Marines Man Light Armored Vehicle on the flight deck to protect their home.

Marines Use Armored Vehicle to Defend Navy Ship from Small Boats off Iranian Coast


An AH-1Z Viper attached to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163 (Reinforced), 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) takes off during a strait transit aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4). (U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Dalton S. Swanbeck)
15 Aug 2019
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
As sailors and Marines are sailing in more contested waters, the blue-green team is getting creative about how to defend amphibious assault ships from enemy small boats and drones.

Members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit were photographed sailing through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf this week with a Light Armored Vehicle on the flight deck.

The armored vehicle can be seen in the background of photos released by the Marine Corps on Wednesday, showing AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters flying off the amphibious assault ship Boxer. The LAV was first spotted by Phil Ewing, national security editor at NPR.

Sailing through or near the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that runs between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, has been contentious in recent months.

 

Mobil weapons platform! Hard to beat as long as the brakes are good.

 

Those helicopters look nasty! Glad they're on our side......

 

I'd bet they have chains and pad eyes for rough seas!

 

Marine ingenuity at it's finest! Might as well use the LAV/Striker's for self defense, they are already on board ship!

Yea, those Vipers are seriously bad ass, some would say even more so then the Apache, being lighter, faster, and a lot more agile, while packin as much or more weapons!

 

A hell'uva a lot more fun and productive than being laid up in the belly of the ship .

 

In that threat area, lot to be said about a small boat with a turret, night targeting abilities, short range radar, fast firing small weapons, high speed,etc, kind of a hybrid between a LAV and a swift boat. Lot less visible than a chopper, excellent loiter time, ability to hide in shore clutter etc. The people in that area use small fast boats as threats a lot, but they wouldn't last long against a basically fast Coast Guard Cutter with a turret and targeting radar, laser, etc sights. Also has ability to be anti pirate and to inspect ships.

 

Of course !! No WAY my butt would be it there without , or anyone's else's .. Our safety first so we can do our task .and don't become a problem / needing help.
S

 

Here is something Most folks don't know, the U.S. Navy still operates a large and powerful "Brown Water" fleet of small "Swift" boats and Patrol Motor Gun Boats! They have many deployed all over that area and because of their small size, can be deployed very quickly anywhere they are needed in a very short amount of time!

 

LOL, where are the life vest storage lockers located on a LAV? No railings etc, be quite a first step if you went over the edge. Bird traces itself back to the Huey, updated models started in about 2000. Bird hasn't changed much as far as range, speed, weight, etc, but the fire power, rockets, missiles, targeting, avionics, and such are years ahead of the air frame. Hard to improve on what works, tip speed, engines, etc limits haven't changed so if you want to improve a chopper much, you have to go to a tilt rotor or a VTO to get around the physical limits and it is no longer a chopper. Aircraft, rockets, a lot of things haven't changed much in 30 years as there are limits, sound barrier, aerodynamic heating, rotor tip speed, heat limits on engine parts in turbines, etc, that will require eith a new way of doing things or a repeal of some natural laws.









v

 

I do believe others have come up with much the same idea...

 

YUP, the U.S. did that big time during WW-II, from small landing craft all the way up to Liberty ships! Nothing stopping any one from using land based weapons while aboard ship!

 

TIP SPEED IS STILL THE SAME "BARRIER " IS NOT TO PASS THRU ??


The womp / crack of the thump you hear on Helios is from the the retreading blade . (dinner was called , i'll edit update )
This is my trade / and still .mil ask me !!
S i'll type in pages

 

Rotor Tip speed is usually around 840 RPM depending on total diameter of the disk, and the whomp whomp is the sonic shock of the rotor down wash bouncing off the tail rotor wash and blades! Every spinning wing has an RPM limit, most airplanes and Helo tail rotors are 2800 RPM MAX, BOY can you tell when some jack ass over speeds his prop, usually makes every one within ear shot puke their guts out and super pissed, I know, when I was running my newest, I was still setting it up and tuning and I accidentally over sped it and I had a bunch of pissed off folks come chew my butt! LOL

 

I wonder if the current LAV still has drum brakes? In the mid 80s I relined lots of their brake shoes and thought it was a dumb idea to use drum brakes on an amphibious vehicle. Of course, not as dumb as the Gama Goat that had "sealed" drum brakes. What a joke that was! I'll bet the movement of vehicles on the flight deck is very cautious and controlled.

 

Pfft, Ya'll never seen a Cajun and his ''Duck Boat''

 

Load that thing with no. 6 shot.be good for south Louisiana ducks,I bet
MAGA.

 

OK, but my question is "why?". Those attack helios, (Cobras in my day) can engage much further out and chase down any fast boats before they are out of range of those LAVs. If the Navy must now depend upon primarily land-based armored vehicles to defend and fight the ship, we are worse off than I thought!