Why America Must Expand Its Amphibious Warfare Capabilities (From The National Interest)

There is too much talk among U.S. national security experts about America’s waning ability to withstand the multitude of threats it faces. The U.S. Armed Forces possess a number of asymmetric advantages. While it is important to shore up areas of weakness and close serious technological and operational gaps, it should be an equal priority to leverage and even increase investment in areas where the U.S. maintains a competitive advantage. One of these areas is amphibious warfare. No other military in the world possesses the organization, experience, systems and platforms to operate amphibious forces like the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps team. It would take any of the leading nations decades to duplicate the power projection capability of today’s U.S. amphibious force. The U.S. needs to expand this unique asymmetric capability to conduct air-ground operations from the sea. The sea services need more and better amphibious ships. In particular, the Navy needs to move rapidly to procure the LX(R) as a replacement for the aging LSDs. I have written about the future of the amphibious warfare fleet for The National Interest here.