상륙함 미해병대, 중형상륙함(구 경상륙함) 소요량은 연대당 9척 + 예비 8척

[위종민]

미해병대의 중형상륙함(LSM; Landing Ship Medium, 구 LAW;  Light Amphibious Warship) 소요량은 인도-태평양에서 활동하는 3개 해병연안연대당 9척, 그리고 정비 등으로 묶이는 예비 8척으로 총 35척이 필요하다고 합니다. 

2025년부터 조달 예정이며, 일단 18척이 조달될 듯 합니다. 

https://news.usni.org/2023/02/14/marine-corps-requirements-call-for-9-light-amphibious-ships-per-regiment

Marine Corps Requirements Call for 9 Light Amphibious Ships per Regiment - USNI News

View all posts by Mallory Shelbourne →

5-6 minutes

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SAN DIEGO – The Marine Corps’ latest requirements call for nine smaller amphibious ships per regiment to shuttle Marines and equipment between islands and shorelines, service officials said today.

The service has said for months that it needs 35 Landing Ship Mediums – previously known as the Light Amphibious Warship – for the type of operations it envisions in the Indo-Pacific region. The idea is that the three Marine Littoral Regiments operating in the Indo-Pacific would each have nine LSMs, while leaving room for eight ships that would inevitably get tied up in maintenance periods, according to a new Marine Corps video about requirements.

The Marine Corps came up with this requirement after modeling and simulations, deputy commandant for combat development and integration Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl said Tuesday at the WEST 2023 conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be a Marine Littoral Regiment,” he said. “So the square footage, the cargo – and that’s where we came up with the requirements – berthing, fuel, all of it,” Heckl said.

The requirements focused on tonnage, square footage for cargo and the need for Marines to move around the region on their own, without the benefit of long runways or ports and piers.

While the program has faced fits and starts over the last few years, Marine Corps officials say the requirements are solid and now it’s time to start building the ship.

“This is all done together. We agree on the requirements. Now we’re trying to move,” Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith said during a keynote at the conference.

The ACMC dismissed criticism of the LSM program that argues the platform won’t be survivable, which has been a focal point of the program discourse between the Navy and Marine Corps, USNI News previously reported.

“We’re part of the fleet and if the fleet commander determines that this high-value package of the assets that we just talked about – all the great things: [Navy-Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System], Rogue [fires], [Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radars] – that they need to move from point A to point B, the fleet commander … the 3rd Fleet commander, will apply resources to get that package where it needs to go,” Smith said.

The hope is to start producing the LSMs in the Fiscal Year 2025 to FY 2026 timeline, Smith said. The FY 2023 budget proposal delayed the buy for LAW from FY 2023 to FY 2025.

That delay occurred as the Navy and Marine Corps worked on the requirements for the ship and discussed affordability and survivability. The Marine Corps wants a less expensive ship that can move Marines around so they can set up expeditionary bases on islands and shorelines.

“It has to be affordable because you have to produce it in quantity because that is your organic mobility with limited days of warning, we move … key elements to strategic points, pre-determined points,” Smith said.

While the Marine Corps says it needs 35 LSMs, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday’s navigation plan called for 18 LAWs, the previous name for the program. Asked about that difference, Heckl said he and deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities (OPNAV N9) Vice Adm. Scott Conn crafted requirement language that says the ultimate requirement is 35, but “the initial operational inventory will be 18.”

The LSM program is getting close to the end of the preliminary design review, Heckl told two reporters at the conference.

“You’re going to see a more definitive way forward I think here in the coming months with the timeline,” Heckl said.

In the meantime, the Marine Corps is leasing one stern landing vessel, with the option to lease two more, to test and experiment with the concept. That first vessel, built by Thoma-Sea in Louisiana, went into the water on Monday, Heckl said.

“They’ve put jacks on it – forward, aft. This is a one-of-a-kind ship,” he said.
“We’re on contract for up to 2 more. But these are the things we’re going to learn from and then we’ll iterate on.”

After a contentious budget cycle that began with the Navy and Marine Corps showcasing different priorities in the FY 2023 request, lawmakers in the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act provided the Marine Corps Commandant with a direct say in amphibious ship force structure and requirements. While the ships are key to the Marine Corps’ missions, the Navy purchases them out of its shipbuilding account.

“It clearly states from Congress that the role of the commandant of the Marine Corps in defining requirements. That’s a very positive thing. It doesn’t say anything negative about a personal relationship between the [chief of naval operations] and the commandant or the two services are bickering with each other,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said in December when asked about the legislation.

[백선호]

"a stern or bow landing ramp for moving the Marines and their weapons, equipment, and supplies the ship to shore (and vice versa) across a beach;"라고 하는데 앞에는 램프가 보이지 않으니 뒤에 있는 것 같네요.

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/weapons/R46374.pdf

[위종민]

함미 램프면 beaching할 때는 뒤로 돌아서 함미를 바다에 붙이려나요..

[ssn688]

2000년 초반엔 LST 같이 직접 beaching하는 상륙함은 구닥다리 취급이었고 너도나도 LHD가 대세 같은 분위기였던가… 상전벽해입니다.

[위종민]

그래도 20년~30년 가까이 건조가 멈췄는데도 로스트 테크놀로지 신세가 안 된 게 다행인 것 같습니다. 카페리같은 건 꾸준히 건조되서 그랬겠지만요.

[백선호]

지금 생각하는 중형 상륙함은 아무도 없는 곳에 몰래 소규모 병력을 (지대함 미사일 포대) 상륙시킬 생각을 하기 때문에 배를 직접 해안에 가져다 대는 설계를 하는 듯 합니다.