The Futures Directorate is in the early
stages of learning what the next generation of Internally Transportable
Vehicles (ITV) will need to be capable of doing. Sure, the Corps has been
putting vehicles through their paces for as long as the military has employed
them. But in order to find the next generation vehicle capable of being
transported via the MV-22 Osprey, a methodical, detailed, and well executed
plan must take place to properly identify the hundreds of critical details
necessary to shaping requirements.
In preparation for the Expeditionary Force
21 Limited Objective Experiment 1 happening later this year in California, the
Futures Directorate's Experiment Division has been working closely with Marines
from The Basic School (TBS) to help capture some of those critical details. The
most recent work involved two days of classroom and range time. Marines from
TBS' Warfighting Instructor Company were introduced to the issue at hand and
given clear parameters for the experiment. What followed was a painstaking and
often repetitive, but essential process. Identify the type of load and mission,
load, unload, reload, load, assess, unload, reload, reassess, unload, and load
again.
The M1161 Growler ITV was
loaded and reloaded with configurations for mortars and heavy and medium
machine guns. Each evolution took into consideration the placement of food,
fuel, water, ammo, equipment, locations for individual Marines, visibility,
ease of access to different elements of the load, balancing the load properly,
ensuring space to allow for movement on and off an MV-22, and much more.
The loads were only a portion
of the assessment. The Marines' tactics, techniques, and procedures on vehicle
employment in varying missions were another very important part of the
experiment. What was learned here will further impact the EF21 experiment in
August.
The EF21 LOE-1 will focus on
determining if the addition of ITVs to infantry battalions enhances the overall
effectiveness of foot mobile forces conducting air assault operations; and if so,
to identify the requirements for and the quantity of ITVs that should be part
of future infantry battalions.