{"id":3084102,"date":"2024-01-25T17:02:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T22:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/plato-data\/ship-shortage-forces-marines-to-consider-alternate-deployments\/"},"modified":"2024-01-25T17:02:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T22:02:10","slug":"ship-shortage-forces-marines-to-consider-alternate-deployments","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/ship-shortage-forces-marines-to-consider-alternate-deployments\/","title":{"rendered":"Ship shortage forces Marines to consider alternate deployments"},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Marine Corps is looking more closely at how to leverage alternate ships to keep its forces at sea, amid an amphibious ship shortage a top Marine called the \u201csingle biggest existential threat\u201d to the service.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, told Defense News the Navy is seeking to improve amphib ship readiness and on-time maintenance. But <\/b>with the Pentagon weighing whether to pause future amphibious ship production, he said the Marines are more serious than ever about using other kinds of ships, including the expeditionary sea base and the expeditionary fast transport.<\/p>\n
He said the expeditionary fast transport, or EPF, has been successfully used by Marines in the Pacific several times recently. It\u2019s not tailor-made for amphibious missions, he noted in the Jan. 12 interview, but \u201cwe\u2019re just going to have to make do.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Middle East, Heckl noted, the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit remains on station off Israel. But it\u2019s been deployed since July and eventually must come home. When it does, there is no ready ARG on the East Coast to replace it.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Marine expeditionary unit, properly armed and trained like 26th MEU is \u2026 is a serious power-projection capability for the joint force and the combatant commander. That will not be there,\u201d Heckl said. \u201cDo I have a MEU to put against it? We certainly do. We just don\u2019t have the amphibs.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, in recent and upcoming deployments, the Marines are going to sea through nontraditional means.<\/p>\n