Marines strap land based systems to ship decks to defend the fleet in troubled waters

Marine Corps Times:
The Corps already has fired its rocket artillery from a Navy ship. Now the Corps is experimenting with strapping light armored vehicles, or LAVs, to the flight deck to counter small boat and other threats.

In September, Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary, or MEU, embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp parked LAVs on the flight deck for a ship defense drill in the South China Sea that was designed to mimic the MEU’s voyage through dangerous waters.

While the use of the Corps’ LAVs aboard the amphib ship was innovative, it opens a slew of questions about the security and capabilities of large U.S. Navy and transport ships operating in dangerous waters across the globe that may have to rely on aging Marine assets to counter some surface threats.
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“Can you get creative on it? I think you could. I can tell you I watched a MEU commander strap an LAV to the front of a flight deck because it had better sensors than the ship did to find small boats,” Coffman said to audience members at the Hudson Institute in Washington Nov. 9.
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“The drill brought together the capabilities of the ship and Marines with precision weapons and equipment including M41A4 SABER system optics, used for observation,” McArthur said.

The Saber system is part of upgraded optics and target acquisition capabilities for the Corps’ anti-tank guided missile system known as the BGM-71 TOW.

“Weapons Company assets improved the integrated defensive posture aboard the Wasp ― specifically, the LAV-25s' tactical sights provided ballistic solutions for the M242 chain guns and coaxial M-240C medium machine guns to engage simulated targets on the ocean surface more effectively, with greater precision,” he said.

September’s defense exercise aboard the Wasp involved scout snipers, gun-truck Humvees, TOW systems and LAVs.
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It probably also demonstrates how in recent decades most of these weapons were designed for land-based units in dealing with the war against radical Islam terrorist.

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