if the SIF and Littoral regiments had been additional and accretive that would be a different story wouldn’t it?
Where in the recent history of the United States has it resourced anything well? Crisis response? HKIA NEO? What a great example of how not to do it. Public policy is one thing, the people reflect and DOD directs….maybe a cost comparison straight up of the MAGTF v whatever else anyone wants to have in place of the MAGTF? Oh that’s right we really can’t do that since the DOD can’t even audit itself properly. Imagine even with a loaded deck and the croupier’s foot on the brake of the roulette table the DOD fails what they call an audit. “Oh I like you, you can come to my house anytime” Gunny Hartman paraphrased.
The fact is nobody has made a decent let alone compelling alternative to the MEU/MEB/MEF MAGTF concept. One need not hold their breath waiting for it either. In the meantime getting the MAGTF back to a position of full capability seems prudent. Further as documented here at CP Vision 2025 gives clear guidance on a way forward. No doubt some will jump on the notion that Vision 2035 is a bunch of old thinkers thinking old thoughts. To that one could argue, then why read Aristotle? Well, if Aristotle as a tutor was good enough for Big Al, aka Alexander the Great, perhaps Aristotle is worth reading.
The Philippines, Japan, and Korea are all within the Chinese WEZ. Let them handle the SIF mission. For the Marine Corps, our greatest strength against China and any other adversary is the ARG/MEU. Using the world's oceans as maneuver space, such a force can be wherever the United States wants it to be. Expeditionary operations is the Marine Corps' greatest asset.