Sink or Swim

Since 1991, there has been a significant drop in the number of amphibious ships, a change in the forcible entry concept and a singular military and fiscal focus on the land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The current state of amphibious assault ships, surface assault vehicles and assault support aircraft has suffered because of these events. Today, the readiness and capacity of the Navy and Marine Corps to plan and execute an amphibious landing on a beach against a prepared and modern enemy using modern doctrinal concepts is questionable. Can the Marine Corps conduct a Marine expeditionary brigade or MEB amphibious assault using Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare? This study addresses the equipment issues surrounding the expeditionary brigade's ability to conduct an amphibious assault under expeditionary maneuver warfare in three sections. The first section of the paper provides a background as to why the United States requires a strategic amphibious capability requirement today and its relevance against the projected future threat. The second section of paper uses the criteria of sufficiency and capability to examine the effect of equipment on the Navy and Marine Corps ability to conduct an amphibious assault using both the traditional and the contemporary Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare doctrinal concepts. The examination focuses on amphibious assault ships, AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles, expeditionary fighting vehicles (EFV), Sea Knight helicopter, and Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The third section of the paper presents the conclusion that the Marine Corps can conduct a Marine expeditionary brigade amphibious assault, but not using Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare. Due to the current military situation in the world and the focus of the Marine Corps on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Corps cannot conduct a Marine expeditionary brigade amphibious assault using the Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare. This is due to shortfalls in the quantity, availability and cap

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.