Thoughts on RIMPAC 2010
29 July 2010 By Commodore Stuart Mayer
The Commander of the Australian Defence Forces (ADF’s) contingent at the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC 2010) in Hawaii, Commodore (CDRE) Stuart Mayer CSC, RAN riffs about this year's RIMPAC.
How successful has this RIMPAC been?
It is a common cliché to say that every exercise is the best one ever. But in this instance it is very likely true. We have taken 1,200 of the ADF’s people from all three services and placed them amidst the world’s biggest maritime exercise. Every one of them has had a ‘first ever’ moment. There are things we can only do at RIMPAC and in 2010 we have had more than our fair share.
Whether it was the coordinated Harpoon firing from HMAS Warramunga with our P3s; the first splash of Amphibious Assault Vehicles from HMAS Kanimbla; the P3s being part of a 24/7 campaign to support the Anti Surface Warfare and Anti Submarine Warfare needs of the Force; 2 RAR conducting an amphibious mechanised raid from USS Cleveland or our divers raising a sunken tug from the bottom, all our soldiers, sailors and airmen have performed at an impressive level.
I would like to say that this could not have been achieved without the team from the National Command Element who made the support for these 1 200 people run smoothly. This team effort has ensured we have conducted complex warfighting in a challenging multi-national environment. We have definitely got our money’s worth.
What has been your role in the exercise?
During this RIMPAC, a small team and I have formed the Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) Headquarters. This very small team has commanded three ships of the Amphibious Group – led by Commander Australian Amphibious Task Group (COMAUSATG), Captain McGuire, as well as the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Group, a Battalion plus of Marines, AAVs, CH 53, CH 46s, AH1W, UH1H helicopters and 12 F/A 18 fighter jets – led by Col Bierman, plus the Surface Combat Group comprising twelve Cruisers, Destroyers and Frigates – led by Captain Eric Young, COMDESRON 1.
Altogether this group is somewhere around 8,000 – 9,000 people. In addition to amphibious actions in support of CFMCC, we have conducted sea control, strike warfare, boardings, cyber warfare, theatre battlespace missile defence and time sensitive targeting against adversary leadership using helo raids and fires from assigned helos.
The command has been very broad and extremely rewarding because it is command across all warfare domains and spans the tactical to operational level of war. Commodore Flotillas (COMFLOT) was asked to fulfil this role because it is still an evolving concept in the US and the first combined ESG ever. Being the ESG Commander was about making a commitment to testing ourselves in a challenging, complex command that is on the cutting edge of modern warfare.
What have been some of your highlights?
The opportunity to use the Pacific Missile Range Facility during RIMPAC is one of the highlights of the exercise. This is a unique capability that we do not have access to in Australia. During RIMPAC, Warramunga, Newcastle and the P3s of 11 Squadron conducted complex weapon firings. Newcastle’s firing of an SM 2 Block 3A was the first ever firing of this weapon.
The combined SAMEX with Warramunga and Newcastle was the first coordinated complex SAM firing that we have attempted in the RAN. The coordinated Harpoon firing combined P3s from Australia and the US with ships from the US and Canada joining Warramunga for a firing that achieved a coordinated time on top of within ten seconds of the nominated time.
Importantly, Warramunga was able to deliver the Coup de Grace with effective fire from her main gun using the new 5 inch round and cartridge. Ex USS New Orleans is probably the largest “kill” that can be attributed to Navy gunfire on exercise – and while she was a little bruised by the time Warramunga’s gun got to her, it finished her off in fine style.
In fact, I had the Commanding Officer bugging me to sink every other target that moved for the next week!
How has it been living on the USS Bonhomme Richard?
This experience influenced my thinking in a number of ways. Just copying what the US does is not always the best answer for us, so these influences have to be set in the context of our own situation. First and foremost, Bonhomme Richard has a crew of more than 1 000, the crew of our Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships will be about 350.
What will be common, though, is the diversity of skills that are needed to make a ship like this work. This has impressed upon me the critical role that the Joint Amphibious Capability Implementation team is playing to make sure we have the right set of skills in our soldiers, sailors and airmen who are part of the LHD crew. We need to make sure we have the right number of crew and that they are trained for the mission.
Areas that I am most interested in looking into following this RIMPAC experience are our Air Control and Flight Deck teams, munitions management, C41 investment and making sure the living spaces, particularly the gym, are right sized, with right sized being enormous. However, an amphibious capability is a complex beast with the ship’s culture just as important as the hardware.
This will be an interesting experience as we are building a comprehensive joint culture that stretches across multiple warfare domains. This over-arching culture needs to respect the individual services while building a sense of team at the same time. We have done this well in the Landing Platform Amphibious ships, but this is a challenge of a new magnitude which the US has solved in one way and we might need to do slightly differently.
Finally, making sure this capability is able to integrate with the Fleet in a structure similar to the ESG construct will require us to look at new ways of operating. In short, living here has prompted many questions and some answers, leaving me with some work to do with COMAUSATG when we get home.
What will Commodore Flotillas be concentrating on over the next couple of years?
Regenerating High End Warfighting across the Fleet is my number one goal and many of the things we have achieved in RIMPAC are critical elements of this program. Our project teams are rapidly approaching completion on a range of complex programs that will deliver us the hardware that will form the structure of Force 2030.
My focus is preparing the sailors and officers who will be the beating core of this force. In particular, I want to ensure we have the right skills training, procedures and organizations; that we are able to integrate with our joint allied partners; and that we always deliver on our promise to the country to fight and win at sea.
I think much of the framework is in place. We need to look at some of the dark corners to make sure we have the right sort of combat support elements in place – in particular Command and Control that enables us to be effective players in the fast moving warfighting environment that we are likely to confront in the future.
We have major platforms coming down the line in very short order, the LHDs being at the forefront, closely followed by the Hobart Class Amphibious Warfare Destroyes (AWDs). But we have equally important challenges in getting our Collins Class submarines back into the Fleet, bringing the MRH90 helicopter online and preparing for our new tactical helo. Air Force has already delivered on Wedgetail and Newcastle has shown we are now an SM 2 Navy.
This is a totally different Air Warfare environment to where we were even six months ago. My job is making sure we deliver our promise to get Force 2030 online. That promise starts with today’s capabilities and will continue over the next decade.
It truly is an exciting time to be a warfighter in Navy. We have big challenges and big potential. These are challenges that we will need to deliver on as a community of Navy warfighter, and it is time for the warfighters to stand up and be part of shaping our future.
To have a piece to play in that job makes it easy to come to work every day.
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