Amphibiosity XIII
A stack of amphibious warfare related news and articles
There hasn’t been a lot of amphibious related news lately, but both the CNO and CMC released planning guidance, both of which are linked below. China’s large amphibious ship is still under construction and the US still lacks sufficient amphibious ships, although the USS Boxer is in the Philippines helping with disaster relief.
The Wavell Room piece “Red Light, Green Light” is really interesting. It looks at the potential of amphibious warfare concepts developed for the Pacific applied to NATO. There’s a lot of work being done on how amphibious warfare will look given the proliferation of high-end sea denial capabilities. No one knows for sure how amphibious warfare has to change in the modern operating environment. The only thing that’s certain is that it won’t look like it did in the past.
China’s Monster Amphibious Assault Ship Has Twin Island Superstructures Optimized For Aviation Ops (twz.com)
"Red Light, Green Light" Faraway from the Beach » Wavell Room
CNO Admiral Franchetti's New Navy Navigation Plan - USNI News
39th Commandant's Planning Guidance (marines.mil)
USS Boxer in Philippines for Typhoon Relief- USNI News
From a UK perspective, a lot of conceptual thinking (some of it very dubious) has been carried out on the future of amphibious operations. Yet our actual amphibious capabilities have been seriously degraded through indifference and financial parsimony.