CommunityEditor
01-11-2009, 07:17 PM
NORFOLK, Va. — Just as the Navy prepares to take a more aggressive stance against seagoing marauders in the Middle East, the future of its newly created teams of helicopter-borne boarding specialists appears dim.
The units — seven highly trained visit, board, search and seizure teams adept at dropping onto the decks of noncompliant, fast-moving ships from above — are no longer needed. And it’s unclear what the Navy will eventually do with the 24-member teams.
“There are currently no specific requirements for the [Maritime Expeditionary Security Force’s] VBSS Level III capability,” said Lt. Cmdr. Susan Henson, spokeswoman for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, which oversees the units.
Although the requirement isn’t there, the units won’t necessarily be disestablished, she said. “At this point, there’s been no decision that changes their status,” she said.
Navy ships now deploy with existing crew members trained to approach other vessels in small boats, climb aboard and ensure there’s no smuggling, illegal weapons or other potential threats. Though armed, the common Level I and II teams board compliant ships in nonhostile situations. SEALs handle opposed, or Level IV, boardings. In between, the NECC’s Level III teams were trained to board noncompliant ships with high freeboard, thus the need for helicopter insertion.
Henson said the lack of requirement stems from combatant commanders and their naval component commanders. It would seem with 5th Fleet’s now more aggressive stance toward piracy in the Middle East, boarding specialists would be in high demand. But Henson said the VBSS Level III teams were never intended to go after hijacked ships. Rather, they were in place to take on the existing missions — checking for smuggling, weapons or threats — when the mission was too dicey for Level I or II teams. And if the Level III mission comes up again, it will have to be absorbed by others.
“If NECC’s VBSS Level III capability went away and if there is a need for it, other VBSS organizations would need to source that mission,” she said, noting that the SEALs specialize in contested Level IV boardings, and Coast Guard and Marine Corps special units are also capable of non-compliant boardings.
Established in 2007, there are three VBSS Level III teams at North Island, Calif., and four in Portsmouth, Va. The teams fall under Detachment 323 on the West Coast and 224 in Virginia, corresponding security squadrons, then the Maritime Expeditionary Security Groups on each coast. Those groups report to NECC.
Unlike ship crewmembers assigned to VBSS teams as a collateral duty, the NECC specialists are not members of a ship’s company. And the duty was popular.
The possible disestablishment of the teams is in marked contrast to an impressive display one team put on for the brass just over one year ago.
As then-Rear Adm. Donald Bullard, the former commander of NECC, was watching Sept. 11, 2007, members of the new force fast-roped from a hovering Navy helicopter to the deck of the crane ship Flickertail State at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Cheatham Annex, Va.
The 24 sailors, who called their unit “Unexpected Company,” expressed great satisfaction with the training and mission.
Their officer-in-charge, Lt. Dustin Lonero, was about to leave the Navy for law school when he was offered the job of leading the small group of highly trained sailors targeted on vessel boardings. He stayed.
“This is exactly why I went to the Naval Academy in the first place,” Lonero said.
Bullard, after watching the demonstration, told reporters, “I can take this anywhere.”
Now it appears those sought-after jobs could be going away.
Henson said two teams have deployed, with the Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan carrier strike groups, but was not sure if they completed any boardings. The VBSS Level III capability had been identified in the Chief of Naval Operation’s Guidance for 2006.
Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/01/navy_boardingteams_011009/
The units — seven highly trained visit, board, search and seizure teams adept at dropping onto the decks of noncompliant, fast-moving ships from above — are no longer needed. And it’s unclear what the Navy will eventually do with the 24-member teams.
“There are currently no specific requirements for the [Maritime Expeditionary Security Force’s] VBSS Level III capability,” said Lt. Cmdr. Susan Henson, spokeswoman for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, which oversees the units.
Although the requirement isn’t there, the units won’t necessarily be disestablished, she said. “At this point, there’s been no decision that changes their status,” she said.
Navy ships now deploy with existing crew members trained to approach other vessels in small boats, climb aboard and ensure there’s no smuggling, illegal weapons or other potential threats. Though armed, the common Level I and II teams board compliant ships in nonhostile situations. SEALs handle opposed, or Level IV, boardings. In between, the NECC’s Level III teams were trained to board noncompliant ships with high freeboard, thus the need for helicopter insertion.
Henson said the lack of requirement stems from combatant commanders and their naval component commanders. It would seem with 5th Fleet’s now more aggressive stance toward piracy in the Middle East, boarding specialists would be in high demand. But Henson said the VBSS Level III teams were never intended to go after hijacked ships. Rather, they were in place to take on the existing missions — checking for smuggling, weapons or threats — when the mission was too dicey for Level I or II teams. And if the Level III mission comes up again, it will have to be absorbed by others.
“If NECC’s VBSS Level III capability went away and if there is a need for it, other VBSS organizations would need to source that mission,” she said, noting that the SEALs specialize in contested Level IV boardings, and Coast Guard and Marine Corps special units are also capable of non-compliant boardings.
Established in 2007, there are three VBSS Level III teams at North Island, Calif., and four in Portsmouth, Va. The teams fall under Detachment 323 on the West Coast and 224 in Virginia, corresponding security squadrons, then the Maritime Expeditionary Security Groups on each coast. Those groups report to NECC.
Unlike ship crewmembers assigned to VBSS teams as a collateral duty, the NECC specialists are not members of a ship’s company. And the duty was popular.
The possible disestablishment of the teams is in marked contrast to an impressive display one team put on for the brass just over one year ago.
As then-Rear Adm. Donald Bullard, the former commander of NECC, was watching Sept. 11, 2007, members of the new force fast-roped from a hovering Navy helicopter to the deck of the crane ship Flickertail State at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Cheatham Annex, Va.
The 24 sailors, who called their unit “Unexpected Company,” expressed great satisfaction with the training and mission.
Their officer-in-charge, Lt. Dustin Lonero, was about to leave the Navy for law school when he was offered the job of leading the small group of highly trained sailors targeted on vessel boardings. He stayed.
“This is exactly why I went to the Naval Academy in the first place,” Lonero said.
Bullard, after watching the demonstration, told reporters, “I can take this anywhere.”
Now it appears those sought-after jobs could be going away.
Henson said two teams have deployed, with the Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan carrier strike groups, but was not sure if they completed any boardings. The VBSS Level III capability had been identified in the Chief of Naval Operation’s Guidance for 2006.
Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/01/navy_boardingteams_011009/