2nd Expeditionary Base Mobile Ship begins construction...via Seapower Magazine

via Seapower Magazine.

The 784-foot ship will be configured with a 52,000 square-foot flight deck, fuel and equipment storage, repair spaces, magazines, mission planning spaces and accommodations for up to 250 personnel. The ship will be capable of supporting multiple missions including air mine countermeasures, counter-piracy operations, maritime security operations, humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions and U.S. Marine Corps crisis response. It will also support MH-53 and MH-60 helicopters, and will be upgraded to support MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft.

Amazing.

Another ship that was to support surface assault from the sea is being turned into an aviation only asset.

Heads up boys and girls.  If the enemy has the weapons to make it impossible for us to get within 100 miles of the coast (anti-ship missiles), they also have the tech to make it impossible for helicopters/MV-22s to penetrate that zone as well (yeah that includes you bubbas in the 82nd Airborne arriving in lumbering Air Force transports).

Forced Entry is not going to be easy.  The Pentagon needs to do away with the fantasy that it will be.