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out the we up
we have to keep
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moving this is R pack the world's lest
naal
exercises it's part of the United States
string IM
Pacific we're out on the Tower
move this is an ambius assault
ship one of the
traditional amphibious assaults a major
focus of this year's Rim pack or rim of
the
Pacific the exercise involved 22 Allied
Nations including the US the UK and
China China's a major driving force in
the United States renewed focus on Asia
as the rapid expansion of China's
military might has escalated tension and
territorial disputes in the
area but while the US seeks to play a
bigger role in the Pacific it won't be
easy it's halfway across the globe
covering roughly a third of the planet
and most of its water so the challenge
is the US military must be able to move
armies over long stretches of water and
do it fast
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Target
the Marine Corps over the last 12 years
because we've been engaged in operations
Iraqi freedom and operation enduring
Freedom we have been engaged in a land
War that's what has been required of us
and that's what the the Marine Corps has
been able to provide for the nation but
by no means does that say that we've
gotten away from our
Roots those roots are in amphibious
assault the Marine Corps has been
hitting the beaches for more than 200
years from Tripoli to Normandy and
Beyond but moving from sea to land can
be treacherous the first day of Normandy
in World War II killed almost as many
Allied soldiers as 9 years of fighting
in
Iraq even worse the proliferation of
cheaper and more accurate longrange
missiles forces ships to launch
amphibious operations farther out to sea
and escalates the chance that an already
risky operation will turn into a
one-sided
Slaughter to pull off amphibious
operations the Marines will have to
adapt to the
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threat right before the start of the
exercise we managed to catch a tour on
the USS pelo a mother ship that carries
Marines and their equipment across the
ocean and close to shore to launch an
amphibious
assault you can actually feel the down
from the propellers you kind of
stabilize yourself as it takes off the
ship one of the things that the military
is always doing is taking existing
Technologies and platforms and working
them into both new and old missions one
of the critical Technologies for the
Marines as they make a pivot back to
amphibious assault is the v22 ospray
it's one of these aircraft that doesn't
quite know if it's a helicopter or an
airplane it's actually both and and it's
become a critical part of the Marine
Corps for moving troops around in
theater the osprey's speed and range
make it ideal for targeted raids and air
assaults but to carry heavy equipment
like tanks and artillery amphibious
vehicles are still
necessary so in a couple days they're
going to launch from this ship they're
going to open the thing and these guys
are going to head to shore yeah we'll
we'll balance the ship which means we'll
essentially sink the back of the ship
it'll fill up with 6 to 8 ft of water
and these will back up and launch into
the into the into the well deck and out
of the out of the back of the ship and
and and what are these things these are
basically tanks that go in the water
floating tanks essentially yeah floating
tanks that that carry a bunch of Marines
correct once the exercise begins
amphibious assault vehicles or aabs
launch from the back of the ship driving
towards the
beach a hybrid of armored personnel
carriers in boats aavs bring Marines Ash
short to fight but they force them to
pack light so to hold the beach they
need to land a lot of reinforcements and
do it fast before the enemy has time to
Counterattack the key to doing that
quickly are vessels called
connectors part ship and part plane the
landing craft air cushion or elac is a
connector small enough to fit into the
well deck but powerful enough to carry a
tank from ship to shore at more than 40
mph but aging equipment and new threats
mean the Marines must explore new
technologies to
adapt exotic hybrids like the ultra
heavy amphibious connector or uck which
combines a Paddle Wheel with a tractor
will be able to cover more distance with
more gear than the
lcap once on land the Marines must be
able to mobilize troops and Equipment
quickly in order to move Inland to
complete the
assault
point
up point
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up left
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left the Marine Corps is is testing new
technologies to allow troops to move
faster and more efficiently as they
transition to
land by combining Advanced robotics with
more familiar means of hauling gear like
cars and pack
animals Rim pack is the first live
military trial for the LS3 known more
affectionately as Kujo which is capable
of hauling up to 400 lbs a distance of
20 m without having to
refuel
the asia-pacific region is incredibly
important to the United States it has
been in the past it is today and will
continue to be so in the future our
country has established the rebalance
policy uh to bring more forces more
effort and more engagement with this
very critical region I think you will
find that the Marine Corps has been
challenged in order to have the right
Force at the right place at the right
time and things like Rima 2014 gives us
the opportunity to train together to
ensure that our forces are ready for any
crisis in the
future while the official line stress
the cooperative and diplomatic focus of
rimpac the exercise has two seemingly
contradictory facets on one hand it's
all about diplomacy and international
cooperation yet a major objective of the
whole effort is to Showcase American
Military might in the Pacific especially
to check
China with the world's largest army and
secondar gous military budget the rising
superpower has been ramping up their
military presence in the Pacific and
flexing their muscles with a series of
hostile moves that claim ownership of
the South China Sea inciting outrage in
neighboring countries over what is
arguably the most disputed region on
Earth the is d
but in the same way that China is both
friend and foe this year China was
invited by the US to participate at
rimac for the first
time we just landed on the Chinese Naval
vessel this is the hospital ship and the
name of it is the peace Arc and we're
here to take a tour uh of this hospital
ship that's participating in the rim
pack exercises the Chinese Sailors have
more cameras than we do so being filmed
as we're
filming uh so we're heading into the
operating room now um this ship is fully
functional Hospital floating hospital um
what's really interesting is that it
increases China's ability to conduct
operations all throughout the
Pacific having a hospital ship means
being able to treat soldiers while still
in the midst of conflict freeing the
Chinese to deploy more war fighting
assets to even farther
ranges but when we spoke with the
commander he shifted the conversation
away from the ship's military role the P
Arc uh belongs to the Chinese Navy so if
uh we have a wartime Mission so the the
ship will provide medical service for
our carties but according to the
international law we uh maybe we also
provide medical service to uh any
Nations um but uh that's not we we
that's not we hope so because we we want
uh we uh stay on peace age so we want to
spread our uh conception of PE of uh
harmonous World harest ocean to the
whole
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world take two t of physical
one of the things that you notice when
you walk around the ship is that the
signs are both in Chinese and English a
lot of the Chinese Sailors are wearing
uh what You' call friendship pins I
guess that have an American flag and a
Chinese flag uh and that's really
emblematic of the relationship between
the US and China it's complicated uh
where both have to work together by
Necessities but we're also a rival in
this region sir thank you for though
China seem to be playing nice at Rim
pack on behalf of my colleagues I will
uh show my respect and welcome to you
the surprise appearance of an Uninvited
Chinese spy ship reminded everyone of
China's growing military ambition and
that tensions in the Pacific are alive
and
well so as our nation rebalances to Asia
Pacific one of the things that does not
change is the tyranny of distance the
Pacific Ocean is no smaller but
capabilities both ours
our friends and our partners and also
potential adversaries have forced us to
do things in order to address those
challenges as the Marines tackle the
question of amphibious Landing the
evolution of new equipment and tactics
is
crucial the success of amphibious
operations will not only be a measure of
us power in the Pacific but the Marine's
ability to remain a relevant fighting
force in the future of Modern
Warfare
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I look you in the eye right now and what
I see are warriors and I see that the
Bido code is Alive and Well in the
Japanese water the day is coming be
ready ready for that fight and we'll
stand together to defeat any
F the Pacific is a vast and complicated
region it's got 60% of the world's
population 50% of the world's geography
and it's rif with International conflict
so the feeling in the US military is
that we better be prepared to fight
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there
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