24th MEU on the mechanized raid course.

All photos by Sgt. Richard Blumenstein

Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, hold security while preparing to depart after conducting a simulated raid during the Mechanized Raid Course, at Landing Zone Hawk, Nov. 15. The Mechanized Raid Course took place Nov. 7-18 to prepare the Marines and sailors of Alpha Company and the Assault Amphibian Vehicle Platoon for their upcoming deployment as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Battalion Landing Team.

Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment , in Assault Amphibious Vehicles, return from conducting a simulated raid during the Mechanized Raid Course, at Landing Zone Hawk, Nov. 15. The Mechanized Raid Course took place Nov. 7-18 to prepare the Marines and sailors of Alpha Company and the Assault Amphibian Vehicle Platoon for their upcoming deployment as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Battalion Landing Team.

Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment , in Assault Amphibious Vehicles, return from conducting a simulated raid during the Mechanized Raid Course, at Landing Zone Hawk, Nov. 15. The Mechanized Raid Course took place Nov. 7-18 to prepare the Marines and sailors of Alpha Company and the Assault Amphibian Vehicle Platoon for their upcoming deployment as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Battalion Landing Team.

Marines with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment return, exit Assault Amphibious Vehicles, before conducting a simulated raid during the Mechanized Raid Course, at Davis Airfield, Nov. 17. The Mechanized Raid Course took place Nov. 7-18 to prepare the Marines and sailors of Alpha Company and the Assault Amphibian Vehicle Platoon for their upcoming deployment as part of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Battalion Landing Team.

AH-1Z doing auto rotation and the MV-22 doing barrel roll vids...

Is it my imagination or did the landing gear on the AH-1Z get compressed quite a bit in the auto rotation vid?

How deep will the Marines cut personnel?

via National Defense Magazine.

Former Secretary Robert Gates before his departure gave his approval to the 186,800 number, “but that was before everything began to unravel financially,” Amos said.

“My sense is that we’re probably going to go lower than that. I can’t tell you how much lower because that decision has not been made yet,” he added. “We are going to come down well below 186,800,” he said. “I think we’re going to be OK. I think we will still be able to do what our nation expects of us.”

However, there will be a reduction in capacity, which he described as “depth on the bench.”  If there are simultaneous events occurring in three parts of the world that the Marine Corps normally would respond to, it may mean it could only carry out operations in two of them, he added.

Read the whole thing but that makes me wonder a couple of things...

1.  Are we going to see a couple of battalions case their colors?

2.  How are you going to plus size the Marine Special Forces and reduce the number of Marines at the same time?

3.  How low can we go?  Is 150,000 the number he's talking or God forbid could it be even lower????


Totally depressing news.  You're going to have some outstanding Marines forced out and some ass kissers are going to be retained.  The Commandant needs to fix the selection board process ASAP.

11th MEU Air Combat Element..

A CH-53E Super Stallion, with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit's aviation combat element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 (Reinforced), lands aboard USS Makin Island Nov. 17. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment through the western Pacific and Middle East regions.  Photo by Staff Sgt. Chance Haworth

Marines serving with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit's aviation combat element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 (Reinforced), prepare an AH-1Z Super Cobra for take off aboard USS Makin Island Nov. 17. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment through the western Pacific and Middle East regions.  Photo by Cpl. Gene A. Ainsworth III

An AH-1Z Super Cobra, with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit's aviation combat element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 (Reinforced), takes off from USS Makin Island Nov. 17. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment through the western Pacific and Middle East regions. Photo by Cpl. Gene A. Ainsworth III

An AH-1Z Super Cobra, with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit's aviation combat element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 (Reinforced), takes off from USS Makin Island Nov. 17. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment through the western Pacific and Middle East regions.  Photo by Cpl. Gene A. Ainsworth III

A CH-53E Super Stallion with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 268 (Reinforced) lands Nov. 17. The squadron is the aviation combat element for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14, beginning a seven-month deployment to the western Pacific and Middle East regions. Photo by Staff Sgt. Chance Haworth

Flight Deck Operations

Keel Laid for First DDG 1000 Destroyer

Via US Navy..

BATH, Maine (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy laid the keel for its first Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG 1000), Nov. 17, at General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine.

While keel laying was once traditionally the formal recognition of the start of the ship's construction, today's advanced modular shipbuilding allows fabrication of the ship to begin months before. However, the keel laying continues to symbolically recognize the joining of the ship's components and the ceremonial beginning of the ship.

"Keel laying is just the first of many important milestones and events in bringing Zumwalt to life," said Capt. Jim Downey, DDG 1000 program manager, Program Executive Office, Ships. "With the outstanding team we have assembled, I look forward to building on the superb progress we've achieved to date and delivering this extremely capable warship to the Fleet."

The lead ship and class are named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., who served as chief of naval operations from 1970-1974. The ship's co-sponsors, Ann Zumwalt, Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers, and Lt.Col. James G. Zumwalt symbolically authenticated the keel with a plate displaying the initials of all four children of the ship's namesake, including eldest son, the late-Elmo R. Zumwalt III.

Construction began on DDG 1000 in February 2009, and the Navy and its industry partners have worked to mature the ship's design and ready their industrial facilities to build this advanced surface combatant. Zumwalt is currently more than 60 percent complete and scheduled to deliver in fiscal year 2014. Construction on the second ship of the class, Michael Moonsoor (DDG 1001), began March 2010.

Designed for sustained operations in the littorals and land attack, the multi-mission DDG 1000 will provide independent forward presence and deterrence, support special operations forces, and operate as an integral part of joint and combined expeditionary forces. This warship integrates numerous critical technologies, systems, and principles into a complete warfighting system. These include employment of optimal manning through human systems integration, improved quality of life, low operations and support costs, multi-spectral signature reduction, balanced warfighting design, survivability, and adaptability.

Looks like the Marine Corps gets it naval gunnery after all.

Great news...no this is beyond good news.  While the other services are focused on what might come to pass in the budget battles ahead, the Navy and Marine Corps are getting ships into service at an accelerated rate.

Good news indeed.

USMC delays JLTV going with upgraded HUMVEE's?

Jonathan sent me this article (thanks guy) from Bloomberg News covering the JLTV/Humvee issue in the Marines. Read the article but as usual, below are the good bits...

The U.S. Marine Corps may scrap plans to buy new combat trucks until the late 2020s, officials told a U.S. House Armed Services panel.

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program is under scrutiny in Congress after a Senate panel recommended its termination in September. The Marine Corps plans to develop the new truck with the U.S. Army.

The Marine Corps said it may delay the JLTV and rely longer on its aging Humvee trucks because its priority is to buy new amphibious assault vehicles to ferry Marines from sea to land.

The biggest risk to the plan to modernize the combat vehicle fleet is “not program schedule but rather decision schedules,” Brigadier General Daniel O’Donohue, director of capabilities development, Brigadier General Frank Kelley, the head of Marine Corps Systems Command, and William Taylor, the land systems program executive officer, said today in a joint statement prepared for a hearing of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee.

If JLTV is delayed, “we lose an opportunity that we cannot readdress” until after the procurement of a new amphibious combat vehicle, or ACV, “in the late 2020s,” the officials said.

Ok.

Not an optimal solution but one I can live with.  This makes total sense.  If we get involved in another counter insurgency/nation building op then we can pull MRAPs out of storage.  This move could actually start the Marine Corps on the road to getting lighter.

Additionally it will place priorities on weapon systems.  We'll finally start telling policy makers what are must haves and what are nice to haves.  I believe that the JLTV falls into the nice to have end of the debate.

My opinion, but I just don't see how we can afford JLTV's right now...we have too many vehicles/aircraft to replace at one time.  Now if we could only get a handle on our rotary aviation problem...that's going to be the next headache!

NOTE:

I just used the BAE offering as an example of the upgraded HUMVEE.  I don't have a dog in the fight the only thing I would add to this competition is the requirement for a massively upgraded suspension...the TAK-4 from Oshkosh would seem ideal on any of the offerings, but hopefully all the competitors have that issue covered.