Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

are of concern to the Navy and Marine Corps. Cargo is vastly improved, along with facilities for landing craft and aircraft. While there is a significant decrease in cargo space, this has been compensated for in the design of the Whidbey Island/Harpers Ferry-class (LSD-41/49) landing dockships. The slight decrease in troop berthing has also been dealt with in the design of other amphibious ships. The 720 Marine berthing spaces provided will be among the most comfortable and spacious of any vessel ever built for the Navy.

About the year 2005, these new ships will take their place in the ARGs, becoming the standard transport for the seven MEU (SOC) units. The table below shows two notional ARG configurations we might expect to see:

Proposed 21st Century ARG Ship Mixes

As you can see, the commanders of an ARG and a MEU (SOC) will get roughly fifty aircraft spots and seven LCACs to support their operations. It should be noted that these two mixes represent minimum ARG capabilities. Other combinations are possible. The LPD-17 will be the inshore ship in the ARG, required to go further into harm's way than either the LHA/LHDs or the LSDs. In fact, the LPD-17s will regularly operate about 25 nm/45.7 km offshore, while other ships in the ARG (the LHAs/LHDs and LSDs) remain 50 to 200 nm/91.4 to 365.8 km out, since their maximum standoff from the target areas is determined by the speed of the LCAC (over 40 kt), and the new MV-22B (over 200 kt). The LPD-17's 25-nm/45.7-km standoff is dictated by the transit speed of the new AAAV. LPD-17 will be the primary platform for the AAAV, while providing facilities for other elements of the ARG and the MEU (SOC). For example, the LPD-17 will be the platform for the MEU (SOC) force of AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters as well as the embarked unit of UAVs. The LPD-17s will also be the lone wolf during 'split ARG' operations; functioning as a mini-MEU (SOC), which General Krulak described in Chapter 2. The LPD-17 will become the utility infielder for the 'Gator Navy. Thus, if one of the ships in the ARG is going to get hit by an enemy attack, the LPD-17 will likely be the target.

The LPD-17 has therefore been designed to be the most defensible and survivable amphibious ship ever built. Structurally, the LPD-17 is going to be the world's toughest warship per ton. Even the long-ignored threat of mine warfare has been anticipated. In the LPD-17 design, NAVSEA has devoted over two hundred tons of structural stiffening to reduce damage from hull 'whipping,' when an underwater mine goes off nearby. Like Wasp-class LHDs, the LPD-17 will have a chemical/biological overpressure protection system, improved fire-zone protection, blast-resistant bulkheads, and fragmentation armor topside. The lessons in stealthy shaping gained from the Arleigh Burke (DDG-51)-class destroyers have been applied to the LPD-17. When you study a drawing of the LPD-17, you see that the angles and curves resemble those on the DDG-51, and even the Lockheed F-117A Night Hawk stealth fighter. This is no coincidence; the principles of radar diffraction discussed in Fighter Wing apply to ships just as well as aircraft. Blankets and coatings of radar-absorbing material will be incorporated into the LPD-17, along with reduced acoustic and infrared signatures. NAVSEA claims that the LPD-17 will have only 1/100th the radar signature of the Whidbey Island/Harpers Ferry-class (LSD-41/49) landing dock ships.

LPD-17 (Notional Configuration)

^{A notional top view of the LPD-17 multipurpose amphibious ship.}

^{JACK RYAN ENTERPRISES, LTD., BY LAURA ALPHER}

Another issue is active defensive measures. While the armament package of the LPD-17 class is still under study, likely weapons systems have been identified. Up forward, room is allocated for a sixteen-cell Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS), like those on Spruance-class (DD-963) destroyers, Ticonderoga-class (CG-47) cruisers, and Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers. While this would theoretically allow the LPD-17s to fire RIM-66 Standard SAMs and BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, the primary weapons system being considered for the VLS launcher is the new Enhanced Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM). Packaged into four-round launch canisters (for a total of forty-eight ESSM missiles), these will provide the LPD-17 with better anti-air and anti-missile defense than the existing RIM-7 Sea Sparrow. The LPD-17 will probably carry a pair of Ex-31 RAM launchers (each with twenty-one ready missiles) as well as a pair of 20mm CIWS for last-ditch defense against incoming 'leaker' missiles and aircraft. Finally, there will probably be a pair of Mk 38 25mm Bushmaster cannon mounts, and mounts for four M2 .50 caliber machine guns to deal with small craft and swimmers (such as enemy frogmen). The LPD-17s will be the most heavily armed amphibious ships built since World War II. Backing up all this firepower will be a new 'Cooperative Engagement Capability' (CEC). When the CEC system is retrofitted to all the ships in the fleet (aircraft carriers, escorts, amphibs, support ships, etc.), it will automatically coordinate the employment of every AAW weapon in a group of ships, right down to the level of point — defense systems like Sea Sparrow and RAM. Backing up the 'shooting' defensive systems will be an AN/SLQ-32 (V3) electronic warfare system tied to six Mk 137 SRBOC decoy launchers and an active radar jammer. The LPD-17 will also carry four AN/SLQ-49 'Rubber Duck' decoy launchers, which release an inflatable radar decoy which mimics a ship's radar cross section. With an appropriate escort (such as a DDG-51), the LPD-17 will be very hard to hit and kill.

Program officials at NAVSEA like to call it the '25 ship,' because its displacement is around 25,000 tons, and its cargo and cargo both run around 25,000 ft. The crew and embarked Marines will total around 1,200. The ship will hold a sizable fraction of the ARG's total vehicles, equipment, and supplies. Key features will include:

• 1,190 permanent berthing spaces.

• A fiber-optic computer network using the new super-fast asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) protocol. This replaces tons of copper wire.

• A full Landing Force Operations Center, so that the LPD-17 can conduct independent 'split ARG' operations.

• Over 25,000 cubic feet of cargo stowage space.

• Three full-sized vehicle decks with over 25,000 square feet of vehicle storage space.

• A well deck with room for a pair of LCACs.

• A VTOL flight deck with up to four landing spots.

• A helicopter hangar with room for two CH-46s, or a single CH-53E or MV-22B

As mentioned earlier, the LPD-17 will be among the most comfortable warships ever built. This is important when you consider that cruises of over six months are typical of ARG operations. It also will be the first warship ever designed from the keel up, with facilities for female crew members. This reflects the Navy's 'Women at Sea' initiative, and is the biggest cultural change for the Navy since President Truman integrated the armed forces in the late 1940s. Crews of ships like the amphibs will be between 10 % and 25 % female. As existing ships enter their major overhauls, they receive a package of upgrades generically known in the fleet as 'Fem Mods.' Once they are completed, up to 25 % of the crew accommodations can be assigned to women, without disrupting normal ship operations.

As stated earlier, the LPD-17 will be the first U.S. Navy ship with the Women at Sea features designed in from the start. The LPD-17's habitability improvements include:

• Berthing in organizational units. For example, the berthing for an entire Marine platoon, including armory and recreation areas, will be together.

• Berthing spaces for same-sex personnel with attached heads. This will include petty officer/senior non- commissioned officer berthing compartments with only six bunks, and enlisted berthing compartments with just forty-two bunks.

• Unisex heads for use by all crew member regardless of their sex. At the time of this writing, no urinals are planned aboard the LPD-17s, though options are still under study. Shower facilities will be segregated.

• Medical facilities with heads and examination facilities suitable for both men and women.

While designers and engineers have worked hard to make the LPD-17s good for the people who will be on board, that is not the only customer the Navy has to satisfy. There's the American taxpayer. Ships need to be affordable. Remember, cost overruns are why there are only five LHAs instead of nine. For this reason, LPD-17 program officials are positively vicious about cost containment. On a 'per ton' basis, the LPD-17s will be exceptionally economical to build. Current budget projections have the lead ship of the class costing $974 million in FY-96 dollars; and later ships in the class are expected to cost between 15 % and 20 % less. The planned