“…given the fast pace of Marine Corps and Navy amphibious operations strategy evolution, armed Ospreys could support amphibious assaults by transporting Marines to combat across wider swaths of combat areas.” In view of the advances in air defense technology, reliance on supporting fire from a rotor-driven platform to support amphibious assault, (itself a questionable concept in the age of PGMS), consigns the 180,000 man Marine Corps to use in exclusively “permissive” environments. In other words, against any capable opponent possessing modern air defense weapons, the Osprey tiltrotor aircraft is doomed. The bottom line: If the American taxpayer wants to maintain a light-infantry-centric Marine Corps with little to no survivability or utility in a confrontation with a modern, nation-state opponent, then, the 475,000 man U.S. Army must be configured, organized and equipped primarily for warfare in non-permissive or contested environments. The implications for the equally anachronistic airborne and airmobile forces in the Regular Army should be obvious. They cannot fight and survive in contested environments. Thus, they must be re-purposed leaving low intensity conflict missions to the “permissive environment only” Marine Corps. Failure to take this action ignores the essential point of the new National Defense Strategy: to develop and maintain ground maneuver forces capable of joint operations in high intensity conventional conflict.
Cheers, Doug
NationalInterest.org
April 25, 2018
Could This Be the Marines’ Secret
Weapon?
Kris Osborn
All weapons under
consideration have already been fired in combat by some type of aircraft,
however additional testing and assessment of the weapons and their supporting
systems are necessary to take the integration to the next step.
The Marine Corps is
now arming its Osprey tiltrotor aircraft with a range of weapons to enable its
assault support and escort missions in increasingly high-threat combat
environments.
Rockets, guns and
missiles are among the weapons now under consideration, as the Corps examines
requirements for an “all-quadrant” weapons application versus other possible
configurations such as purely "forward firing" weapons.
“The current
requirement is for an allquadrant weapons system. We are re-examining that
requirement—we may find that initially, forward firing weapons could bridge the
escort gap until we get a new rotary wing or tiltotor attack platform, with
comparable range and speed to the Osprey,” Capt. Sarah Burns, Marine Corps
Aviation, told Warrior Maven in a statement
Some weapons, possibly
including Hydra 2.75inch folding fin laser guided rockets or .50-cal and 7.62mm
guns, have been fired as a proof of concept, Burns said.
“Further testing would
have to be done to ensure we could properly integrate them,” she added.
All weapons under
consideration have already been fired in combat by some type of aircraft,
however additional testing and assessment of the weapons and their supporting
systems are necessary to take the integration to the next step.
“We want to arm the
MV-22B because there is a gap in escort capability. With the right weapons and
associated systems, armed MV-22Bs will be able to escort other Ospreys
performing the traditional personnel transport role,” Burns added.
The Hydra 2.75inch
rockets, called the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS), have been
fired in combat on a range of Army and Marine Corps helicopters; they offer an
alternative to a larger Hellfire missiles when smaller, fast-moving targets
need to be attacked with less potential damage to a surrounding area.
Over the years, the
weapon has been fired from AH-64 Apaches, Navy Fire Scout Drones, Marine Corps
UH-1Ys, A-10s, MH-60s Navy helicopters and Air Force F-16s, among others.
Bell-Boeing designed a
special pylon on the side of the aircraft to ensure common weapons carriage.
The Corps is now considering questions such as the needed stand-off distance
and level of lethality.
Adding weapons to the
Osprey would naturally allow the aircraft to better defend itself should it
come under attack from small arms fire, missiles or surface rockets while
conducting transport missions; in addition, precision fire will enable the
Osprey to support amphibious operations with suppressive or offensive fire as
Marines approach enemy territory.
Furthermore, weapons
will better facilitate an Osprey-centric tactic known as "Mounted Vertical
Maneuver" wherein the tiltrotor uses its airplane speeds and helicopter
hover and maneuver technology to transport weapons such as mobile mortars and
light vehicles, supplies and Marines behind enemy lines for a range of combat
missions -- to include surprise attacks.
Also, while arming the
Osprey is primarily oriented toward supporting escort and maneuver operations,
there are without question a few combat engagements the aircraft could easily
find itself in while conducting these missions.
For example, an armed
Osprey would be better positioned to prevent or stop swarming small boat attack
wherein enemy surface vessels attacked the aircraft. An Osprey with weapons
could also thwart enemy ground attacks from RPGs, MANPADS or small arms fire.
Finally, given the fast pace of Marine Corps
and Navy amphibious operations strategy evolution, armed Ospreys could support
amphibious assaults by transporting Marines to combat across wider swaths of
combat areas.
This article by Kris
Osborn originally appeared on
Warrior Maven.
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