Maintenance window scheduled to begin at February 14th 2200 est. until 0400 est. February 15th
Country artist, Lindsay Ell, and her band pose with members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) 22, for a photo at Robertson Barracks, NT, Australia, Sept. 27, 2022. Lindsay and her band performed for members of the ADF and MRF-D 22 as part of a United Service Organizations event. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Emeline Molla)
Recruits with Bravo Company, 1st Recruit Training Battalion, participate in the Crucible on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Sep. 28, 2022. The Crucible is the culmination of the knowledge and skills recruits learn throughout recruit training. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Ryan Hageali)
The M9 Beretta is still widely used all over the world but is being replaced in the US military. Is that a mistake? – A few years back it was reported that there was a winner in the cutthroat fight between firearms giants Sig Sauer and Glock over the U.S. Army’s program to replace more than half a million M9 Beretta handguns.
Government investigators finally made the decision to side “with Sig over a protest that claimed the company was selected unfairly,” according to We Are the Mighty. In its final report, the Government Accountability Office said that “based upon the technical evaluation and my comparative analysis of the proposals, the Sig Sauer proposal has a slight technical advantage over the Glock proposal.”
It further added that the “advantage of the Sig Sauer proposal is increased when the license rights and production manufacturing factors are brought into consideration … making the Sig Sauer proposal overall the best value to the government.”
‘Loved the M9’
What really gets lost in all of this talk is how much soldiers will miss the M9 Beretta handguns. Travis Pike, a former Marine machine gunner who served with 2nd Bn 2nd Marines for five years, recently wrote on Sandboxx that “I couldn’t help but feel a little tinge of nostalgic sadness. I’m not saying the Beretta was better than the Sig, but I loved the M9.”
Pike later recounted his personal experiences with the firearm. “As a machine gunner, I was supposed to be issued an M9 as a secondary weapon to my machine gun. However, the Marine Corps rarely follows those rules closely (with a limited number of pistols, they tend to find their way into the hands of officers and senior enlisted troops). For a long time, I carried both an M16A4 and an M240 machine gun. I, and other machine gunners, never stopped fighting to obtain pistols,” he wrote.
“Somehow we complained enough to the right people and were granted our request … as long as we could pass the pistol qualification. They sent us to pistol qual with absolutely zero training with the M9 or handguns in general. Maybe they planned for us to fail. Who knows? All but one of us passed the qualification, however, and they kept their word. We got our M9s, and I treasured mine. I worked hard for it, and while it may seem like a small victory, it felt like a massive battle for a Lance Corporal to win. I loved the M9—maybe even outside of my victory to obtain it,” he continued.
Pike added that the M9 handgun “went with me to nearly a dozen different countries from Djibouti to Spain, and it never failed. The M9 served me extremely well, and it served generations of men and women well for the entirety of the Global War on Terror.”
Emphasis on Technology
So, why in the end was the M9 replaced? According to Pike, it’s all about the forward-looking aspect of technology.
“Pistols have advanced. Polymer frames, striker-fired designs, rails, modular pistol frames, and optics cuts are now the standard. The M9 doesn’t even have an interchangeable front sight. There are complaints regarding the beastly sized grip and unergonomic design for servicemembers with small hands,” he said.
“Pistols are rarely used for general warfighting, but specialized roles like MPs, Investigators, Personal Security Details, and Special Operation forces can make use of a more modern handgun. Plus, it might be a fair bit cheaper to purchase modern pistols with modern polymer frames versus an all-metal design. Even if the Sig is the same or near the same price as the Beretta M9, the advancements and features it offers make it a more attractive purchase,” he continued.
Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.
Sgt. Maj. Steven Morefield, of III Marine Expeditionary Force, addresses Marines and Sailors from III MEF and Marine Corps Installations Pacific at Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan, Oct 25, 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler S. Dietrich/ Released)
WASHINGTON: The Marine Corps this week will formally redesignate its Hawaii-based 3rd Marine Regiment to the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, a move the service’s second most senior officer says will shift the unit from traditional deployment schedules to being ready to deploy “tonight.”
“The 3rd Marine Regiment, as it existed, could not have done what we’re asking the 3rd [Marine] Littoral Regiment to do,” Gen. Eric Smith, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told reporters on Monday. “The 3rd Littoral Regiment that is standing up on Thursday, after a year or more of reorganizing, is now built into smaller units that actually are capable of deploying tonight.”
Smith said traditional Marine regiments for decades have operated on a six-month deployment cycle, in which three 900-man battalions prepare for six months, spend six months deployed and enjoy six months rest. The new Marine Littoral Regiment will take much smaller groups of Marines — between 75 and 100 — and deploy them strategically depending on the tasks at hand. The establishment of the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment is part of Gen. David Berger’s Force Design 2030 initiative, an effort Berger set in motion shortly after becoming commandant in 2019.
The unit’s capabilities — such as the MQ-9A Reaper, the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System and the Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar — and training will be centered around the service’s key concepts of Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations and Stand In Forces.
The Marine Corps currently plans on redesignating two other Marine regiments, the 4th and 12th, into MLRs between now and 2030. Smith added those designations may take more time as the service looks to incorporate lessons learned from establishing the 3rd MLR. He added that while only three MLRs are currently planned, additional units are not “off the table.”
During the call with reporters, Smith repeatedly stressed China as the service’s “pacing threat” and the impetus for change.
“Despite what’s happening today with Russia and Ukraine, the pacing threat of China hasn’t changed,” he said. “These capabilities that we’re talking about, while purpose-built for the Indo-Pacific, again, [are] highly useful in any theater. These are capabilities that I would have loved to have had in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Mar. 1—MCLB-ALBANY — Through conflicts and wars across the globe, floods, a tornado and hurricane close to home, and base realignments and closures over the years, MCLB-Albany has played a critical role in defending the country for seven decades.
On Tuesday, the military installation and community celebrated the 70th anniversary of the base, which was established as the Korean War raged.
“The basic fundamentals really haven’t changed, sustaining and maintaining the Marine Corps,” Col. Michael J. Fitzgerald, the commanding officer of the base, said during an interview following a Tuesday ceremony. “What has changed is the technology.”
A small group of Marines set up in temporary buildings in Albany on March 1, 1952, with the establishment of Marine Corps Depot of Supplies. After two name changes, it took its current name on Nov 1, 1978.
Today, MCLB-Albany is one of six commands under Marine Corps Installations East, headquartered at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The primary tenant command, Marine Corps Logistics Command, is headquartered at MCLB-Albany and is responsible for maximizing material readiness and sustainment during peace, war and contingency operations.
“From the Korean War to the present today, what this base does matters around the world,” Fitzgerald said. “It has impacts around the world.
“As recent world events have shown us, the world is not nice. We have to be prepared for the future.”
Some of the work at the base includes taking a truck or Humvee that has seen hard service, tearing it down to its individual components and putting it together like new.
During the Iraq War the base quickly mobilized to protect vulnerable vehicles with armor to protect the personnel riding in them from improvised explosive devices.
“At first they had thin-skinned vehicles built for the Cold War,” Fitzgerald said.
Protective armor was produced and shipped to help protect the equipment in use, and the military personnel riding in it, until more beefed-up vehicles were manufactured and deployed.
The mission of the base is done with a small contingent of active-duty military personnel and the “civilian Marines” — local employees and contractors who make up the bulk of the work force. There are a total of about 5,000 who work at the facility.
“Ninety-five to 98 percent of the work force are civilian Marines,” Fitzgerald said. “This base and the community are one and the same. The community and the base have grown over the years into one unit.”
During the ceremony, the audience heard the recitation of accolades from members of Congress, Department of Defense officials and proclamations from Albany Mayor Bo Dorough and the Dougherty County Commission.
Some of those statements noted the natural disasters the base has dealt with and cited the base for continuing its vital mission in the wake of those strikes while also lending a helping hand in the community to save lives and aiding in recovery.
MCLB-Albany is on the cutting edge in terms of technology and innovation and is posed to become the first “net-zero” base through partnerships with the Albany Procter & Gamble plant to provide energy through a biomass generator and with Dougherty County, which provides methane released during the breakdown of waste at its landfill. The $20 million methane generator plant was completed in September 2011.
In another partnership, the base became home to a 44-acre solar farm, with 150 acres leased to Georgia Power Co. for production of power for the company’s customers.
The base also is bringing in green cars and charging infrastructure and serves as the site of several pilot projects, including a 5G smart warehouse currently being developed.
“The base’s unique size, in that it is smaller, allows the Marine Corps to invest in future technology to secure tax funds, and then it is expanded to the rest of the Marine Corps,” Fitzgerald said. “It is efficient and effective with the least cost to the public.”
During the 2019 fiscal year, MCLB-Albany had an estimated $1.7 billion economic impact on southwest Georgia, and its 3,600 acres is home to some 40 tenant organizations, including the Georgia Army National Guard, Albany Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic and Naval Facilities Engineering Command.
“We have a rich history with the Marine base here,” Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, who attended the ceremony, said during a telephone interview. “It’s one of our prime assets. I’m very proud it is a prime asset not just for the region but our nation. To see what it has been in terms of Department of Defense status is pretty important.”
The University of Maine (UMaine) has 3D printed two new large-scale boats at its Advanced Structures and Composites Center in Orono, one of which is reportedly the largest vessel ever to be additively manufactured.
Developed for the U.S. Marine Corps, the prototype boats are designed to be logistical support vessels and will be tested for field use by the armed forces. The larger one can carry two 20-foot shipping containers, while the other can transport an entire rifle squad with three days’ worth of food, water, and other supplies.
To commemorate the completion of the boats, UMaine hosted a ceremony on the 25th of February. Attendees included both of the state’s senators, Republican Susan Collins and Independent Angus King, as well as representatives from the Department of Defense (DoD).
“The University of Maine is at the forefront of cutting-edge research and high-impact technologies, including advanced manufacturing, AI, and 3D printing important for industries in Maine and beyond,” said Dannel Malloy, UMaine’s System Chancellor. “These prototype vessels are the latest innovations from the Composites Center that demonstrate the future of manufacturing.”
There are currently no public photos, videos, or technical details of the boats due to national security concerns.
UMaine celebrated the completion of the boats with a ceremony in late Feb. Photo via UMaine.
UMaine breaks its own record
UMaine prides itself on being home to the world’s largest polymer 3D printing system. Developed by Ingersoll Machine Tools, the extrusion-based printer was built specifically for defense and infrastructure applications, and can be used to print objects as long as 100ft, 22ft wide, and 10ft high.
Back in 2019, UMaine used its 3D printer to manufacture 3Dirigo, which was at the time the world’s largest 3D printed boat as well as the world’s largest 3D printed object. Measuring 25 feet long and weighing in at 5,000 pounds, the vessel was printed in 72 hours. With its latest project, UMaine has now broken its own Guinness World Records.
Malloy adds, “Two years ago, we demonstrated that it was possible to 3D print a 25-foot patrol vessel in three days. Since then, partnering with the DOD, we have been improving material properties, speeding up the printing process, and connecting our printer with high-performance computers that can monitor the print. With these tools in place, we have now printed a prototype vessel that will be tested by the U.S. Marine Corps.”
More recently, UMaine also secured $2.8 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to develop a more eco-friendly method of 3D printing wind turbine blade molds. By introducing a bio-based feedstock into their Cellulose Nanofiber (CNF) printing process, the team believes that it’s possible to cut the costs of producing the large-format parts by 50%.
UMaine has also previously presented two novel 3D printed flood barriers to a U.S. Senate transport resiliency subcommittee. Built by the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, the bio-based barriers are designed to protect coastal infrastructure from flood-related damage.
UMaine researchers 3D printed a record-breaking boat in 2019. Photo via UMaine.
Two new 3D printed logistical support vessels
Both of the new vessels were 3D printed using a multi-material blend of polymer-based fiber-reinforced composites. According to UMaine, it was able to fabricate and assemble one of the boats in just one month – a process that would otherwise take up to a year using traditional manufacturing methods.
While the prototype boats are intended to be fully functional on their own, they can also be connected to form a single-tow raft for maximum transport capacity.
Now that they’re ready for the open water, the boats will be transported from the UMaine laboratory to California, where they’ll be tested in the sea. The university is handing the prototypes off to the Marine Corps’ Advanced Manufacturing Operations Cell, which was established in 2019 to support the Marines with new advanced production techniques, testing, experimentation, and analysis.
The DoD hopes to use the 3D printed vessels to address its need for small logistics vehicles, enabling distributed maritime and expeditionary operations.
Lt. Gen. Edward Banta, Deputy Commandant – Installation & Logistics, U.S. Marine Corps, concludes, “This project demonstrates the art of the possible and the potential for additive manufacturing to fundamentally alter how we think about connectors and their role in mobility and distribution within a contested environment.”
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Featured image shows UMaine celebrating the completion of the boats with a ceremony in late Feb. Photo via UMaine.
U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Jamaury M. Jimenez, a machine gunner with Advanced Machine Gun Course (AMGC) … [+] 1-22, fires polymer rounds from a .50-caliber machine gun at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Nov. 3, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Cameron Hermanet)
1st Marine Division, USMC
Every caliber of ammunition the U.S. military shoots has at least one thing in common – a brass/metal casing. New polymer .50 caliber machine gun casings now testing with the Marine Corps hold the promise of lighter weight, recycled material and less wear and tear on weapons.
The standard brass cartridges that encase rounds today have been in use in a similar format since before the 1898 Spanish-American War. They remain effective but the miliary began to look at casing different caliber rounds in polymer material as far back as the 1950s. The polymers used for ammunition casing then, and now, are essentially synthetic plastics with different proprietary formulations.
Experiments with polymer-cased rounds in the 1980s and early 2000s showed potential but the technology was not yet mature enough to warrant evaluation for broad acquisition. However, defense suppliers like Textron
TXT and True Velocity kept developing different polymer casings and round types.
Their progress was noted and in 2016 the Joint Lightweight Ammunition Integrated Product Team (JLAIPT) was stood up by the U.S. Army, the U.K. Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Marine Corps to collaborate in developing polymer cased ammunition.
The UK’s effort centers on developing polymer casings for 5.56mm rounds for the British Army’s SA 80A2 Individual Weapon and the U.S. Army’s M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. The U.S. Army is developing 7.62mm polymer ammunition used in Army and Marine M240 machine guns and some sniper weapons. The Marines have been tasked with developing larger still .50 caliber (12.7mm) rounds for the Corps’ “Ma Deuce” M2 machine gun.
MAC .50 Caliber (12.7mm) Polymer Ammunition with nylon links.
Nammo-MAC LLC
In January 2020, Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) awarded a little-known Mississippi-based firm, Nammo-MAC LLC, a nearly $10 million small-batch production contract to make polymer cased .50 caliber ammo for the M2. Last November, Marines with 1st Marine Division tested and assessed polymer ammunition during a limited user evaluation at Camp Pendleton, CA.
The chief reason for doing so is weight. When the JLAIPT was formed, its chief goal was reducing the weight of ammunition by at least 10 percent. Multiple DoD studies have shown that contemporary tactical gear, communications equipment, smart devices and associated batteries, along with body armor have pushed individual Marine/Soldier loads well over 100 pounds. The weight degrades their physical and ultimately mental performance.
Lieutenant Colonel Brian Wisneski (USMC) is deputy program manager for MCSC’s PM Ammunition. He says the polymer-cased ammunition produced by Nammo-MAC is approximately 1.2 ounces lighter per round than standard .50 caliber ammo, about a 23% weight reduction.
“That equates to seven pounds per metal can which has 100 rounds in it and 14 pounds per wirebound box,” Wisneski says. “That’s just the ammunition itself.” MCSC is also looking at replacing the traditional metal links used to secure .50 cal ammunition in belts with nylon links.
An M2A1 wirebound crate with two 100-round cans of .50 caliber ammunition.
Marine Defense Packaging
The combination could yield further weight savings with significant logistics and operational implications. Metal cans of .50 cal ammo come in pairs in wirebound wood boxes for shipping. The typical 48 wirebound boxes shipped on a pallet would be 672 pounds lighter if filled with polymer cased ammunition.
“We can trade that weight off for other gear or another few Marines on an aircraft,” Col. Wisneski affirms. The savings could also be realized as range and fuel consumption positives for a variety of platforms. The Marines’ Light Armored Vehicle (LAV-25) for example would save 200-300 pounds depending on loadout with polymer .50 cal rounds according to Wisneski.
USMC helicopters, MV-22s and other .50 caliber-equipped aircraft would benefit from the weight saving as well. Lighter weight casings would theoretically gain in value as polymer ammunition is extended to larger 20mm and 30mm rounds.
PM Ammunition is undertaking environmental/durability testing of the plastic cases as well as fire testing. So far, they appear to be as robust as brass casings in shipping, storage and life cycle scenarios “There really aren’t differences per se between brass and polymer cases,” Wisneski asserts. “We’ve found nothing concerning.”
The environmental impact of polymer cased ammunition is an issue that has prompted the Corps’ to look at the possibility of making it a cyclical asset.
“It’s plastic and everybody looks at plastic as a bad thing,” Wisneski acknowledges. “We’ve asked, how could we use it with 3D printing if we need to make a repair part and we have 600 rounds of polymer .50 caliber that we can harvest?”
The answer isn’t yet clear but the idea of recycling polymer cartridges is an appealing one as is ammunition which promotes longer weapons life. Brass casings conduct heat during the ballistic [firing] evolution PM Ammunition says. The brass superheats and then transfers that heat to the chamber of the weapon. Conversely, polymer insulates the chamber from that heat.
“Where brass expands – whatever the minute percentage is – in the chamber, it holds that for a second. A polymer will expand and [contract immediately],” Wisneski says. Lower mass has a positive effect too.
Polymer-cased .50-caliber ammunition is seen at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Nov. … [+] 3, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Cameron Hermanet)
1st Marine Division
“Because of the reduced weight of the round, the [M2] feed mechanism and extractor don’t have to pull as hard to [eject the spent casing].”
Together with its thermal benefits, the lighter weight of polymer-cased ammunition should impart less wear and tear to the weapons firing it and likely increase their combat capability.
“The weapon with polymer ammunition [effectively] has a higher rate of fire because the weapon doesn’t choke [hesitate] because the polymer casing dissipates heat and reduces friction,” the Colonel points out.
Significant testing remains before scaling to full production and there are questions about cost at scale. Col. Wisneski, who has a career background in ammunition logistics in the USMC as an enlisted rating and an officer, opines that ammunition manufacturing is “black magic” with many variables. The small batch run of ammo that MCSC has thus far experimented with is more expensive than traditional .50 caliber ammunition.
Would a large run of polymer .50 caliber ammunition at the U.S.’ Lake City Army Ammunition Plant be cost competitive?
While offering no specific projection and pointing out that military and commercial ammunition costs are cyclical, Wisneski says, “We believe the [mass] production prices will come down to be near the cost of brass [casings] right now.”
DoD had planned to begin introducing polymer ammunition 2022 but the schedule looks to have slipped to 2023 or beyond.
The field evaluation at Camp Pendleton was largely positive Wisneski reports but there are always nuances. While there, he asked two Marine machine gunners who fired 1,200 .50 caliber brass rounds then directly switched to polymer rounds what they thought. A young Lance Corporal told him, “Sir, the cans are loaded backwards.”
A standard ammunition can lid opens up and to the left until vertical. The first round of brass ammo comes out on the opposite [right] side. At the Evaluation the Marine found that the first round of polymer ammunition came out on the left side of the can, next to the lid Wisneski relates. The gunner had to reach across the [gun] chamber moving his hand another 8 to 10 inches to load the weapon.
“The gunner said, ‘Sir, that’s two seconds [more time], that’s me reaching across the hot chamber, that’s muscle memory that you just messed up because the cans are loaded a different way.”
“Even through all of our processes, I never thought of that,” the LtCol admits. “Here’s a young Marine who’s going to use [the polymer ammo] in his daily craft, telling us this is something we need to change.”
It could be argued that Marines and Soldiers, weighted down by modern warfare, have been telling the military it needs a silver bullet to lighten the load for a long time.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps this week will officially stand up its first Marine littoral regiment, a linchpin of its plans to conduct small-unit expeditionary advanced base operations and to move high-end gear into and throughout the Pacific.
Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith told reporters the 3rd Marine Regiment in Hawaii will on March 3 officially be redesignated the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment. The MLR will be subdivided into numerous EABO units of about 75 to 100 Marines, each highly trained in and equipped for their particular mission area.
Some EABO units will conduct strike missions on land and at-sea targets; some will create refueling and logistics hubs; some will do jamming, deception, reconnaissance and more. But they’ll all look relatively similar as they come off a transport aircraft or small ship, making it tough for the adversary to identify them and understand what they bring to the battlefield — if the adversary can even see the small and mobile units moving around vast littoral areas.
These small units will bring with them some emerging technologies, which Smith said in the Feb. 28 media roundtable will be employed throughout the region as the units maneuverin and out of the First Island Chain for exercises and experimentation events.
Smith highlighted four key systems that would be coming to the Pacific, or were already there and would be movedaround the theater to support EABO operations.
First is the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, for long-range strike. The system consists of the Naval Strike Missile launched from the back of an unmanned joint light tactical vehicle. EABO units with the NMESIS would be able to conduct anti-ship strikes — or even gain sea control with just the threat of being able to target enemy ships — from beaches and straits throughout the region.
Second is the MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle for extended-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. This large UAV will help sense what’s happening in the region and pass its findings back to joint force commanders in the theater or even directly to Marines with the NMESIS to take immediate action.
Third is the Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar, or G/ATOR, as part of the communications architecture to enable data sharing among various EABO units and with the larger naval and joint force.
And lastly are two separate means of organic mobility: a long-range unmanned surface vessel the Marines would own and operate themselves, to move goods or potentially people around littoral areas, as well as the light amphibious warship the Marines would leverage in tandem with the U.S. Navy.
“Four good examples, concrete examples of the kind of capabilities we are working on — in some cases, have already — and now we just need to determine exactly where they should be laid down,” Smith said.
“Where the equipment is ultimately employed, is based — all that is going to be determined by the threat, where do we need it to be? These capabilities, whether they be lethal fires or communications or mobility, we will seek to place them where they can best be used to deter our adversaries,” he said.
The Marines will study where the new gear could be best leveraged, and then the service will conduct environmental and legal studies to ensure employment from any possible location is in keeping with local and host-nation regulations. Smith noted partnerships with host countries throughout the Indo-Pacific area were pivotal to the EABO concept, which calls on the small units to be constantly moving throughout island chains and beaches around the area to keep the adversary confused and unable to target them.
Smith said he must accomplish four things by the end of fiscal 2023: standing up the 3rd MLR, which will happen this week; moving additional KC-130J transport and refueling aircraft into the Pacific to boost the Marines’ organic lift capability; fielding the NMESIS in theater; and fielding the MQ-9A in theater.
That list of requirements “represents our ability to live, train and deploy in these small, disaggregated units” in the Pacific. A threat in the Pacific could pop up any time, Smith said, and the joint force commanders in theater could call on whichever EABO units they need based on the threat and have them ready to head out the door that day.
He argued this capability will have an immediate effect on adversaries like China, because China won’t be able to track the units’ whereabouts as they come and go and maneuver within the first island chain. And they’ll each pack a punch China can’t dismiss, he said.
Though not formally required to be fielded by the end of FY23, Smith said the Marines are in a good place with the G/ATOR radar, the LRUSV and LAW.
He said the Marines have a solid acquisition program for the radar, and G/ATOR units are already based in Okinawa, Japan, and have been used in events in Australia.
“Where we place them in the long run depends on where they’re most needed, but the capability has to be in the Pacific, and those G/ATOR radars are already in the Pacific,” he said.
On LRUSV, for which there is no program of record yet, Smith said the Marines have already experimented with a 33-foot rigid-hull inflatable boat and will continue experimenting with a 45-foot Metal Shark boat.
The Navy is farther along in getting to a program of record for LAW, with five companies doing concept design work for the Marine Corps and the service working hard to get acquisition funds into the Navy’s shipbuilding budget.
“In the interim, we’re using stern-landing vessels we are renting, leasing a vehicle through the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to use as a surrogate,” Smith said. That vessel is doing experimentation work to refine the Marines’ size and beachability requirements, he said, ahead of the Marine Corps and Navy selecting a shipbuilder.
He noted the Marines may lease two additional vessels for experimentation, because “we don’t want to wait for the LAW to come online for us to then confirm — not come up with, but confirm — our concepts of operations.”
By the end of FY23, he said, the MLR would have some number of LAW surrogates at its disposal for testing and training.
Smith stressed this is only the start, and more types of units with more types of gear will be set up as China and other potential adversaries evolve their operations and capabilities.
“The MLR is the harbinger of things to come for us, both in the Indo-Pacific and in how the Marine Corps conducts business,” Smith said. “It is just the first step.”
Megan Eckstein is the naval warfare reporter at Defense News. She has covered military news since 2009, with a focus on U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations, acquisition programs, and budgets. She has reported from four geographic fleets and is happiest when she’s filing stories from a ship. Megan is a University of Maryland alumna.
US Marine Corps (USMC) Lieutenat Colonel Robert Guyette added a footnote to aviation history on 3 October 2021, when he became the first pilot to land a fixed-wing aircraft aboard a Japanese carrier since the 1940s.
Guyette, executive officer of USMC squadron VMFA-242, spoke recently with journalists at the Singapore Airshow, where he performed in the aerial display with a Lockheed Martin F-35B; the short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) version of the fighter that he used to land aboard JS Izumo.
A qualified test pilot, Guyette was the ideal choice for the mission. He has flown over 30 types of aircraft and helicopters. Moreover, VMFA-242 is based in Iwakuni, Japan. His wingman for the mission was Major Nicholas Dylan, a test pilot with the F-35 programme.
Guyette says that years of planning went into the Izumo effort.
“There was a lot of technical evaluation done just to do the one-time event, mostly from our partners at [Naval Air Systems Command] and the Carderock ship facility to determine the ship’s basic launch and recovery envelope,” he says.
Mostly, the project involved working with Japanese defence colleagues, who Guyette says “are very eager to learn all of the intricacies of operating [STOVL] aircraft off the ship”. This involved several trips between Iwakuni and Tokyo to discuss the project, in addition to teleconferences and walkthroughs.
Finally, Guyette conducted simulated landings on Izumo at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. And though the 3 October landing was historic, video footage of the event made it appear routine.
Guyette says touching down on Izumo felt no different from landing aboard a US vessel. He landed on the ship’s fourth landing position, while Dylan landed on the fifth.
“I would anticipate no additional training for any pilot moving from a [US amphibious ship] or even HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Izumo class,” he says.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, for its part, gleaned valuable thermal and acoustic data from the flight. Technically designated “helicopter destroyers”, Izumo and sister vessel JS Kaga are being re-purposed as aircraft carriers, to support the 42 F-35Bs that Tokyo is obtaining.
Guyette also commented on the F-35, having flown all three variants of the aircraft – the conventional take-off and landing F-35A, STOVL F-35B, and carrier-capable F-35C. He was heavily involved in type’s testing programme, serving as lead test pilot for several aspects of the F-35B/C test programme. He was also the first operational pilot qualified for the F-35 in December 2012.
“The handling is identical when going from variant to variant rapidly… if you don’t turn around it’s very difficult to tell the difference [between variants],” he says. “There is some extra hardware in the F-35B, but it gives the Marine Corps a very unique and valid capability.”
The “extra hardware” Guyette refers to is the F-35B’s lift-fan system, which enables vertical landings. Guyette says the F-35B’s STOVL capability allows it, like the Boeing AV-8B Harrier that it is replacing, to be located in forward areas and closer to ground operations. Guyette’s perspective comes from a stint in Afghanistan, where he worked as a forward air controller with small infantry units, with AV-8Bs providing air support.
“While some would say that the Harrier has all this extra equipment that maybe would be a hindrance in other places, the fact they were able to position so close to the battlespace made a believer out of me and the whole concept, so flying the F-35B just reinforces that,” he says.
3 OCT, the #JMSDF conducted verification of takeoff and landing of the USMC F-35B to JS #IZUMO. The JMSDF continues to steadily carry out the necessary modifications to the IZUMO class to acquire the capability to operate the F-35Bs. pic.twitter.com/0gtPNzrxQC
— Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (@jmsdf_pao_eng) October 5, 2021
On the F-35 family more generally, Guyette says that the aircraft is easier to fly than legacy fighter types. In a combat situation, this allows a pilot to focus less on flying the jet and more on the mission. The US military is finding that the relative ease with which F-35 pilots can handle basic aircraft operations means it takes less time to train them for particular mission sets.
Another unique aspect of the F-35 programme Guyette has observed is the speed of updates and improvements.
“One thing that is kind of impressive to me about the F 35 is how rapidly we are iterating not only software, but hardware as well,” he says.
“That’s a reflection of the strength of the alliance and the team, because one country makes an investment or expresses an interest in a capability, and we all benefit from it.”
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