22 septembre 2020 | International, Naval

US Marines wants to move fast on a light amphibious warship. But what is it?

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps is moving as fast as it can to field a new class of light amphibious warship, but it remains unclear what it will do, where it will be based or what capabilities it will bring to the fight.

The idea behind the ship is to take a commercial design or adapt a historic design to make a vessel capable of accommodating up to 40 sailors and at least 75 Marines to transport Marine kit over a range of about 3,500 nautical miles, according to a recent industry day presentation.

While the presentation noted that the ship should have few tailored Navy requirements, that also creates a problem: If the Navy is going to pay tens of millions to develop, build, crew and operate them, should it not provide some additional value to the fleet?

Analysts, experts and sources with knowledge of internal discussions who spoke to Defense News say the answer to that question is a source of friction inside the Pentagon.

The idea of the warship arrived on the scene in 2019 with the ascension of Gen. David Berger as commandant of the Marine Corps. His planning guidance called for a smaller, more agile amphibious force that could operate inside the Chinese anti-access, area denial window in the South China Sea.

In a recent virtual meeting of the Surface Navy Association, the chief of naval operations' director of expeditionary warfare, Maj. Gen. Tracy King, emphasized that above all, the platform must be cheap and come online quickly.

“I see the efficacy of this [light amphibious warship] is really to help us in the phases and stages we're in right now,” King said Aug. 27. “We need to start doing things differently, as an extension of the fleet, under the watchful eye of our Navy, engaging with our partners and allies and building partner capacity: We ought to be doing that right now. I think we're late to need with building the light amphibious warship, which is why we're trying to go so quickly.”

When asked whether the ship should contribute to a more distributed sensor architecture to align with the Navy's desire to be more spread out over a large area during a fight, King answered in the affirmative.

"[But] I really see it benefiting from [that architecture] more,” he said. “We need to build an affordable ship that can get after the ability to do maritime campaigning in the littorals.”

The unstated implication appeared to be that if the ship is loaded up with sensors and requirements, it will slow down the process and increase the cost. Analysts who spoke to Defense News agreed with that, saying the Navy is likely trying to put more systems on the platform that will make it more complex and more expensive.

The Navy has said it wants to keep the price under $100 million per platform and begin purchasing them as early as the latter half of 2022.

“The hardest part is going to be appetite suppression, especially on the part of the Navy,” said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine officer and analyst with The Heritage Foundation. "This is what we saw in the littoral combat ship: It started out as a very light, near-shore, small and inexpensive street fighter. And then people started adding on requirements. You had ballooning costs, increasing complexity of the platform, and you get into all kinds of problems.

“The Marine Corps wants this quickly. It needs it to be inexpensive so you can have 28-30 of them over a three- to four-year period.”

There is the additional challenge of where the ships will be based, since they will probably not be built to the kinds of standards of normal Navy vessels built to last for 30-40 years in service. The minimum service life for the light amphibious warship will be about 10 years, according to the industry day presentation.

Wood said that would be a challenge for the Marines and the State Department to work out in parallel with the effort to get the hulls quickly built.

Jerry Hendrix, a retied Navy captain and analyst with the Telemus Group, agreed with that assessment, saying the Marines are eager to move forward to get something fielded, in part to make sure this transition to a lighter, more distributed force being pushed by Berger actually happens.

"The commandant can't divest of some of the legacy platforms he's building — these big, expensive and vulnerable platforms — until he has something that replaces it in the water. And so he's anxious to get going with something else so he then has a reason to move away from what he has.

“The commandant is well aware he has a four-year clock and its ticking. So if he's going to make changes, he's got to get moving to get those changes in place and commit the Marine Corps to them to make sure it's going to last. And right now I'm not sure there's a lot of high confidence that they are going to last.”

Hendrix acknowledged that the Navy has good reason to want the light amphibious warship to have more capability, but added that the Corps is more interested in something simple than something costly and elaborate.

“What that does,” Hendrix said, “is drive up unit cost and drive down the numbers that can be purchased.”

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/09/21/us-marines-wants-to-move-fast-on-a-light-amphibious-warship-but-what-is-it/

Sur le même sujet

19 juillet 2019 | International, Terrestre, Autre défense

OSI Systems Awarded $8 Million Contract for Cargo and Vehicle Inspection Systems
HAWTHORNE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OSI Systems, Inc. (the “Company” or “OSI Systems”) (NASDAQ: OSIS) today announced that its Security division was awarded a contract valued at approximately $8 million by a U.S. government customer to provide cargo and vehicle inspection systems. OSI Systems' Chairman and CEO, Deepak Chopra, stated, “We are pleased to receive this award and look forward to delivering our advanced technology solutions that are designed to provide enhanced imaging to help identify impermissible items.” About OSI Systems OSI Systems is a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of specialized electronic systems and components for critical applications in the homeland security, healthcare, defense and aerospace industries. The Company combines more than 40 years of electronics engineering and manufacturing experience with offices and production facilities in more than a dozen countries to implement a strategy of expansion into selective end product markets. For more information on OSI Systems or its subsidiary companies, visit www.osi-systems.com. News Filter: OSIS-G Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements relate to OSI Systems' current expectations, beliefs, and projections concerning matters that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve uncertainties, risks, assumptions, and contingencies, many of which are outside OSI Systems' control and which may cause actual results to differ materially from those described in or implied by any forward-looking statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements, which are based on currently available information and speak only as of the date on which they are made. OSI Systems assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement made in this press release that becomes untrue because of subsequent events, new information, or otherwise, except to the extent it is required to do so in connection with its ongoing requirements under Federal securities laws. For a further discussion of factors that could cause OSI Systems' future results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in OSI Systems' most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and other risks described therein and in documents subsequently filed by OSI Systems from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SOURCE: OSI Systems, Inc. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190717005233/en
4 janvier 2019 | International, Terrestre

New in 2019: Army Europe adds new units, boosts air defense, artillery
By: Todd South The new units the Army plans to add to its troops stationed in Europe are a small but crucial part of its support of allies and force projection on the continent. That ongoing work has seen increases in rotations, a focus on improving ground vehicle lethality and protection, and reactivating units with a European battlefield focus. U.S. Army Europe announced in September that it would add another 1,500 troops to units that would be stationed in the following areas of Germany: Grafenwohr, Ansbach, Hohenfels and Baumholder. Currently there are about 33,000 U.S. soldiers in Germany alone. Though the complete standup and stationing won't conclude until September 2020, according to plans, the base of those units begins building now. And that includes a field artillery brigade headquarters, two Multiple Launch Rocket Systems battalions and supporting units at Grafenwohr, a Short-Range Air Defense battalion at Ansbach and other supporting units at Hohenfels and Baumholder. In addition, existing units will move within the country. That includes one military police brigade headquarters and a battalion headquarters moving in Bavaria, a signal battalion to Baumholder and a truck company to Kaiserslautern. These changes are part of an overall move back to power projection and ally support, which had declined following the peak of U.S. troop stationing in the 1980s, a drawdown through the 1990s and during the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Our number one priority is readiness, which must be sustained through training, personnel and equipment. We set the theater to support operational plans and contingencies throughout Europe and enable an efficient flow of forces as needed, so we must maintain critical capabilities and enhance interoperability,” Col. Joe Scrocca, spokesman for U.S. Army Europe, told Army Times. Beginning in 2016, the Army announced nine-month deployments for an armored brigade combat team in Europe, putting more troops in the region to train with Eastern European allies, especially in Poland, Romania and the Baltics. Today, there are more than 8,000 rotational soldiers in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. The Army also is beefing up its equipment in Europe. In late 2017, the first of the Army's upgunned Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle-Dragoon — which features a 30mm cannon instead of the previous M2 .50-caliber machine gun — arrived at the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. The same unit was also among the first to receive the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station capable of firing a Javelin missile, also called the CROWS-J. The initial fielding that began in August included 86 systems across the Army with another fielding planned for late 2020. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/03/new-in-2019-army-europe-adds-new-units-boosts-air-defense-artillery
16 février 2022 | International, Aérospatial

How autonomous wingmen will help fighter pilots in the next war
'There's enough technology in existence from programs that we've already conducted, it convinces me that's not a crazy idea,' Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.

Toutes les nouvelles

US Marines wants to move fast on a light amphibious warship. But what is it?

Sur le même sujet

How autonomous wingmen will help fighter pilots in the next war 'There's enough technology in existence from programs that we've already conducted, it convinces me that's not a crazy idea,' Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.

How autonomous wingmen will help fighter pilots in the next war
'There's enough technology in existence from programs that we've already conducted, it convinces me that's not a crazy idea,' Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.