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13 April 2015

How Marines Plan To Survive Littoral Warfare

April 08, 2015 

PENTAGON: “You ever seen what an attack helicopter does to a small boat? That’s a Cuisinart.”

The Navy’s long been nervous about the survival of its high-cost high-seas warships in coastal knife fights. (That anxiety drove the development of the controversial Littoral Combat Ship). Iran, in particular, is notorious for its shallow water mini-submarines and its light-weight but heavily armed attack boats. But as Marines come back aboard ship after a decade spent deep inland in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Navy is rediscovering America’s own littoral brawlers. Just as the Marine Corps’ recent Expeditionary Force-21 doctrinereemphasizes the value to Marine operations of ships and the sea, the Navy is refocusing on what Marines can do for the fleet.

A ship-based attack helicopter like the Marine AH-1Z Viper is “the best sea control asset in small boat-infested waters,” Rear Adm. Peter Fanta told reporters at a morning roundtable on amphibious forces today. “They’re built to kill tanks: What do you think it does to aBoston Whaler?” That’s where the Cuisinart metaphor comes in.

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