Army Chief of Staff wants lighter GCV.

via Defense News.

Gen. George Casey said he thinks the future replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle needs to be much lighter than the estimated 70 tons program officials are projecting that the new GCV will weigh. 
"I keep saying, 'Look, man, an MRAP [mine-resistant ambush-protected] is about 23 tons, and you're telling me this is going to be 70 tons, which is the same as an [M1] Abrams. Surely we can get a level of protection between that, that is closer to the MRAP than it is the M1,' " Casey said June 7. "It's not going to be a super heavyweight vehicle."
Casey's comments come less than a month after Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said at the Armor Conference at Fort Knox, Ky., that the GCV would weigh 50 to 70 tons.

After we all said WTF!  a 70 ton IFV, it seems that the Army Chief of Staff is walking this cluster back.  Good for him.  If the US Army actually stayed with a 70 ton IFV, then the USMC would be doing all the fighting ...well the USMC and the 82nd....

Casey might have just saved his service.

US Warships to intercept Iranian Flotilla.

Major Hat Tip to Resident Author.

Via Israeli National News.

Despite Egypt’s reported refusal to block the canal to Iranian boats, the clearance for the American-Israeli fleet may be a warning to Iran it may face military opposition if the Iranian Red Crescent ship continues on course to Gaza.
The warships may exercise the right to inspect the Iranian boat for the illegal transport or weapons. Newsweek reported that Egyptian authorities could stop the ship for weeks, using technicalities such as requiring that any official documents be translated from Farsi into Arabic.  
The magazine’s website also reported that the Iranian navy is the weakest part of its armed forces. Tehran has already backed down from announced intentions to escort the Iranian ships with "volunteer marines” from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Read the whole thing but I smell a public relations move by the US Administration rather than an escalation towards possible action at sea.

Obama is attempting to balance two conflicting truths.  First he's sympathetic to the Muslim world and seeks to bolster his image in the region.  Second, he needs to bolster his standing with the Jewish community here in America or a valued source of campaign contributions goes away.

Playing Russian Roulette with warships on the high seas is a dangerous game to play.  Lets hope he has a better plan for this "possibility" than he did after 50 days of oil spilling into the gulf.

You want to fight in the Littoral Zone? Retask the Riverine Units.

 Keeping with the theme of warfare in the Littoral Zone.

If you REALLY want to fight in this area then the LCS is not the answer.  No, the answer is to retask the Riverine Units and have them operate in Green and Brown water.

This is going to be a major undertaking however.

 First you have to re-equip them with CB-90's or equal boats.  Their rigid raiders can operate far afield but in order for them to be effective they need a slightly larger boat.

Next you need to provide them with some type of mother ship.  I really hate the idea of dedicating an amphib to the mission of supporting these Littoral Action Groups (my new name for the organization) but its necessary.  We should take an LPD that is to be retired, service life extend it (again) and have it act in this role...we'll need three.  One for action in the Pacific, Atlantic and Middle East.

Lastly you need to have dedicated air assets devoted to fighting in the Littoral Zones, supporting these Littoral Action Groups yet capable of operating from the decks of the mothership.  In other words bring back the Sea Wolves.  The US Navy should bring back its attack helicopter component.  Ideally it would simply be additional CH-60's armed with hellfires.  This would allow a fast response when necessary to emerging threats detected by radar or recon UAVs/aircraft and it would simplify logistics.

This would give you a force capable of operating in the Littoral Zone effectively.  If its a counter-insurgency at sea then this force will be optimal.  If its full scale warfare then hand the issue back to the big boys---Burke's, Subs and Aircraft Carriers.

Lets not fool ourselves.  Full scale combat in the littoral zone will shred LCS and this new organization I propose.  This will also bring our doctrine in line with common sense.  The littorals are dangerous.  If its less than full scale war then the Littoral Action Group, equipped with CB-90s, LPD motherships and dedicated CH-60's can handle it.

This leaves the question.  What do we do with the LCS?  I'm sad to say, we scrap it and move to a cheaper solution.  It is looking more and more like the Navy's version of the FCS...a concept that was designed in haste to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

Please Explain.

I was reading an article by Chris Rawley over at Information Dissemination and I'm a bit confused.  Read his article here.  But he makes this statement...

In an hybrid warfare environment, a stateless enemy with only a handful of higher end, state-provided, sea denial capabilities such as anti-ship cruise missiles will likely choose his targets carefully to maximize impact at a minimal cost. A capital surface combatant off the coast makes a more tempting and high profile target than a larger number of smaller green water combatants.

This leads me to my confusion.

1.  Why would we build ships that are in other words designed to be lost...along with the crews...in order to preserve our capital ships...
2.  How can the SecDef question the relevance of Amphibious Assault while at the same time pushing the concept of the building Littoral Combat Ships if amphibious assault can't occur because of anti-ship missiles, shore batteries etc???

This is almost idiotic! 

Greg over at Defense Tech penned an article you can read here.  In it he made this statement.

The proliferation of low-cost, precision anti-ship missiles into the arsenals of potential enemies means large deck amphibious ships are becoming “wasting assets.”

So amphibious assault doctrine is to operate 50 miles or more off shore and now the US Navy is designing a class of ships to push in closer???  We are actually embarking on a path where we will have 50 or more 600 million dollar a piece throw away ships to operate in hostile, congested waters with small crews and limited defensive countermeasures and its the path of the future?

Wow.

I DON'T GET IT!

Pic of the day. June 19, 2010.

100617-N-7948R-125 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) Marine pilots assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) fly an AH-1W Super Cobra during flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5). Peleliu is part of Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group, on a scheduled deployment to the western Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Russell/Released)

100617-N-7948R-175 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) A Marine pilot assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) flies an AH-1W Super Cobra during flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5). Taylor is participating in theater security cooperation activities in the Adriatic Sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Edward Kessler/Released)

100617-N-1200S-947 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conducts a replenishment at sea with the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Freedom and Bonhomme Richard are scheduled to participate in RIMPAC 2010, the world's largest international maritime exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Marcus L. Stanley/Released)

100617-N-1200S-914 PACIFIC OCEAN (June 17, 2010) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) conducts a replenishment at sea with the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6). Freedom and Bonhomme Richard are scheduled to participate in RIMPAC 2010, the world's largest international maritime exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Marcus L. Stanley/Released)

NOTE: Is it just me or does it seem like everytime the LCS goes out to sea for more than a day its conducting replenishment exercises to keep it in the game? It has no endurance to speak of and it seems like a dedicated mothership might be necessary if the Navy goes ahead with procurement of these ships...or old fashioned forward bases.

Interactive displays.

Major hat tip to Bob for the Hawkei site.  I've already heaped praise on the effort put out by BAE and Thales Australia for providing the public with information on their new vehicles.

You can see the BAE interactive CV90 Armadillo site here.


and...

You can see the Thales Australia interactive Hawkei site here.

Hagglunds SEP is now BAE Alligator!