Sgt. Xavier Gaudig, assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, uses the M41A4 SABER system to observe as Marines fire a Light Armored Vehicle’s M242 Bushmaster 25 mm chain gun impact during gunnery training on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship Wasp. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Galbreath/ Navy)
Marine Times: Here’s why the Marine Corps is strapping LAVs to the flight deck
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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WNU Editor: Extra fire-power on deck.
