Photo By Staff Sgt. Danny Gonzalez | U.S. Navy Ensign Brianna Curley, a public affairs officer with Expeditionary Strike...... read more read more
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More than 500 U.S. service members and civilians from the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, and Merchant Marine completed combined joint logistics over the shore (CJLOTS) alongside the Armed Forces of the Philippines during exercise Balikatan 2023 (BK23) in Casiguran, Philippines, April 15.
CJLOTS is a logistics-centric event where strategic maritime prepositioning ships offload heavy equipment and supplies onto bilateral and joint landing craft, ferries, barges, and other expeditionary craft, which transfer their cargo to the beach.
“The United States Marine Corps and all U.S. military forces are immensely proud to participate in Balikatan,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Kevin Norton, deputy commander, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 3. “Not only do exercises such as this strengthen our blue-green team, but they also enhance participating nations’ capabilities across a wide range of military operations.”
Seabees with Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 1 arrived in Casiguran in mid-March to construct an expeditionary operating base ahead of the exercise. The operating base was established to support the CJLOTS headquarters, personnel living areas, staging and operating areas for heavy equipment and vehicle convoys, and a staging area for the amphibious bulk liquid transfer system (ABLTS). Seabees also constructed a critical low water bridge that allowed vehicles to transit from the beach to the staging areas across the channel.
“In order to deliver logistics, you have to have both an infrastructure to support it and a means to get it to where it has to go, whether that be over roads or by sea, and we have demonstrated here the ability to do both,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Joel Stewart, commodore, Naval Beach Group (NBG) 1. “By exercising this now we show that we can go anywhere we need to deliver logistics support from disaster relief to combat operations.”
Expeditionary evolutions such as CJLOTS typically require a reset of the beach after each piece of equipment is offloaded, but Sailors and Soldiers with the U.S. Navy and Army were able to test employment of a new piece of equipment called submersible matting (SUBMAT) during BK23.
SUBMAT is made of all natural materials with each piece measuring 100 feet long by 20 feet wide. It is filled on site with sand from the surrounding area to create a one-foot-thick matting. SUBMAT can be positioned hundreds of feet long with multiple pieces and prevents heavy equipment from getting stuck on soft sandy or muddy shorelines while also eliminating the necessity to reset the beach or relocate after each offload evolution.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with foreign allies as well as our joint counterparts. It has allowed us to develop techniques and planning avenues for future operations,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tometrius Greer, Commander, 10th Transportation Battalion terminal. “With the knowledge we have learned from working shoulder to shoulder with our foreign allies and counterparts, we are able to approach different missions and operations in the rear to improve overall readiness and capabilities.
Establishing the expeditionary operating base allowed for the combined force to also conduct ABLTS during the exercise. ABLTS used fresh water to demonstrate the ability to conduct follow-on fuel transfer from a U.S. Army Landing Craft Unit (LCU) to a location ashore 1,000 yards away, where it was transferred into a 30,000-pound liquid holding bladder.
Tactics such as CJLOTS and ABLTS ensures the Philippine and U.S. forces will be ready to respond to crises and contingencies at a moment’s notice. The CJLOTS operation performed at BK23 increased our ability to work together across the spectrum of military operations to respond to crises, support the local population, and accomplish the shared mission.
Balikatan is an annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. Military designed to strengthen bilateral interoperability, capabilities, trust, and cooperation built over decades of shared experiences.
U.S. Navy participants included ESG 3, NBG 1, and ACB 1, with maritime prepositioning force ships USNS Dahl from Maritime Prepositioning Ships Squadron (MPSRON) 3 and USNS Williams from MPSRON 2 also supporting. U.S. Army participants included the 7th Battalion Headquarters, a 149th Sea Port Operations Company, 492nd Harbor Master Operations Detachment, 259th Inland Cargo Transfer Company, and the 329th Composite Warfare Company. U.S. Marine Corps support ashore included Combat Logistics Regiment 3’s Energy Company, 3d Landing Support Battalion, and combat engineer and explosive ordinance disposal Marines from 9th Engineer Support Battalion. The Philippine Army and Navy contributed an ashore security force, a naval combat engineer brigade, a landing craft, heavy, and a Navy patrol craft.
ESG 3 comprises three amphibious squadrons, 15 amphibious warships, and eight naval support elements including approximately 18,000 active-duty and reserve Sailors and Marines. As the deputy commander for amphibious and littoral warfare, U.S. 3rd Fleet, the ESG 3 commander also oversees Mine Countermeasures Group 3 and the 14 littoral combat ships and two subordinate divisions under Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1. ESG 3 is postured in support of U.S. 3rd Fleet as a globally responsive and scalable naval command element, capable of generating, deploying, and employing naval forces and formations for crisis and contingency response, forward presence, and major combat operations focusing on amphibious operations, humanitarian and disaster relief and support to defense civil authorities, and expeditionary logistics.
For more news from Expeditionary Strike Group 3, visit https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/esg3/.
| Date Taken: | 05.25.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.31.2023 02:03 |
| Story ID: | 445724 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 404 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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