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Old 17th Apr 2012, 17:24
  #106 (permalink)  
Lonewolf_50
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Texas
Age: 64
Posts: 7,131
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I am against claiming to have the capability, spending Tens of Billions of Dollars on equipment that doesn't work....
What doesn't work?
altering ship designs to fit aircraft while eliminating the seaborne capability of the vessels at the same time
Concur with your point on well decks, moving stuff by floating it in is an option unwise to delete in seaborne operations. Question is, when you have one LPD, on LHA, and one LHD, do none of them have a well deck? I'd need to go and see, but most Amphibious task groups are mixed ... for a variety of reasons.
I would want real capability for money spent.....and the pipe dream of a hydroplaning armored amphibious tractor would never have gotten my unlimited support as it did.
Didn't they cancel that recently? Or are you referring to the LCAC's ?
Amphib ships have always had the flexibility to support all phases of Amphibious assault....sea and air....with LST's being beacheable.
LST's haven't been in the inventory for quite some time. Try not to fight the 70's war.
We now will have LHA's with no ability to handle boats, LCAC's, or Amtracs....which is a loss of capability.
Aye. Concur with your view on that.
The new AFV died....leaving us with the old style AFV which will not work for OTH. I see all this as a net loss of capability at a huge cost in Tax Dollars.
What it actually points to is a change in capability. Not convinced that "net loss" is an airtight argument. Increase in cost? Yes.

There were Marines I worked with in the 80's and 90's who found the reliance on slow amphibious targets/tractors to be an attempt to fight the last war. There were Marines I worked with on flag level staffs who were bound and determined to get that expensive luxury, the tank, out of the USMC inventory.

Opinions are like navels ...

By the way, a whole lot of that amphibious equipment has gone unused in
Iraq
Afghanistan

But where is it needed next? There's theoretically nowhere on earth that the USMC might not be called to do something, save possibly the South Pole.

Putting together the kit to meet that mission requirement won't be cheap. Flexibility is expensive.

V-22 is one way to give the operational commander flexibility.
Originally Posted by sans
In 2013, he added, HMX-1, the squadron that flies the president's Marine One helicopter, will begin receiving 12 Ospreys that will be used to haul cargo and passengers -- including Secret Service agents, White House staff and the news media -- during presidential trips.
Carrying Colombian strippers might be the kind of flexibility a local commander needs!
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