The future USS Tripoli (LHA-7) amphibious assault ship sailed in the Gulf of Mexico for four days during four days of builder’s sea trials in July 2019. (Photo: Huntington Ingalls Industries)
By Rich Abott |
@ReaderRabott
2 years ago |
01/20/2022
highlights Navy

Last week a Navy official said an ongoing study on the future amphibious ship force structure is due to be complete in March.

The study “will evaluate what our requirement and the way of quantities for amphibs will be going forward into the future,” Capt. Cedric McNeal, program manager for the Amphibious Warfare Program Office, said during a Naval Sea Systems Command briefing at the annual Surface Navy Association’s symposium on Jan. 12.

“That study is planned to complete toward the end of the March timeframe, and that study will inform where we go with future procurements, acquisition strategies to ensure we buy those remaining platforms in the most affordable and smartest way possible,” he continued.

A Marine Corps official said the Defense Department is focused on “resource-informed requirements” for amphibious ships over operational requirements, meaning requirements based on funding.

“Timely global response and day-to-day peer competition requires…no less, or threshold, in requirements speak, than 31 amphibious ships,” Lt.Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, said during a speech at the symposium on Jan. 13.

The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) was launched at the Huntington Ingalls Industries’ [HII] Ingalls Shipbuilding Division in Pascagoula, Miss in March 2020 (Photo: U.S. Navy by Huntington Ingalls Industries).
The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) was launched at the Huntington Ingalls Industries’ [HII] Ingalls Shipbuilding Division in Pascagoula, Miss., in March 2020 (Photo: U.S. Navy by Huntington Ingalls Industries).
31 amphibious ships translates into three Amphibious Ready Groups/Marine Expeditionary Units (ARM/MEUs) ready to be tasked at any time. 

However, Heckl said the Pentagon is not necessarily using that baseline, given the Navy’s overall acquisition and readiness priorities, like the expensive Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.

“A requirement is a requirement, pure and simple. And I’ve told my staff this: A resource-informed requirement is a budget submission, it’s not a requirement. The requirement is the requirement, and the last time I checked, my job, the Marine Corps’ job, is to kill our nation’s adversaries and break all their stuff — that’s the requirement,” Heckl said during a question and answer period.

“So when I hear people use terms like a resource-informed requirement, alarm bells go off, which is what is happening with amphibs right now, quite frankly,” he continued.

Heckl said the service is being engaged by congressional staff, representatives and senators on what the Navy needs.

“So the amphib study is still ongoing, we’ve out-briefed to the Secretary of the Navy, so I’m not going to get out over my skis on this thing and get myself fired two months into the job. So more to follow on that. But do I think money is the limiter? Absolutely, my personal [opinion], yes. When people are using terms like resource-informed requirement, that’s money.”

Heckl noted that amphibious vessels “are really important to the commandant. They’re as, if not more, important to me.”