A stern landing design concept. Sea Transport Solutions Image
The Navy’s research and development portfolio will devote $30 million to a “next-generation medium amphibious ship design” that will likely be based on an Australian designer’s stern landing vessel. Read More
USS Bataan (LHD-5) underway of the coast of North Carolina. USNI News Photo
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) is now deployed after picking up Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on Thursday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News. Read More
Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Jahlil Scantling, from Virginia Beach, Va., assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD-4), stands watch on the bridge as the ship transits the South China Sea on Oct. 12, 2019. US Navy Photo
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy and Marine Corps are busy figuring out what they do – and don’t – need to buy to support their emerging operational concepts for high-end warfare. Read More
Marines embark on a landing craft, utility in the well deck aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) on Sept. 15, 2019. US Navy Photo
ABOARD AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP USS BATAAN – The ongoing graduation exercise for the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will not only get the 4,500 sailors and Marines ready to deploy later this year but also has started a conversation at the deck plate level about how the services will fight together in the future. Read More
Marines assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Maritime Raid Force prepare to board the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD-48) from a Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) on June 23, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo
THE PENTAGON – The Marine Corps continues its drive to become a more agile and maritime-focused force that can respond to tensions quickly and buy decision space for military leaders and diplomats, the commandant said. Read More
U.S. Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 set up at a forward arming and refueling point (FARP) as a CH-53E from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 flies overhead during Arctic Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise (AECE) in Adak, Alaska on Sept. 18, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo
This post has been updated to include additional comments from U.S. 3rd Fleet.
The Navy and Marine Corps recently used a new Littoral Combat Force concept to command and control units spread over 2.2 million square miles of land and sea, in the latest demonstration of what a future operation near and on the shore might look like. Read More
U.S. Marines with Task Force Koa Moana (TF KM) conducts a night live fire exercise during the TF KM Mission Rehearsal Exercise at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. on July 19, 2018. US Marine Corps Photo
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – Two months after new Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger released his commandant’s planning guidance, the Marines charged with plotting how the service will operate in the future showed a glimpse into how the new guidance is shaping their work. Read More
A Marine with Echo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, posts security during a simulated airfield seizure after a long-range raid from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) at Ie Shima Training Facility, Okinawa, Japan, Aug. 12, 2019. US Marine Corps photo.
The U.S. Marine Corps has been refining a pair of related concepts, Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) and the overarching Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment, for the past couple years. Read More
U.S. Marine Corps AAV-P7/A1 assault amphibious vehicles assigned to Combat Assault Company, 3rd Marine Regiment, unload service members during an amphibious landing demonstration as part of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise at Pyramid Rock Beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii July 29, 2018. US Marine Corps photo.
New Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger outlined his largely naval priorities for the Marine Corps, and he’s willing to shed some key tenets of the Marines’ amphibious force planning in recent years – including the demand for 38 amphibious warships to support a 2 Marine Expeditionary Brigade-sized forcible entry force. Read More
Marines assigned to 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (22 MEU) establish communications with the Polish Lubin-class mine layer-landing ship ORP Gniezno during exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2019 on June 16, 2019. US Navy Photo
ABOARD USS MOUNT WHITNEY, IN THE BALTIC SEA – Amphibious forces in BALTOPS 2019 tested out new, high-end tactics for the first time in a live exercise, working in a less-rigid structure that allows enablers like air-defense or anti-submarine ships, mine clearance teams and artillery units to flow through the operating area to where they can do the most good. Read More
