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US Navy and Marine Corps testing their latest amphibious equipment during RIMPAC 2014

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Naval Forces News - USA
 
 
 
US Navy and US Marine Corps testing their latest amphibious equipment during RIMPAC 2014
 
Held every two years by Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) and executed by Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet (C3F), RIMPAC is a multinational maritime exercise that takes place in and around the Hawaiian Islands. This year's RIMPAC exercise is the occasion for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to put to the test two of their latest amphibious systems: the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) and the Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connector (UHAC).
     
The U.S. Navy successfully completed Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) interface tests off the coast of Camp Pendleton June 13, aboard the Navy's first Mobile Landing Platform, USNS Montford Point (MLP 1).
The Military Sealift Command mobile landing ship (Montford Point class) are designed to support U.S. Navy's LCACs during amphibious operations
     
     
MLP is a highly flexible platform that may be used across a broad range of military operations, supporting and executing a variety of missions including humanitarian support and sustainment of traditional military missions. The ship is able to easily transfer personnel and vehicles from other vessels such as the large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships (LMSRs) onto landing craft air cushioned (LCAC) vehicles and transport them ashore. The platform's open, reconfigurable mission deck will serve as an important flexible and transformational asset to the Navy as it can be reconfigured to support a wide variety of future operations.

The MLP's leverage float-on/ float-off technology and a reconfigurable mission deck to maximize their capability. Montford Point's Core Capability Set includes modules for a vehicle staging area, a sideport ramp, large mooring fenders and up to three LCAC vessel lanes. These capabilities enable large-scale logistics movements including the transfer of personnel, vehicles from other vessels such as the large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships (LMSRs) and the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) onto LCACs for transport ashore.
     
USMC video by MSgt Kyle Olson and GySgt Jeremy Vought
     
The Ultra Heavy-Lift Amphibious Connector (UHAC) begins to rotate on the beach, July 9, at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows on Oahu, Hawaii during a Marine Corps Advanced Warfighting Experiment. The AWE is the culmination of a decade of progressive experimentation conducted by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) where they are testing potential future technologies, solutions and concepts to future Marine Air Ground Task Force challenges. The AWE is taking part during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2014. Lt. Col. Don Gordon, the current technology officer at MCWL, said the UHAC is one of those experimental technologies that displays a possible capability of being able to insert Marines in areas where current technology wouldn’t be able to insert them based on current systems that are fielded. The UHAC prototype is a ship-to-shore connector and is half the size of the intended machine. Currently, the UHAC travels at four knots using a track system with floatation-like pads that propels itself through different terrain.