Defense Technology International - October 2007 - (Page 36) OPERATIONS AMPHIBIOUS STAGE RIGHT New landing craft meet evolving expeditionary needs JORIS JANSSEN LOK•THE HAGUE rising tide of investment is underway in landing craft as naval forces look to modernize expeditionary capabilities. The advantages of an amphibious capability that permits a military to stage o shore, quickly land troops and equipment, push inland and resupply operations cannot be underestimated. Programs in Europe, the U.S. and Australia seek to develop landing craft that haul massive loads, move swiftly from a task force to shore and provide comfort and safety to troops. Military planners view the sea as a strategic asset for many of the expeditionary scenarios they face. A task force staging over the horizon can maintain a sustained presence for deterrence, doesn’t need basing or overflight rights and can reach far inland on the strength of support capabilities provided by a new generation of landing craft. “A naval task group can cover 3,000 naut. mi. in 10 days,” says Col. David Hook of the Royal Marines, a specialist in amphibious warfare. “If you look at the U.S., even with the entire Military Airlift Command, it can’t lift one brigade anywhere outside the country and sustain it. A maritime force’s mobility, versatility, A flexibility in response and roles, sustained reach, resilience and ability to stage o shore provide the leverage needed when dealing with crises.” Speaking at a recent maritime seminar on board the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, Hook said that a task force deployed off the coast of West Africa between Dakar and Liberia would be in a position to influence events in five countries within a 24-hr. period. Hook is assigned to Royal Navy Fleet Headquarters, where he analyzes the developing amphibious requirements of maritime forces in general, and of the Royal Navy in particular. He told the seminar that a strong and flexible maritime presence is vital to the security of countries like the U.K. “No less than 95% of U.K. trade is by sea; 80% of the U.K.’s oil will be imported by sea in 2010, and 80% of the military capabilities used for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 were delivered from the sea.” Hook said a defense strategic guidance paper in 2005 reported that 75% of the nations that the U.K. has an interest in have coastlines, and over the next century, 90% of the world’s population will live within 100 naut. mi. of the sea. A critical capability is the ship-to- objective-maneuver (STOM), as the Royal Marines and U.S. Marine Corps call it. “The World War II objective was to secure a beachhead and bring troops and equipment ashore using traditional landing craft,” said Hook. But this can affect operational tempo and the element of surprise. “We want to go directly to the objective. The U.K.’s ambition is to cover a 110-naut.-mi. range, which means launching a helicopter-borne assault 30 naut. mi. o the coast and reaching a target 80 naut. mi. inland, where we can set up a fire-support base and start the operation. “The battle will be fought on land, but the issue is how to get there,” said Hook. At the seminar, in fact, several senior officers in the audience suggested that in the future, the British Army will only be able to deploy by sea. The 110-naut.-mi. STOM concept has one significant risk: overstretching force projection by inserting air-delivered troops too far forward. There is no question, therefore, that heavy equipment and supplies to sustain the entry force will need to be transported from ships to the coast, especially if access to harbor facilities is lacking. The U.K.’s 1st Armored Div., for example, was supported from the sea for its first seven days of operations in southern Iraq in 2003. Most of the goods were moved ashore on landing craft. According to Hook, a major problem with most landing craft is they are way NAVATEK Hawaii-based Navatek has proposed to meet the U.S. Navy’s T-Craft requirement with a catamaran transporter and a large amphibious landing craft. 36 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2007 www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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