Marines Considering New Platforms to Extend Africa Reach, Including the Gulf of Guinea - USNI News: The Marines are looking to employ new types of ships to extend the reach of special crisis response units into Africa, senior service leaders have told USNI News.
Shortly after becoming commandant late last year, Gen. Joseph Dunford directed his staff to study putting forward deployed Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response (SPMAGTF-CR) forces — currently land based — on platforms other than the traditional amphibious warships that comprise the Navy and the Marine Corps Amphibious Ready Group and Marine Expeditionary Units (ARG/MEU).
In comments to USNI News on Feb. 12, Dunford singled out Military Sealift Command’s Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) variants of the Mobile Platform (MLP) as one option to expand the reach of the SPMAGTF-CR beyond their ground bases Moron, Spain, and Sigonella, Italy.
“They have flight deck capability, command and control capability and about 240 berthing spaces for Marines. This would be a great opportunity for us to be able to use the V-22 and small numbers of Marines,” he said.
“But at the low end of the spectrum… by no means are they a warship. They are not a replacement for an amphibious ship but they [can] augment our capabilities to meet our requirements on a day-to-day basis.”
