Continuing my rant about the Over-The-Horizion (OTH) Amphibious Assault strategy of the USMC....and what appears to be a contradiction between "Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk!" when reality is compared to the Smoke and Mirrors emanating from Henderson Hall.
The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle Program was axed....so no new amtrac for that capability of OTH.
The Osprey does not shine in the hauling of external loads when compared to helicopters.
Now we find the new amphib ships are doing away with well decks to accomodate "aviation" assets. That makes sense in a left handed way re the termination of the EFV program.
The question I ask....why do we have an "Aviation Only" LHA with no way to carry/launch/retrieve Amtracs, LCM's LCU's, Seal Assault Craft? Is that not just a Mini-CV (aircraft carrier without catapult capability)?
Can some of you Leathernecks explain where all this is going to take us....especially if the VTOL version of the F-35 fails to live up to the promises made by the builder?
the future USS America (LHA 6), the first ship in the LHA Replacement program. LHA 6 was placed under contract in June 2007 with NGSB. LHA 6 will be an aviation-centric modified repeat of the LHD 8 and is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2013. Key differences between LHA 6 and the LHD class ships include an enlarged hangar deck, enhanced aviation maintenance facilities, increased aviation fuel capacity, additional aviation storerooms, removal of the well deck, and an electronically reconfigurable C4ISR suite. Three of the original five Tarawa-class LHAs were recently decommissioned: USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3) in October 2005, USS Saipan (LHA 2) in April 2007 and USS Tarawa (LHA 1) in March 2009.
Although Marines are enthusiastic about the new ship, many of them question the decision to build a $3 billion ship without a well deck. It’s been a point of contention between the Navy and Marine Corps for some time.
The aviation-centric design of the LHA replacement — or LHA(R) — also has raised questions about its long term usefulness. Considering that Marines require heavy trucks and armored vehicles once they reach the shore, most of that equipment can only be transported by hovercraft, not by helicopters.
“It’s been a long-running debate, and it’s still not settled,” says Robert Work, a naval analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C. “There are a lot of questions on LHA(R). Will it become the standard, or will it become only a niche capability?”
There are five Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships, with three still in service. Two were decommissioned in recent years: USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) retired in October 2005 and USS Saipan (LHA-2) in April 2006.
The USS America, designated as LHA-6, will be part of the Marine Corps’ amphibious assault echelon — a group of warships that would deploy along with Navy cruisers and destroyers for major contingencies. The next two LHA ships, to be funded in 2010 and 2014, are intended for the maritime pre-positioning force squadron — a logistics sea base for troops. The fourth and final ship, currently funded in the 2017 to 2018
timeframe, would also be part of the assault echelon.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway pressed for an increase in
the amphibious fleet and succeeded. The plan now is to build up to 11 “big deck” amphibious assault ships — eight LHDs and three LHA(R)s — and dedicate them all to the assault echelon.
There’s no clear plan yet on whether to put big decks in the logistics squadron — that decision will be deferred until after the fiscal 2010 budget, says Work. The Marines lately have been trying to make a case that they need three additional amphibious assault vessels, for a total of 14. “The chances of that happening, I think, are zero,” he says.
The LHA-6 hull is based on the design used in the USS Makin Island (LHD-8), which is the first gas-turbine ship in the Wasp class of amphibious assault ships. Both are under construction at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss. The LHD-8 is expected to be completed in May.
An aviation-centric amphibious ship is not a new concept. In the late 1950s, the Navy built a class of amphibious assault ships called Landing Platform Helicopters, or LPH. These vessels carried Marines and rotory-wing aircraft. The only way to leave the ship was by air.
“That turned out to be largely a failed experiment,” says Work. In operations off the coast of Lebanon in the late 1970s, the ships’ helicopters encountered a significant air threat that resulted in the Marines being transferred to another amphibious ship to go ashore by sea.
“What we learned about the LPH is that we needed a well deck,” says Marine Col. Robert Coates, director of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s training and exercise group.
The United States in 1975 began building amphibious ships with both well decks and flight decks. The well decks on the Tarawa-class allowed watercraft and hovercraft, such as landing craft utility (LCU) and landing craft, air cushioned (LCAC), to float into the ship to load or unload Marines and cargo and transport them ashore.
“It was a tremendous success. The ship was extremely flexible. The Marines could get off either by sea or by air,” says Work.
The LHD Wasp-class ships are an improved version of the Tarawa-class. Aboard the sixth ship of the class, the USS Bonhomme Richard, Marine Lt. Col. Robert Rice comments on its versatility. “When you have a ship like the Bonhomme Richard that can do simultaneous well deck and flight deck operations, I think it represents a significant threat that can never be discounted,” he says.
With a wide flight deck that resembles that of an aircraft carrier, the LHD traditionally deploys in a trio of warships called an amphibious task force. The other two vessels commonly are the transport dock ship (LSD-class) and the dock landing ship (LPD-class). Collectively, the ships carry a Marine expeditionary unit and a wide range of aircraft, vehicles and watercraft. The total force is called an amphibious ready
group, or ARG. Depending on the missions that crop up, the units can stay together or operate separately.
Without a well deck, the LHA(R) might be more limited, Marines say. “If you’re tasked with a situation where there’s multiple tasks going on simultaneously, you have to split the ARGs up,” points out Rice. “That’s going to be tough to decide which ship goes where. If ships are limited in capabilities, then we’re limiting our options.”
During the early 2000s, the Navy adopted a position that future amphibious operations would be achieved through aerial maneuver. They feared future enemies would mine waters near shores and threaten ships sailing in coastal areas with missiles and other defenses to prevent Marines from coming ashore by sea.
This position was buttressed by the Marines’ pursuit of the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey, an aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter, and also rotate its propellers to fly like a conventional aircraft. The tilt rotors on the V-22 must be locked in a vertical position in order for mechanics to work on it. That requires more hangar space than is available in the older LHD-class and LHA-class ships.
Though the Marines still insisted on maintaining the well deck capability, the Navy built LHA(R) as an aviation-focused vessel. “We’re still an amphibious assault ship, but we’re focusing on the aviation aspects,” says Michael Arnold, manager of the LHA-6 class at Naval Sea Systems Command.
Critics can’t help but associate the LHA(R) with the old LPH-class ships.
“There is some superficial resemblance because neither one of us has a well deck,” Arnold says. But the Marines abandoned the LPH-2 class because the ships were too small to be able to operate the airplanes that they wanted. “They couldn’t fit all of their airplanes on that ship,” he says.
The V-22 is significantly larger than the helicopter it replaces and the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B Joint Strike Fighter also is larger than the AV-8B Harrier that it will replace. They require larger flight decks and hangar space and more fuel and storage capacity, all of which are found on the LHA(R) — a much larger vessel than the LPHs. “It’s that kind of thinking that drove us to LHA-6,” says Arnold.