How many millions did this self inflicted wound cost ? Marine Corps is reviving a light attack helicopter unit it cut in 2022
By Irene Loewenson
Mar 21 at 12:57 PM
Lance Cpl. David Hancock, a UH-1Y Venom crew chief with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, wipes down a cockpit window in November 2022 in North Carolina, the month before the squadron's deactivation. (Sgt. Servante Coba/Marine Corps)
In November 2022, Marines from a North Carolina helicopter squadron flew their AH-1Z Vipers and UH-1Y Venoms together for what was supposed to be the last time.
A Marine in one helicopter marked the occasion by making the “rock and roll” hand gesture
Rane Worldview. U.S. Naval Update Map: March 21, 2024
Mar 21, 2024 | 11:00 GMT
Naval Update Map display
The Naval Update Map shows the approximate current locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs), based on available open-source information. No classified or operationally sensitive information is included in this weekly update. CSGs and ARGs are the keys to U.S. dominance over the world's oceans. A CSG is centered on an aircraft carrier and includes significant offensive strike capability. An ARG is centered on three amphibious warfare ships, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked.
Naval Update Map
Carrier Strike Groups
CVN 69: The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is underway in the Red Sea.
CVN 71: The USS Theodore Roosevelt is moored in Singapore.
CVN 75: The USS Harry S. Truman is underway in the Atlantic Ocean.
Amphibious Ready Groups/Marine Expedition Units
LHD 4: The USS Boxer is underway in the Pacific Ocean.
LHD 5: The USS Bataan is underway in the Atlantic Ocean.
LHA 6: The USS America is underway in the Pacific Ocean.
NO let the USN procure their own UAVs…..if the USMC wants to equip w UAVs….buy mountains of javelins and swarms of anti air, anti tank etc for Marine targets located “In any clime and place”. Augment the Fleet with Marine Corps UASs
By Captain Walker Mills, U.S. Marine Corps, and Lieutenant Commanders Collin Fox and Dylan Phillips-Levine and Commander Trevor Phillips-Levine, U.S. Navy
March 2024 Proceedings Vol. 150/3/1,453
NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT . . .
COMMENTS
If the Navy wants to pursue the “urgent change at significant scale” called for in the 2018 National Defense Strategy by employing hundreds or thousands of unmanned systems, it needs to field and integrate them on existing warships. Detachments of Marines deployed on board Navy vessels would be best positioned to employ small and medium-sized unmanned systems.
Marine detachments equipped with various such systems could provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), communication nodes, and precision strike. They could augment the organic capabilities of naval vessels while on board or push ashore when the mission requires. Unmanned aerial system (UAS)-equipped detachments could give even small naval or civilian vessels organic aviation capability and over-the-horizon ISR. Marines also could
When our new Caesar arrives….this is what he must use the force of his will to correct. USNI Logo
SUB MENU
Marines with Marine Rotational Force—Darwin fire an M240B medium machine gun during training with Australian forces in August 2023.
Marines with Marine Rotational Force—Darwin fire an M240B medium machine gun during training with Australian forces in August 2023.
U.S. MARINE CORPS (BRAYDEN DANIEL)
SUB MENU
U.S. Marine Corps in Review
By Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
March 2024 Proceedings Vol. 150/3/1,453
FEATURED ARTICLE
COMMENTS
The year 2023 was one of continuity for the U.S. Marine Corps. Although a turnover of commandants took place in the summer, General David H. Berger’s milestone Force Design 2030 continued to drive the service’s planning for a potential high-end fight in a contested maritime environment. A month before relinquishing his post as Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) in July, General Berger issued his final Force Design 2030 Annual Update. This update reviewed progress and provided guidance and priorities for ensuring the Marine Corps remains the premier naval expeditionary force in readiness. His successor, General Eric M. Smith, emphasized in his first guidance to the force that the trajectory set by his predecessor would be maintained and continue to be refined based on the service’s campaign of learning.1
The focus of the Marine Corps continued to be testing Force Design 2030 initiatives, especially identifying priorities and implementing capabilities to support expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO) and enhancing the Marine Corps’ expeditionary, combined arms, and global responsiveness. EABO-related capabilities have begun to be fielded. Experimentation, lessons from exercises, and insights gleaned from combat operations in Ukraine and the Middle East have influenced force improvement initiatives and refinements. A key issue requiring increased attention emerged during the year: the myriad challenges of sustaining forces in an increasingly contested logistics environment.
Marines continued to provide the nations’ combatant commands with ready and capable combat forces. This included more than 32,000 Marines deployed or stationed across 50 nations, with an emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region. However, the former Commandant identified a troubling trend: the significant reduction in the number of Marines operating on board ships. In 2018, about 16,000 Marines served on board ships, while four years later this number had decreased to just 12,660.2 At the same time, while the other services struggled to recruit, Marine Corps recruiting continued to surge.3
Diverging Priorities
The San Antonio–class amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD-21). The Office of the Secretary of Defense has paused procurement of the amphibious transport docks after LPD-32, but the Marine Corps says more are needed.
The San Antonio–class amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD-21). The Office of the Secretary of Defense has paused procurement of the amphibious transport docks after LPD-32, but the Marine Corps says more are needed. U.S. Marine Corps (Jessica J. Mazzamuto)
The future of U.S. naval amphibious shipping remained a major issue in 2023. During testimony to the House Armed Services Committee in April, General Berger highlighted that, during the crisis in Sudan, the lack of an amphibious ready group and embarked Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) in the region greatly limited the options for the combatant commander.4 In his posture statement to the Senate, the Commandant highlighted the criticality of amphibious warships to the ability to project national power with greater visibility, deterrence, denial, disruption, and lethal combat power; to provide immediate crisis response; and to provide ambassadors with an on-call capacity to protect U.S. citizens. His conclusion was that “the nation requires no fewer than 31 traditional amphibious warfare ships (10 LHA/LHD and 21 LPDs/LSDs) to ensure the warfighting readiness and responsiveness of amphibious naval forces”—reiterating the statutory requirement contained in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.5
The Office of the Secretary of Defense directed a pause in the procurement of amphibious ships while a team assessed the cost-effectiveness of the LPD-17 Flight II ships. In the budget proposal submitted during 2023, the Navy indicated it plans to truncate the LPD-17 Flight II buy to three ships (stopping at LPD-32). With the planned decommissioning of the older LSDs, the projected number of amphibious warships in the 30-year shipbuilding plan will fall below 31 and will be between a mere 19 and 23 ships by 2053.6 As a result, for the second year in a row, the service placed funding for the LPD-33 ship at the top of its unfunded procurement priority list.
The Marine Corps has identified the need to complement the larger traditional amphibious warships with 35 smaller, risk-worthy medium landing ships (LSMs, previously referred to as light amphibious warships—LAWs). The LSM is envisioned to be a relatively simple and inexpensive beachable ship capable of carrying 75 Marines along with 600 tons of equipment in 8,000 square feet of cargo space and a cruise speed of 14 knots. It is also expected to have a helicopter landing pad.7 The Marine Corps views LSMs as critical to fully realizing the capabilities of the Marine littoral regiments (MLRs), supporting littoral mobility, and establishing and sustaining expeditionary advanced bases. However, the Chief of Naval Operations has suggested purchasing only 18 LSMs.8 The Navy expects to contract for the initial ship in 2025, with the construction of as many as four ships per year.
In support of the LSM program, the Marine Corps leased a commercial stern landing vessel in early 2023 to serve as a prototype/testbed to reduce acquisition uncertainties and risk. The Marine Corps is considering testing up to three prototypes—including foreign designs—with different attributes to enable comparison of capabilities. These prototypes could eventually provide a bridging solution while the LSM program reaches its full operational capability as well as augment the LSM fleet.
Infantry Battalion Refinement
Soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment participate in exercise Iron Fist with U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in March 2023.
Soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment participate in exercise Iron Fist with U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in March 2023. U.S. Marine Corps (Vincent Pham)
After two years and 13 live-force experiments, Phase I of the Marine Corps War-fighting Laboratory–led Infantry Battalion Experiment 2030 (IBX30) was completed, and the Marine Corps began implementing an infantry battalion structure of 811 Marines for both active and reserve units. The revised battalion has improved command-and-control capabilities, persistent all-weather surveillance, increased antiarmor weapons at the company level, and additional indirect fires capability. The latter includes loitering munitions—organic precision fires—of varying sizes and mobility at the platoon, company, and battalion levels, as well as unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to improve surveillance and target acquisition.
Phase II of IBX began by employing two battalions to experiment with further refinements focusing on command and control; information technology; intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISRT); sensing; and lethality. In addition, Phase II will explore enhancements to ensure sustainment that facilitates distributed operations, captures the lessons of recent major combat in Ukraine, and fully evaluates the challenges and requirements for intense, long-duration operations.
Marine Littoral Regiments
A pair of Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs) from the Amphibious Assault School at Camp Pendleton, California. The school’s Transition Training Unit Operator Certification Course is designed to standardize operator and maintenance training after ACV accidents in 2022 caused the Marine Corps to limit surf-zone operations. Despite the new training, in December an ACV rolled over at the base, killing one Marine and injuring 14 others.
A pair of Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs) from the Amphibious Assault School at Camp Pendleton, California. The school’s Transition Training Unit Operator Certification Course is designed to standardize operator and maintenance training after ACV accidents in 2022 caused the Marine Corps to limit surf-zone operations. Despite the new training, in December an ACV rolled over at the base, killing one Marine and injuring 14 others. U.S. Marine Corps photo (Mary Jenni)
The 3d Marine Littoral Regiment, which stood up in 2022 as the first of three planned MLRs, conducted multiple exercises in the Indo-Pacific region during 2023. In January and February, the 3d MLR, based out of Hawaii, conducted service-level exercises along the West Coast to train its units and demonstrate its capabilities to operate as the stand-in force from expeditionary advanced bases (EABs); collect intelligence; screen operational forces; and conduct timely, over-the-horizon precision-strike missions. This training culminated with 3d MLR defending coastal terrain from an amphibious landing by a simulated near-peer adversary assault force composed of the reinforced 7th Marines. This was followed in April by 3d MLR’s deployment to the Philippines to participate in exercise Balikatan 2023, which included 17,500 Marines, sailors, soldiers, and airmen from the Philippine, Australian, and U.S. armed forces.9
“Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?” William Shakespeare ………We need one now.
This is where General Gray excelled.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2024/03/21/the-enlisted-marines-commandant-al-grays-personal-touch/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mil-ebb&SToverlay=342f5a58-c37b-4142-b049-1f737335b507
How many millions did this self inflicted wound cost ? Marine Corps is reviving a light attack helicopter unit it cut in 2022
By Irene Loewenson
Mar 21 at 12:57 PM
Lance Cpl. David Hancock, a UH-1Y Venom crew chief with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, wipes down a cockpit window in November 2022 in North Carolina, the month before the squadron's deactivation. (Sgt. Servante Coba/Marine Corps)
In November 2022, Marines from a North Carolina helicopter squadron flew their AH-1Z Vipers and UH-1Y Venoms together for what was supposed to be the last time.
A Marine in one helicopter marked the occasion by making the “rock and roll” hand gesture
Rane Worldview. U.S. Naval Update Map: March 21, 2024
Mar 21, 2024 | 11:00 GMT
Naval Update Map display
The Naval Update Map shows the approximate current locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs), based on available open-source information. No classified or operationally sensitive information is included in this weekly update. CSGs and ARGs are the keys to U.S. dominance over the world's oceans. A CSG is centered on an aircraft carrier and includes significant offensive strike capability. An ARG is centered on three amphibious warfare ships, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked.
Naval Update Map
Carrier Strike Groups
CVN 69: The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is underway in the Red Sea.
CVN 71: The USS Theodore Roosevelt is moored in Singapore.
CVN 75: The USS Harry S. Truman is underway in the Atlantic Ocean.
Amphibious Ready Groups/Marine Expedition Units
LHD 4: The USS Boxer is underway in the Pacific Ocean.
LHD 5: The USS Bataan is underway in the Atlantic Ocean.
LHA 6: The USS America is underway in the Pacific Ocean.
NO let the USN procure their own UAVs…..if the USMC wants to equip w UAVs….buy mountains of javelins and swarms of anti air, anti tank etc for Marine targets located “In any clime and place”. Augment the Fleet with Marine Corps UASs
By Captain Walker Mills, U.S. Marine Corps, and Lieutenant Commanders Collin Fox and Dylan Phillips-Levine and Commander Trevor Phillips-Levine, U.S. Navy
March 2024 Proceedings Vol. 150/3/1,453
NOBODY ASKED ME, BUT . . .
COMMENTS
If the Navy wants to pursue the “urgent change at significant scale” called for in the 2018 National Defense Strategy by employing hundreds or thousands of unmanned systems, it needs to field and integrate them on existing warships. Detachments of Marines deployed on board Navy vessels would be best positioned to employ small and medium-sized unmanned systems.
Marine detachments equipped with various such systems could provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), communication nodes, and precision strike. They could augment the organic capabilities of naval vessels while on board or push ashore when the mission requires. Unmanned aerial system (UAS)-equipped detachments could give even small naval or civilian vessels organic aviation capability and over-the-horizon ISR. Marines also could
When our new Caesar arrives….this is what he must use the force of his will to correct. USNI Logo
SUB MENU
Marines with Marine Rotational Force—Darwin fire an M240B medium machine gun during training with Australian forces in August 2023.
Marines with Marine Rotational Force—Darwin fire an M240B medium machine gun during training with Australian forces in August 2023.
U.S. MARINE CORPS (BRAYDEN DANIEL)
SUB MENU
U.S. Marine Corps in Review
By Lieutenant Colonel James W. Hammond III, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
March 2024 Proceedings Vol. 150/3/1,453
FEATURED ARTICLE
COMMENTS
The year 2023 was one of continuity for the U.S. Marine Corps. Although a turnover of commandants took place in the summer, General David H. Berger’s milestone Force Design 2030 continued to drive the service’s planning for a potential high-end fight in a contested maritime environment. A month before relinquishing his post as Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) in July, General Berger issued his final Force Design 2030 Annual Update. This update reviewed progress and provided guidance and priorities for ensuring the Marine Corps remains the premier naval expeditionary force in readiness. His successor, General Eric M. Smith, emphasized in his first guidance to the force that the trajectory set by his predecessor would be maintained and continue to be refined based on the service’s campaign of learning.1
The focus of the Marine Corps continued to be testing Force Design 2030 initiatives, especially identifying priorities and implementing capabilities to support expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO) and enhancing the Marine Corps’ expeditionary, combined arms, and global responsiveness. EABO-related capabilities have begun to be fielded. Experimentation, lessons from exercises, and insights gleaned from combat operations in Ukraine and the Middle East have influenced force improvement initiatives and refinements. A key issue requiring increased attention emerged during the year: the myriad challenges of sustaining forces in an increasingly contested logistics environment.
Marines continued to provide the nations’ combatant commands with ready and capable combat forces. This included more than 32,000 Marines deployed or stationed across 50 nations, with an emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region. However, the former Commandant identified a troubling trend: the significant reduction in the number of Marines operating on board ships. In 2018, about 16,000 Marines served on board ships, while four years later this number had decreased to just 12,660.2 At the same time, while the other services struggled to recruit, Marine Corps recruiting continued to surge.3
Diverging Priorities
The San Antonio–class amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD-21). The Office of the Secretary of Defense has paused procurement of the amphibious transport docks after LPD-32, but the Marine Corps says more are needed.
The San Antonio–class amphibious transport dock USS New York (LPD-21). The Office of the Secretary of Defense has paused procurement of the amphibious transport docks after LPD-32, but the Marine Corps says more are needed. U.S. Marine Corps (Jessica J. Mazzamuto)
The future of U.S. naval amphibious shipping remained a major issue in 2023. During testimony to the House Armed Services Committee in April, General Berger highlighted that, during the crisis in Sudan, the lack of an amphibious ready group and embarked Marine expeditionary unit (MEU) in the region greatly limited the options for the combatant commander.4 In his posture statement to the Senate, the Commandant highlighted the criticality of amphibious warships to the ability to project national power with greater visibility, deterrence, denial, disruption, and lethal combat power; to provide immediate crisis response; and to provide ambassadors with an on-call capacity to protect U.S. citizens. His conclusion was that “the nation requires no fewer than 31 traditional amphibious warfare ships (10 LHA/LHD and 21 LPDs/LSDs) to ensure the warfighting readiness and responsiveness of amphibious naval forces”—reiterating the statutory requirement contained in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.5
The Office of the Secretary of Defense directed a pause in the procurement of amphibious ships while a team assessed the cost-effectiveness of the LPD-17 Flight II ships. In the budget proposal submitted during 2023, the Navy indicated it plans to truncate the LPD-17 Flight II buy to three ships (stopping at LPD-32). With the planned decommissioning of the older LSDs, the projected number of amphibious warships in the 30-year shipbuilding plan will fall below 31 and will be between a mere 19 and 23 ships by 2053.6 As a result, for the second year in a row, the service placed funding for the LPD-33 ship at the top of its unfunded procurement priority list.
The Marine Corps has identified the need to complement the larger traditional amphibious warships with 35 smaller, risk-worthy medium landing ships (LSMs, previously referred to as light amphibious warships—LAWs). The LSM is envisioned to be a relatively simple and inexpensive beachable ship capable of carrying 75 Marines along with 600 tons of equipment in 8,000 square feet of cargo space and a cruise speed of 14 knots. It is also expected to have a helicopter landing pad.7 The Marine Corps views LSMs as critical to fully realizing the capabilities of the Marine littoral regiments (MLRs), supporting littoral mobility, and establishing and sustaining expeditionary advanced bases. However, the Chief of Naval Operations has suggested purchasing only 18 LSMs.8 The Navy expects to contract for the initial ship in 2025, with the construction of as many as four ships per year.
In support of the LSM program, the Marine Corps leased a commercial stern landing vessel in early 2023 to serve as a prototype/testbed to reduce acquisition uncertainties and risk. The Marine Corps is considering testing up to three prototypes—including foreign designs—with different attributes to enable comparison of capabilities. These prototypes could eventually provide a bridging solution while the LSM program reaches its full operational capability as well as augment the LSM fleet.
Infantry Battalion Refinement
Soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment participate in exercise Iron Fist with U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in March 2023.
Soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment participate in exercise Iron Fist with U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in March 2023. U.S. Marine Corps (Vincent Pham)
After two years and 13 live-force experiments, Phase I of the Marine Corps War-fighting Laboratory–led Infantry Battalion Experiment 2030 (IBX30) was completed, and the Marine Corps began implementing an infantry battalion structure of 811 Marines for both active and reserve units. The revised battalion has improved command-and-control capabilities, persistent all-weather surveillance, increased antiarmor weapons at the company level, and additional indirect fires capability. The latter includes loitering munitions—organic precision fires—of varying sizes and mobility at the platoon, company, and battalion levels, as well as unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to improve surveillance and target acquisition.
Phase II of IBX began by employing two battalions to experiment with further refinements focusing on command and control; information technology; intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISRT); sensing; and lethality. In addition, Phase II will explore enhancements to ensure sustainment that facilitates distributed operations, captures the lessons of recent major combat in Ukraine, and fully evaluates the challenges and requirements for intense, long-duration operations.
Marine Littoral Regiments
A pair of Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs) from the Amphibious Assault School at Camp Pendleton, California. The school’s Transition Training Unit Operator Certification Course is designed to standardize operator and maintenance training after ACV accidents in 2022 caused the Marine Corps to limit surf-zone operations. Despite the new training, in December an ACV rolled over at the base, killing one Marine and injuring 14 others.
A pair of Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs) from the Amphibious Assault School at Camp Pendleton, California. The school’s Transition Training Unit Operator Certification Course is designed to standardize operator and maintenance training after ACV accidents in 2022 caused the Marine Corps to limit surf-zone operations. Despite the new training, in December an ACV rolled over at the base, killing one Marine and injuring 14 others. U.S. Marine Corps photo (Mary Jenni)
The 3d Marine Littoral Regiment, which stood up in 2022 as the first of three planned MLRs, conducted multiple exercises in the Indo-Pacific region during 2023. In January and February, the 3d MLR, based out of Hawaii, conducted service-level exercises along the West Coast to train its units and demonstrate its capabilities to operate as the stand-in force from expeditionary advanced bases (EABs); collect intelligence; screen operational forces; and conduct timely, over-the-horizon precision-strike missions. This training culminated with 3d MLR defending coastal terrain from an amphibious landing by a simulated near-peer adversary assault force composed of the reinforced 7th Marines. This was followed in April by 3d MLR’s deployment to the Philippines to participate in exercise Balikatan 2023, which included 17,500 Marines, sailors, soldiers, and airmen from the Philippine, Australian, and U.S. armed forces.9