The US Marine Corps (USMC) will continue to deploy multi-ship Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) despite regularly needing to disaggregate the groups to meet global commitments, General Robert Neller, the USMC commandant, said on 9 August.
An ARG generally consists of three US Navy amphibious ships - a landing helicopter dock (LHD), a landing ship dock (LSD), and a landing platform dock (LPD) - as well as some additional naval assets and a USMC Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).
The corps has more missions and tasks than capability, Gen Neller told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, so to be in multiple places it needs to disaggregate ARG/MEUs and send the smaller forces out for various operations or exercises.
However, he said the USMC does not plan to deploy the groups as only one or two ships because it wants to maintain the ability to seamlessly aggregate and function together in case the ARG/MEU is called upon for a more serious high-end contingency, such as landing ashore in a hostile environment. more
