Preparing for missile war with China, US Marines are copying drug cartels

The Marines are also working with the Navy to develop a new class of small, stealthy landing ships that, in theory, could sail between islands in the western Pacific without attracting the attention of Chinese forces because they would look like a merchant ship upon close inspection. But construction of the first of potentially dozens of ships has fallen two years behind schedule, to 2025 at the earliest, amid worrying cost increases.

The Pentagon has been tinkering around the edges of technology with a few concepts for seaplanes and floatplanes—aircraft types that the U.S. military hasn’t used in decades. But none of these initiatives has made much progress.

While the ALPV’s primary mission would be to ferry supplies to remote island outposts where the Marine Corps plans to establish missile bases as part of its new island-hopping strategy, it’s also possible to arm the low-lying vessel. USMC testers have concluded that it’s possible to equip the ALPV with a pair of 800-pound Naval Strike Missiles, which can hit ships and land targets from as far as 100 miles away.

At least one of the ALPVs will go to Okinawa, Japan – the main base of the III Marine Expeditionary Force – for further testing in increasingly realistic conditions. If all goes well, the Marines could buy the narcoboats in large numbers in the coming years.

If the Marines are smart, they will do what the cartels have done: keep the vessels as simple as possible so that they can be produced quickly, on a large scale, and at a reasonable cost. The cartels need that capability because they can count on police patrols to intercept a certain percentage of their drug-trafficking semisubmersibles. The Marines can also count on Chinese patrols to intercept some of their semisubmersibles.

Overall, the ALPV is a good idea. If executed well, it could make the Marines’ island-hopping plans for war against China much more successful.