Llarry wrote The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have developed a concept for expeditionary advanced base operations (EABO) designed to counter any wartime expansion of Chinese forces into the Pacific Ocean.
The Marine Corps portion of the concept is the conversion of legacy regiments into Marine Littoral Regiments, which would position relatively small Marine units armed with antiship missiles on Pacific islands. These units would be mobile using the Navy portion of the concept, which is a new ship designated medium landing ship (LSM). The LSM is envisioned as a relatively low-cost vessel that would be bought in numbers and could reposition Marine forces among the islands. From 18 to 35 LSMs would be purchased, and the Navy thinks these modestly sized amphibious vessels could blend in with other ship traffic and be difficult for an adversary to track. In the same vein, it might be useful to give them non-standard paint jobs, so it is difficult for a foe to discern that they are Navy ships. In the same vein, it might be good to vary the paint jobs on these ships so as to disguise their Navy affiliation to a potential foe.
The Navy LSM, however, appears to be headed for trouble. Navy planning documents estimate the cost per ship to be about $150 million. The Congressional Budget Office believes that cost is far too low and that a more realistic cost would be $340-430 million per ship.
Earlier this month, the Navy withdrew its request for proposals from shipbuilders after the proposals estimated far greater costs, so it appears that industry agrees with CBO. Presumably the Navy will re-issue a request for proposals with new cost estimates.
There has been some progress on the Navy/Marine program to build medium landing ships (LSMs). The details are not yet clear to me, but the Navy is pursuing two alternative designs:
1) An LSM based on the U.S. Army vehicle landing ship (LSV) and displacing about 2500 tons full load.
2) A Dutch company's tank landing ship (LST) of smaller size.
Hopefully these can be built at a reasonable cost. I believe both designs have both bow and stern ramps to enable vehicles to drive straight through. Given the desire for these ships to blend in with maritime traffic in the Pacific, there might be an advantage to having more than one design.
Meanwhile the Marine Corps has organized two Marine Littoral Regiments -- One in Hawaii and one in Okinawa, Japan. As many as four MLRs will ultimately be stationed in the Pacific. These new MLRs will be slightly over half the size of a traditional Marine Infantry Regiment and consist of an infantry battalion, an air defense element, an anti-ship missile battery and support.
