Marines test sea-based artillery doctrine at RIMPAC

[unhappycamper]

Cpl. Tony Hanson, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, finds the azimuth of fire on the mount sight of a M777A2 Howitzer 155mm July 11 at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii, during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010. RIMPAC is a multinational exercise involving 32 ships and 14 countries designed to increase interoperability among the participation nations.


Marines test sea-based artillery doctrine at RIMPAC
By Gidget Fuentes - [e-mail]
Posted : Saturday Jul 24, 2010 14:47:14 EDT

Marines tested new tactics that could define doctrine for the use of artillery in small-scale conflicts at this year’s Rim of the Pacific international maritime exercises in June and July.

Assault hovercraft landed at the Marine Corps’ Bellows Training Area on Oahu in July with a pair of M777 lightweight howitzer guns. A four-day experiment ensued under the watch of Marine Corps Warfighting Lab which has spent about six years reviewing the future of the Marine air-ground task force.

The exercise is just a small element of this year’s Rim of the Pacific international maritime exercises, which began June 23.

Artillery support on a distributed battlefield could prove critical to the future fight, which officials say could mean a return to more maritime operations.

Upon landing on the beach, artillery crews with 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, will quickly set up firing positions to provide round-the-clock surface-fire support to an infantry company based about 20 miles away, in the Kahuku mountains.



unhappycamper comment: I guess the Marines are trying to score more ships in the Navy's ever more expensive ship building sweepstakes.