The USS Makin Island (LHD 8) is docked at the pier at the US Naval Base Guam for a scheduled port visit May 14, 2023. US Navy photo
When the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group returns from its deployment this week, it will mark the beginning of a shift in how amphibious forces are deployed around the world – a shift in naval resources from the Middle East to the western Pacific.
The three ships of the Makin Island ARG and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Force joined exercise after exercise at the US Indo-Pacific Command, demonstrating a rapid pace of operations in the Department of Defense’s priority area of operations since the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“We are the first ARG/MEU [from the U.S.] That has remained in INDOPACOM for over 20 years,” Col. Samuel Meyer, the 13th MEU’s commanding officer, told USNI News in a recent phone interview.
This is a departure from the way ARG/MEUs have been deployed over the past two decades, which typically saw amphibious ships with embarked Marines travel through the Indo-Pacific en route to US Central Command. According to USNI News Amphibious Ship Mission Data, every ARG/MEU deployed from the continental United States since 2000 eventually made its way to CENTCOM. The last ARG/MEU to operate in the Middle East was the Essex ARG and the 11th MEU in January 2022.
The seven months at sea from Makin Island in the Indo-Pacific allowed Sailors and Marines to deploy new platforms such as the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, work with a Carrier Strike Group and operate with a number of allies and partners in the region.
A lightly armored vehicle from the 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division exits a Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) assigned to Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 5 and currently aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD-8). . , during Exercise Cobra Gold 2023, March 3, 2023. U.S. Navy photo
“On this mission alone, we demonstrated everything from sophisticated integrated air and missile defense with F-35 and MV-22 to exercises for humanitarian and disaster relief, search and rescue operations or medical operations. “Captain Andria Slough, the commanding officer of the USS Makin Island (LHD-8), told USNI News.
The ability to adapt to a variety of missions makes the ARG/MEU construct a viable model for theater, particularly when it comes to deterrence and presence, Meyer argued.
“Imagine a group of ships with diverse combat capabilities on deck, spread across much of the Pacific, able to see, sense, find, locate, aim and track hundreds of miles away. And then being able to change when it sees or recognizes risk — I think we’re looking to the future and seeing the future starting to manifest itself in the present,” he told USNI News.
With ten F-35Bs, ten MV-22B Ospreys, four CH-35E heavy lift helicopters, four AH-1Zs and four UH-1Ys, and MH-60Ss throughout the ARG, Sailors and Marines could conduct missions ranging from the air to the Support for the marines on land through logistics to integrated air and missile defense at sea.
“The only reason a particular MEU/ARG team was able to do that is because there was one big deck and then two LPDs,” Lieutenant General Karsten Heckl, the deputy commander for combat development and integration, said of the ARGs numerous aviation platforms.
Future amphibious forces
U.S. Navy Sailors operate a Landing Craft, an air cushion assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5 and currently embarked with the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) for Balikatan 23, April 11, 2023 in the port of Subic Bay. US Navy photo
The Makin Island ARG and 13th MEU left San Diego Naval Base en route to the Indo-Pacific in November, beginning seven months of exercises and operations that took parts of the ARG from Timor-Leste to South Korea and Sri Lanka.
The ARG’s three ships—the amphibious assault ship Makin Island and the amphibious transport docks USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) and USS Anchorage (LPD-23)—allowed the team to travel that distance and complete such a diverse set of missions and called to carry out leadership.
“When you combine the ships and the MEU, it’s like having an app for that,” Slough said. “‘Hey, I need some disaster relief here.’ Okay, we have an app for that. I have these 42 marines that are going to do that, and I can put them on this ship that flies over here on these planes and does X, Y and Z.”
At one point during the deployment, John P. Murtha was operating near Yokosuka, Japan while Anchorage was sailing to Sri Lanka for Exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, leaving Makin Island in the middle of the U.S. 7th Fleet to airborne – and anti-missile defense “mission for the entire area of responsibility,” recalls Slough. The big deck amphibian drew data not only from the other ships of the ARG, but also from cruisers and destroyers of the 7th Fleet.
“When you pair an ARG/MEU team with radars and missiles very similar to those on an aircraft carrier and then put the F-35 on top of that, it makes a very useful system.” In particular, our communications and liaison structure on Makin Island is one Very similar to CVN,” Slough said. “This allows us to link and relay images and make command decisions in the same way – and provide our commanders with much of the same information that a CVN provides.”
The combination of the three amphibious ships with the embarked Marines is key to deterring potential adversaries and is a visible display to both adversaries and allies of what the US is doing in the region, Meyer argued.
“I’m not here unless I’m on a ship. The only reason we’ve been able to do that is because we got rid of those L-class ships — those three L-class ships that make up an ARG. So that’s the proposition I have for the value of the National Defense Strategy and how we align in competition, deterrence, reassurance through to high-end combat,” Meyer said when asked about the value of amphibious ships to the National Defense strategy have Indo-Pacific.
Integration of the Carrier Strike Group
The amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD-8) and the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) conduct Expeditionary Strike Force (ESF) operations Feb. 15, 2023. US Navy photo
The recent deployment of Makin Island also allowed the Navy to continue experimenting with the so-called “attack carrier” concept, in which a large-deck amphibious aircraft with a squadron of F-35Bs on board works in tandem with a carrier attack group.
Last summer, USS Tripoli (LHA-7) began this experiment of drilling with CSGs Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan during Exercise Valiant Shield. But the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) had its own squadron of F-35Cs at the time.
With a full squadron of fifth-generation fighters aboard Makin Island for the first deployment of this configuration during operations in February, the big-deck amphibious brought with it a capability not yet possessed by the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. As a result, crews combined Makin Island’s F-35Bs with USS Nimitz’s (CVN-68) F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets and E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes.
“We created a task force with fully integrated chains of command and task distribution. And it wasn’t like the carrier does everything. Makin Island acted as the commander of the integrated air and missile defenses for a few days. “The tasks were combined for the air forces and even the ground forces,” Slough said.
“And then we had an amphibious demonstration that we did using synthetic geography, where the carrier assault group and their air forces supported the ARG/MEU team while we did an amphibious demonstration,” she continued.
Like the US Navy’s carrier-based assault groups, the Makin Island ARG operated on the Composite Warfare Commander concept throughout its deployment.
“This ARG MEU team has been doing that since its inception,” Slough said.
Although there are differences between the capabilities of a CSG and an ARG, Meyer said the integration of the two is the best example of naval integration between the Navy and Marine Corps, which has been a top priority for the two services in recent years.
Meyer noted the ARG’s ability to send small naval units ashore and to use advanced expeditionary bases as sensor nodes for the naval forces.
“To say that an ARG/MEU can’t do what a carrier can do, we’re starting to question that paradigm,” he said.
Fifth generation aviation
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122 (VMFA-122) departs from USS Makin Island (LHD-8). US Navy photo
With this squadron of F-35Bs aboard Makin Island, the ARG/MEU deployed the short takeoff and vertical landing fighters on missions ranging from ship-to-shore operations to sinking ships.
“We have demonstrated their ability to integrate with an aircraft carrier attack group. We have demonstrated their ability to support marines ashore and we have demonstrated their ability to defend the fleet. So we used it for almost everything that I felt we could have used it for,” Meyer said of the F-35B.
For example, during the annual Balikatan exercise with the Philippines, two F-35Bs fired the four GPS-guided GBU-32 bombs in the Sinking Exercise (SINKEX) that sank the decommissioned Philippine Navy corvette BRP Pangasinan. It was the first SINKEX for the annual Balkitan exercises, which were the largest in the exercise’s history.
“The first two to drop bombs on it sank it within 15 seconds,” Meyer said. “And it’s all within the field of vision of whoever wants to see that … it’s been for every potential adversary and all of our partners and allies to see what we’re capable of.”
In addition to using the F-35B to sink the old corvette, the Marines used their UH-1 helicopters to gather intelligence and demonstrated that the attack helicopters could also sink the ship if needed.
. Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom and AH-1Z Viper pilots with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 362 (Rein.), 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fly alongside the amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23), Jan. 24, 2023. US Marine Corps photo
“We had H-1s go and fire at the ship and they were able to get valuable feedback from the guns. So everything the H-1s launched – whether they were laser-guided missiles or [Joint Air-to-Ground Missile] — each of them hit and gave us a mobility kill or a function kill on the ship,” Meyer told USNI News.
Between the F-35B and squadron of MV-22B Ospreys aboard Makin Island, the crew figured out how to make the most of flight deck space and adapt when a fighter is needed over the tiltrotor and vice versa.
“I think we’ve increased the potential of what a left-hand drive can do and we continue to push the limits of what’s possible,” said Meyer.
The commonality between the aircraft on the flight deck and the Marines and Sailors performing their various duties is that they all operate with the amphibious force.
“I saw V-22 take off and F-35 land while we were recovering [Landing Craft Air Cushions] rear. It’s a beautiful thing,” Meyer said.
“It’s just not common on many ships. But this ship proves it every day.”