HMLA-469 provided air support for counter-insurgency operations in Helmand.
HMLA-469 Over Helmand from SldInfo.com on Vimeo.
Credit:Regional Command Southwest:10/17/12
12/20/2012: Marines with Company G., Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and Philippine Marines of the 3rd Marine Battalion, 33rd Marine Company, are inserted by helicopters from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262 (Reinforced) to conduct a live-fire raid. Produced by Sgt. Paul Robbins, Jr.
Credit:31st Marine Expeditionary Unit:10/14/12
12/19/2012: The Coast Guard continues its response to a fuel spill near Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island, N.Y., Dec. 15, 2012.
It was reported that the spill came from the barge, Boston No. 30, due to a leak from its cargo tank.
Credit:U.S. Coast Guard District 1 PADET New York: 12/15/12
More on the spill from The New York Times:
Oil from a barge spilled into the waters off Staten Island, spreading to a bird sanctuary on an island in Newark Bay, the Coast Guard said on Saturday.The spill was detected shortly after 11 p.m. Friday at May Ship Repair, said Petty Officer Erik Swanson, a Coast Guard spokesman. Petty Officer Swanson said that fuel oil was being transferred from a barge called Boston 30 to another barge, DBL 25, when workers noticed that it was also darkening the water between the vessels.
Workers placed a boom on the surface of the water to contain the oil, added absorbent materials and notified the authorities, Petty Officer Swanson said.The oil was coming from one of the Boston 30’s tanks, which was carrying 112,000 gallons. The barge is owned by Boston Marine Transport of Massachusetts.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/oil-spill-threatens-bird-sanctuary-off-staten-island/
12/142012: Two MV-22B Ospreys landed on West Field here Dec. 10 during exercise Forager Fury 2012. These were the first Ospreys to land on Tinian which marks another milestone achieved during the exercise.
This is the first exercise the Osprey has participated in since replacing the CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter in Okinawa, Japan.
When compared to a CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter, the MV-22 is roughly twice as fast, can carry nearly three times the payload and has approximately four times the combat radius. Additionally, the MV-22 has the ability to operate at much higher altitudes and refuel while airborne.
The aircraft are with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265, Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force.
This deployment was part of what demonstrates the unique qualities of what the Osprey brings to operations.
As the comment below from an article in the local Marine Corps press noted:
Marine Corps Aviation hit another significant landmark with the successful deployment of three MV-22 Osprey across more than 1,700 miles in a little more than five hours from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam, according to a press release. The three aircraft arrived at Andersen Air Force Base at 5:09 p.m. Friday. The aircraft are participating in exercise Forager Fury 2012, which will be centered at Andersen.
Training will extend to Tinian’s West Field. This is the first exercise the Osprey have participated in since they replaced the Marines’ aging CH-46 helicopters in Okinawa, the press release stated. The MV-22 Osprey combines the vertical capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft, according to the release. With its proprotors in vertical position, it can take-off, land and hover like a helicopter. Once airborne, its proprotors can be rotated to transition the aircraft to a turboprop airplane capable of high-speed, high-altitude flight.
Friday’s flight from Okinawa was used as an training opportunity for the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing to simulate safe-flight passage through about 575 miles of permissive territory free of enemy threats, then fly about 230 miles in “hostile territory” with four F/A-18s providing realistic replication of enemy aircraft, the release stated.“This event reinforces Marine Air-Ground Task Force integration and exercises maneuver to an objective from over the horizon,” the release stated. “Lessons learned from this exercise will enable the Marine Corps to refine the tactical application of MV-22s in support of current and future contingency operations in the Asia-Pacific area.” Forager Fury 2012 provides the Marine forces an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to shift and build combat power in any situation.
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20121210/NEWS01/212100308
Credit Videos:Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni:12/10/12
Ospreys Make Historic Landing on Tinian II from SldInfo.com on Vimeo.
VMU-3 deployed to Afghanistan to support and conduct counter-insurgency operations.
Credit: Regional Command Southwest: 12/1/12
The Marines being Marines have looked extensively at how such a capability would fit into their overall evolving approach of expeditionary logistics. For example, Lt. Col. Applewhite commented on the results of one such analytical effort as follows:
By testing in the game the impact of a logistics UAV vehicle on operations, we can shape acquisition requirements. One thing it allows us to do, at the same time that we’re building the requirements for that platform, we can look at how we’re going to employ it and maybe change some of their requirements, add requirements, take requirements away from our original assumptions.
And that’s a capability that generally hasn’t existed before, because you just go with your assumptions and then when you get that platform, you make the determination of whether or not that’s what you really want it, and then you go back to the acquisitions side an suggest your requirements as seen by both operators and logisticians.
Credit:NATO Channel:11/26/12
There is already a consensus among members in the alliance to deploy Patriots in Turkish territory in an effort to help defend the country’s border from threats emerging from inside Syria, including chemical weapons that may be used by the Syrian regime or groups in Syria such as al-Qaeda, a Western diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.The Dutch Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert yesterday said that the Netherlands has not received a formal request to send Patriot missiles to NATO ally Turkey. “We are waiting for a formal request,” minister added.
“NATO does not exist for nothing,” Dutch news agency ANP also quoted Hennis-Plasschaert as saying on Nov. 18.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday that no such request had yet been received from Ankara, but that if it was it would be considered “as a matter of urgency.”
A Turkish foreign ministry official told the Daily News yesterday that they could make the move at any moment “today or tomorrow,” but no application had been proposed as the paper went to press.Germany must appeal to its Parliament for permission to send missiles to Turkey, as the country would have to send a technical team of soldiers as well, the Western diplomat told the Daily News. This is the reason that the Netherlands, one of the two countries in Europe with Patriots available, is more likely to provide them.
“We expect Turkey to make an official request to NATO this week,” he added.
http://www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org/news.aspx?news_id=4408
The USS Harry S. Truman is the first aircraft carrier to host test operations for an unmanned aircraft.
The navy plans to conduct X-47B carrier deck handling tests aboard Harry S. Truman.
Credit: Defense Media Activity – Navy:11/26/12
For our look at how such a capability might be used in a Pacific strategy see the following:
http://sldinfo.wpstage.net/inserting-the-ucas-into-maritime-operations/
By Murielle Delaporte
02/12/2012- Onboard the multipurpose amphibious assault ship BPC Mistral (BPC stands for “Bâtiment de projection et de commandement”) – which starts its tenth month of continued deployment -, the French Navy and Army prepare to play a major role in Bold Alligator 2012. The USN-USMC team and the French have worked together most recently in Libya, and BA-12 provides an opportunity to enhance joint and coalition capabilities. In addition, the French are testing some new capabilities, including for the first time the landing craft EDA-R, of interest to the US side as well.The photos in the slideshow below were shot during the week of January 22, as SLD was engaged with the BPC and the French team for three days.
[slidepress gallery=’bold-alligator-ftg’]
Credit: MD, off the shore of Norfolk, Virginia, January 24th-26th, 2012
First ships in the French Navy to use azymuths thrusters which enhance their manoeuvrability and allow them to dock without tug, four BPCs are planned by 2020, the third one is to be commissioned within the next six months. They were designed with four major missions in mind:
– Command and control
– Landing helicopter assault
– Amphibious operations and troop carrier
– Medical support.
Command and Control (photos 1,2,3): Even though the US and the French Navies are used to work together, the scale of this exercise makes it unusual. The main goal on the French side is to test and develop interoperability at various levels, but especially in terms of links and communications: at the French level between the Navy and the Army components of the amphibious operation (unlike the United States, the French landing forces are part of the Army, which when on board the BPC is subordinated to the Navy Command, until a transfer of authority is done when the ground operation per se starts) and at a bilateral level between each US and French player. Indeed as the French CATF (Commander, Amphibious Task Force), Capitaine de Vaisseau Emmanuel Gué, stresses : « the BPC was initially designed with the objective to achieve full operability with the United States and enjoys state-of-the art fiber optic communication cables allowing to operate separated protected networks (NATO, France, internet). » The BPC relies on the Syracuse 3 satellite system. What makes the BPC different from a regular LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) and makes it unique even compared to the French aircraft carrier, is in actual fact its C2 function as it can operate with a complete embarked operational command : 850 square meters are dedicated to this function alone if need be.
LHA (photos 0 [homepage], 4,5,6,7,8): During the Lybian operation, the BPC Mistral fully played its role as a helicopter carrier and was loaded to its maximum capability with at some point up to 19 helicopters, including a French Air Force Search and Rescue Caracal. For Bold Alligator, the French helo fleet includes two reconnaissance and attack Gazelles which can carry Hot missiles and four Pumas, one of them potentially dedicated for Medevac missions. In the above pictures taken on January 24th, the goal was training as well as transporting the French military leadership back and forth to the shore to meet their American counterparts. The deck has six landing spots, but depending on the size of the helicopters, more can fit (e.g. Gazelles). The elevators connecting the hangar to the deck are inside the ship.
Amphibious operations and troop carrier (photos 9 to 20): The well deck can host four landing crafts maximum. For Bold Alligator, the Mistral came with two CTM (« Chaland de Transport de Matériel ») and the new French landing catamaran EDA-R («engin de débarquement amphibie- rapide»). The French L-CAT is still in the process of military capabilities assessment, as it is the first time the EDA-R is used in such a context and in the Atlantic Ocean: last week was an opportunity to test its performances to load and unload personnel and equipment in new conditions between the ship and the shore. One of the skill to acquire is to balance the load as best as possible with the heavier equipment up front. Besides its speed compared to its French predecessors, one of the advantage is its quick loading time eased by the fact that there is no need to hook the equipment to its deck as well as because of its ability to enter backward into the well deck (as seen in photo # 14), thus preventing long and strenuous manoeuvering by heavy vehicles usually obliged to load in reverse. This first week in Norfolk waters was also meant to do cross certifications with the American LCAC, which can operate on the BPC and will interact during the exercise to carry French landing forces to the shore. The two vessels are complementary in terms of speed and beach access and two LCATs are not a luxury to bring close to 400 personnel and 90 vehicles. About ten waves are necessary in addition to helicopter lifts. The training for the exercise itself took place on January 25th and 26th and was an opportunity to test tactical links between the ship and the tactical command post set up on the ground. In particular, the French Army wants during BA2012 to experiment further use of its new network-centric capabilities with the extension of the NEB (« numérisation du champ de bataille » which means digitisation of the battlefield). The scenario of Bold Alligator goes beyond a short-term amphibious operation, as the French forces must seize a strategic position and secure the area to allow the Marines to engage. The USMC Anglico (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company) intervenes along with the French forces ahead of everybody.
Medical support (photo 21): The fourth major mission of the BPC is to provide full medical support not only for its own sake, but in the context of a major operation whether combat or humanitarian. The ship hosts the equivalent of a field hospital capable of performing complex surgery and with a capacity of 69 beds (which can be augmented by using the hangars if need be). In the case of Bold Alligator, the medical antenna is not at its full capacity and is mostly meant for the ship’s needs, but the exercise planners may want to inject a medevac into the scenario as it unrolls next week…
Another interesting aspect of this exercise is the mix of real capabilities and simulation, which has allowed the French Navy-Army and the US Navy-USMC teams to work closely in the past months to be ready on D-Day, i.e. February 6th…