By Emelie Rutherford
The new head of the command that develops Marine Corps warfighting capabilities ticked off a technology wish-list yesterday, calling for everything from lighter armored vehicles and more-advanced drone aircraft to improved methods of transporting fuel and conducting amphibious training.
Lt. Gen. George Flynn, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC), told a defense industry crowd of the technology needs he recently saw in theater while serving as deputy commanding general for Multi-National Corps-Iraq. Flynn received a third star and was promoted to head of MCCDC on Aug. 5, replacing Gen. James Amos, who is now assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.
Several research-related challenges Flynn wants to tackle relate to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) used by insurgents. While he said the bombs’ effectiveness has gone down–thanks to improved technology as well as tactics and techniques used to combat them–he frets about the adaptive nature of the enemy.
“The real key thing…(is) we need to figure out a way to prematurely detonate the detonator, and that’s probably the next level of technology that we can go to,” Flynn said at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) S&T Partnership Conference in Washington.
Another key challenge is the weight of vehicles in theater, he said.
“You add more weight, the enemy adds more explosives,” he said. “That complicates the enemy’s problems, because now they have to transfer more explosives, they have to dig a bigger hole. But still, explosive wins over armor almost all the time sooner or later, so we need to figure out way to disrupt that trend.”
Armor simply “needs to be lighter,” he told the research-focused crowd well-aware of this desire.
“Try opening the door of a MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle) or a Hummer right now, especially if it’s rolled over,” Flynn said. “What if they don’t work. You know you need to get out of the vehicle.”
His comments come as the Pentagon examines ways to modify the heavily-armored MRAPs–over 10,000 of which have been ordered or are in theater–to be lighter, less prone to rolling over, and more maneuverable. Recent news reports have highlighted fatal MRAP accidents, including drownings.
The Marine Corps needs more “counter-bomber technology,” the general told the ONR conference. He said he saw in Iraq mentally impaired suicide bombers, who were commanded to detonate the bombs on their bodies by other insurgents.
“So how do you train for that and also how do you counteract it,” he said.
Garnering and transporting fuel and power supplies in theater is a challenge, he said, bemoaning the complexity of fuel convoys.
He talked of the possibility of “a logistics UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle], to keep convoys off the road.”
The Marine Corps is now looking at “enhanced company operations,” he said, an operating scenario that creates an increased need for power-hungry technology systems at the company level.
“So how can we come up with power and how can we generate power at remote locations to do these things with…the intel fusion and also the command and control that goes on there,” he said.
Flynn said he would like industry’s help to “make us bullet proof” without adding too much weight or mobility constrictions, develop new helmets, counter the effects of electromagnetic pulse, and create more training simulators.
He emphasized the need for the Marine Corps to work closely with the Navy, and added: “I have to be able to do amphibious training, and I have to be able to do it in way that recognizes the OPTEMPO that we’re under, but also does all those things [with] our closer relationship.”
In talking about reinforcing the Marine Corps’ relationship with the Navy, Flynn called for “effective amphibious shipping” and highlighted the need for naval surface-fire support. He also talked of the wish “to take a look at mine countermeasures, because that’s a good example of technology, a high-technology force against a low-tech force.” These three issues have been discussed as the two services and Coast Guard have been developing a new Naval Operating Concept (NOC), he said.
The updated NOC is now in final staffing with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway, and Cost Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, Flynn said.
Flynn thanked the crowd of defense researchers and contractors yesterday for technologies used in Iraq and Afghanistan such as CREW (counter radio-controlled IED electronic warfare) jammers, MRAPs, precision weapons, new combat optics, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) devices.
“They all make a difference,” he said.
MCCDC’s mission is the develop “fully integrated Marine Corps warfighting capabilities; including doctrine, organization, training and education, materiel, leadership, personnel, and facilities, to enable the Marine Corps to field combat-ready forces,” according to its web site.