SIMI VALLEY, Calif. \u2014 The Marine Corps\u2019 top general on Saturday doubled down on his willingness to sacrifice manpower for new systems needed to deter or defeat China, amid growing worries the defense budget may not include enough funding to protect programs like the light amphibious warship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will become smaller if we have to,\u201d Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger said in a roundtable with reporters at the Reagan National Defense Forum. \u201cWe have to provide the Marines what they need to operate in that environment. And if that [means] less Marines, I\u2019m willing to do that. I don\u2019t want to do that. \u2026 I\u2019d rather have a smaller Marine Corps that can deal with that, than a big Marine Corps that doesn\u2019t have that capability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Reagan forum, Berger discussed the Corps\u2019 concept for using stand-in forces, particularly against the \u201cpacing threat\u201d of China. But to make that happen, he said, the Marines won\u2019t just need equipment such as weapons and radios \u2014 they\u2019ll also need ways to get around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s where budget matters start to get tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Navy and Marine leaders have been pushing to start building several dozen light amphibious warships, though that program slipped earlier this year from a fiscal 2022 start to fiscal 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berger said he needs these light amphibs, capable of moving 75 to 125 Marines and light gear in shallow draft, \u201cas fast as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he said top Navy leadership could make it an \u201ceither-or\u201d choice, requiring tradeoffs between this new capability and more traditional platforms like amphibious assault ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berger said he has other options \u2014 though he didn\u2019t detail what Plan B might be \u2014 if top Navy and Pentagon leaders can\u2019t find a way to make the light amphibious concept work. He said he\u2019s confident they can find a way forward \u2014 and that he understands those leaders\u2019 own tough budgetary pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll sort it out,\u201d Berger said. \u201cBut I also acknowledge they have big bills \u2014 they have to recap the nuclear triad \u2014 they have big bills they have to pay that we can\u2019t kick down the road anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as questions remain about the Navy and the Pentagon\u2019s commitment to fund LAW in a timely manner, so too do questions remain about their willingness to buy traditional amphibious ships. Congress in its fiscal 2021 defense policy and spending bills gave the Navy permission to buy four amphibious ships in a block buy meant to provide stability for industry and a better price for the military. The Navy let that authority lapse, irritating several lawmakers who wanted to see these ships \u2014 which they say the Navy and Marines will inevitably need down the road, especially if tensions continue to rise with China \u2014 purchased now as part of a fleet buildup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked about this standoff in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday on the nomination of Adm. Christopher Grady to serve as the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grady, who until recently served as the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said \u201camphibious warships and the renaissance that\u2019s underway in the amphibious warfare now is growing and palpable, and the naval integration between what the commandant and the [chief of naval operations] are trying to do has a lot of momentum right now going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, acknowledging the capability the traditional amphibious warships provide to the naval services, he didn\u2019t commit to any future support for buying these ships or a timeline for when discussions between the Navy and Marine Corps, and the greater joint force, might yield some resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berger said during the forum that Marines are looking at ways to use traditional amphib ships as \u201cmotherships\u201d to launch unmanned air or sea systems from their decks. He said it\u2019s never been done before, but he hopes that will happen in about two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re like the magic Swiss Army knife now, unmanned or manned,\u201d Berger said. \u201cWhy would you not try to use it every way you can? Just expand our toolkit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berger said the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory is working on figuring out what it would take to turn big amphibs into unmanned vehicle motherships. But it will take some time for the Corps to get its aerial systems to a point where they can take off from ships, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about an unmanned system that you could take off vertically, off of an amphib ship, recover it \u2014 there\u2019s nothing like that right now,\u201d Berger said. \u201cPart of it is not having the right systems. They weren\u2019t built for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unmanned submersibles pose similar challenges, Berger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have them now that do certain tasks, but they were never envisioned to come out of the well deck of an amphib,\u201d Berger said. \u201cEverything from the training of the crew, the fusion of the network systems that would be required [would have to be changed]. Because if you\u2019re going to have things swimming around underwater, but are talking back to the ship, the ship wasn\u2019t built for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the budgetary and logistical challenges, Berger said he\u2019s optimistic about finding a way to make his ideas happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have some thinking to do,\u201d Berger said. \u201cBut it\u2019s all possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe have to provide the Marines what they need to operate in that environment,” Commandant of the Marine Corps David Berger said of the need for light amphibious warships. “And if that [means] less Marines, I\u2019m willing to do that. I don\u2019t want to do that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"6":{"categories":["your-marine-corps","news","left-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-marine-corps"}}},"categories":[160,16,36,126,30],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412,3354],"class_list":["post-52436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-reagan-defense-forum-smr","category-smr"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"76GDTD3LEFCNDCUU4UOYMSP6GI","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2021\/12\/08\/berger-ill-accept-a-smaller-marine-corps-to-make-light-amphibs-happen\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n