MARITIME MOBILITY
USSOCOM
MARITIME MOBILITY A Dynamic Maritime Environment
marks a continuation of dynamic activities across a q 2019 range of SOF maritime portfolios as special operations planners work to recapitalize both surface and subsurface elements of the SOF fleet.
Surface Activities One recent example of these activities could be found in a lateMarch 2019 Capability Collaboration Event focused on the planned “Mk 2” element of the Combatant Craft Heavy (CCH) fleet. Reflecting a cooperative effort between the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Program Executive Office (PEO) – Maritime’s Program Manager for Surface Systems and the SOFWERX enterprise, the event explored the possible expansion of the current three-craft CCH fleet. As “the heavy end” of specialized SOF surface craft, the CCH fleet currently consists of three “Mk 1” platforms produced by Vigor Industrial LLC in Clackamas, Oregon. Also known as SEALION (Sea Air Land Insertion Observation and Neutralization) I, II, and III, they include two 77-foot-long technology demonstrators that transitioned to operational craft in 2012 and 2013 as well as an 81-foot-long craft ordered in 2017 and on track for delivery in the first quarter of FY 20. While everything seems on track for the fielding of the third Mk 1 craft, on Feb. 20, 2019, USSOCOM released a special notice outlining a planned follow-on Mk 2 platform as “a specialized maritime mobility platform in support of Special Operations Forces (SOF) core tasks primarily involving the insertion and extraction of military personnel along with the launching and recovery of specialized military hardware.” It added, “The CCH Mk 2 is expected to be a diesel-powered craft capable of open ocean transit and well deck interoperability with the ability to insert and extract SOF forces and host, clandestinely launch, and recover smaller manned and unmanned surface and subsurface systems. For industry partners with existing designs, USSOCOM anticipates modifications will be required to address specialized applications such as survivability; payload launch and recovery; munitions; and command and control, communications, computers, cyberdefense, combat systems, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C6ISR) systems.”
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Special Operations Outlook
The announcement pointed to a planned Mk 2 craft design with a maximum length of 200 feet and maximum width of 49 feet, identifying command interest in a notional maximum payload volume of 25 feet in length, 5 feet in width, and 5 feet in height, with a “preferred” ability to accommodate “an additional payload (smaller items in aggregate) of similar size and weight as cargo.” Potential production for the Mk 2 CCH would be in the FY 21 – FY 23 timeframe. At the same time that fleet planners are looking toward expanding platform size and tactical capabilities of the CCH fleet, other planning elements are also focusing on enhancing the strategic deployability of current and soon-to-be-fielded Mk 1 elements. Evidence of this approach can be found in a fall 2018 USSOCOM sources sought/request for information (RFI) released on behalf of the Maritime Program Executive Office (PEO-M); Program Manager Surface Systems (PM-SS) calling for market information “in support of preliminary planning for the acquisition of one CCH Transporter, hereafter referred to as Transporter.” The RFI identified the purpose of the CCH Transporter as “to provide over the road transport, and aircraft loading and unloading for the fleet of three, existing CCH craft.” The “heavy end” of SOF surface mobility capabilities is hardly unique, with other activities underway across the entire platform weight/capability spectrum. The Combatant Craft Medium (CCM) Mk 1 is USSOCOM’s multi-role surface combatant craft, with the primary mission of inserting and extracting SOF in medium-threat environments. The program emerged in 2013, following government testing of competing designs, with the contract awarded to Vigor Industrial. The 60-foot-long aluminum craft have been credited with possessing “the best iron triangle” by USSOCOM program representatives, who have noted that the platform also provides an opportunity to add several new technologies and resulting capabilities to the fleet. CCM Mk 1 achieved initial operational capability in FY 15, with full operational capability planned for FY 22. USSOCOM representatives recently indicated that the command has fielded 23 out of 30 planned craft.
U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 2ND CLASS TIMOTHY M. BLACK
BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY
