Editorial    

       During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur often complained that US Navy ship captains were cowards.  He said the US Navy tradition that a captain's career goes down with his ship causes them to leave the area at the first sign of trouble.  MacArthur's attitude was that fighting ships were built to fight, and Navy surface warfare officers should not be blamed if ships are sunk in combat.  Unfortunately, this tradition of excessive caution remains in the Navy today, and a Captain's career is over even if his ship just scrapes the bottom.  As a result, the US Navy has no ships designed to fight dangerous battles in coastal areas.

      This fear of combat has led the Navy doctrine and ship design.      Algh

e Navy has Aegis sea control ships, and but in only needs about 24.    Even this number is debateable since submarines can provide effective ASW and no nation has the     The Navy hasn't attacked a submarine since World War II, and hasn't fired fewer than a dozen anti-aircraft missiles.

      As a result,     a cowardly attitude of hiding from the enemy and tossing a few half-million dollar tomahawk missiles ashore.  Some coward   exclaim "that's not our mission".  Since when?  The Navy's mission has always been to fight up to the shoreline, not up to 25 miles from the coast.  What about the minesweepers, who will escort them?  What about LCAC AND LCU landing craft.  Who will patrol the water's edge to prevent enemy boats from surprise attacks against large cargo ships entering port?    Will these unarmed vessel's go into harm's way while the "surface combatants" loiter safely over the horizon.  

     Carrier air power and tomahawks can destroy known targets, but a wise enemy will keep his defensive assets hidden until a target emerges.  In the past, destroyers led the way to draw and exchange fire with coastal threats.

satel

27 aegis cruisers, 57 aegis destroyers, 21 spruance DD

trimaran

    What a headline "Marine Corps landing crushed" with 8438 dead and 7645 captured, and dozens of minesweepers and large landing craft destroyed, and over 100 aircraft shot down.  Navy cruisers and destroyers escaped damage as they refused to go near the fighting to engage small boats and shore batteries.

Mount a pod to fire Slammer Six style 70mm HYDRA rocket launcher on each side.  This would allow the DD-21 to fire 240 17 # HE warheads into six football fields within 10 km of the ship in less than a minute, and then turn around and fire another 240 rockets.  

      The DD-21 will accept the dangerous mission of escorting mine warfare ships and landing craft near the shore, ready to immediately engage small boats, shore guns, attack helicopters and missile launchers.  It will have a pair of AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters on board for added firepower, reconnaissance, and fire support coordination.  This would allow the DD-21s firepower to be directly reliable line-of-sight communication with the ship.   (These Cobras will cost no more than the Navy's planned Fire scout UAV).

Forward arming and refueling base.

      The larger Aegis DDG-51s will remain safely offshore to provide air defense and anti-submarine protections.

this photo is not saved.

V-22 Osprey Update - America's biggest fraud continues

                                                                       Carlton Meyer editor@G2mil.com 

######################################################################

February 2002 Articles

Letters - comments from G2mil readers

Resurrecting Transformation -  for the Post-Industrial Era

Global Marines - U.S. Marines must deploy worldwide, not just to Japan

Assault Boots - foot and leg protection are needed

Tethered Bombs - tie strings of bombs together

Liberty Ships - are needed for morale

RAH-60 Gunhawks - use the AC-130 concept to fire guns from above

Wiesels - Helicopter carried armored combat vehicles (info from contractor) 

The LOSAT Fraud - a stupid idea gets funded

**************************************************************************************************

Special Afghan War Supplement

Afghan Scouts - the US Army will need them

Operation Enduring Freedom - official US Military site for the war

Bioterrorism Slides - UCSF lecture

Commando Operations - details on American Special Operations Units

Killing Pablo - on-line book details a billion dollar effort to "terminate" a major Columbian drug lord

G2mil Library

Previous G2mil - November  2001 issue

Library Tour - visit G2mil's library  (Book reviews are now open to visitors)

Library Entrance - members only

All material in G2mil Copyright 2001 G2mil, patents pending on some items.  Links to the index page (www.G2mil.com) are encouraged, other page names change often.

       While General Dynamics spends millions of taxpayer dollars to tinker with its ultra-expensive LAV-III so it can squeeze into a C-130, one wonders why Textron doesn't complain.  The Army claimed to want a proven "off-the-shelf" LAV as an "interim" vehicle, and Textron has been selling a smaller six-wheeled LAV with a 105mm gun on the overseas market for years.  The Marine Corps had already tested a 105mm gun on the eight-wheeled LAV type General Dynamics will use, and found it too unstable.  However, the Army bought off objections by ordering some armored cars from Textron too, called the Armored Security Vehicle.  Now the Army will have two types of armored cars, which costs much more since they require different parts, different mechanics, even different tires.