Latest news with #MEU
AU Financial Review
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
In Pictures: Best of the 2025 election campaign
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese crosses paths with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in western Sydney. James Brickwood Peter Dutton visits Ag Fest in Carrick in the division of Lyons in Tasmania. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese is assisted after tumbling off the riser while taking a group photo during the MEU conference, in Lovedale, NSW, in the electorate of Hunter. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton's travelling media bus gets stuck on a cycle lane kerb when leaving the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney. James Brickwood Peter Dutton visits Hunter Trade College in the division of Paterson in NSW. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese playing pool after talking to university students at the pub in a Greens seat of Brisbane. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton and Kooyong Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer at The Tower hotel in Hawthorn East, Melbourne. James Brickwood Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese during the third leaders' debate at Nine's studios in Sydney. Alex Ellinghausen Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Michaelia Cash and Peter Dutton at the Mount Pleasant Bowling Club, in the Perth suburb of Ardoss. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese goes after the canine vote during a visit to Sunnybank Market Square in Brisbane. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton has a go at wool grading at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. James Brickwood On tools: Labor member for Tangney Sam Lim, Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon run the barbecue at Winthrop Park in Winthrop, WA. Alex Ellinghausen Former prime minister John Howard with Peter Dutton at Liverpool Catholic Club in Sydney. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese and former prime minister Julia Gillard at the Australian Labor Party federal election campaign launch at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton visits Sanctuary Point in NSW to announce an investment pledge towards local football field facilities. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese participates in the Freddy's Pass Off segment on the Sunday Footy Show at the Nine studios in Sydney. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton plays two-up at the Townsville RSL club. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese meets kids at Cabramatta Public School in Sydney. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton has visited more than a dozen petrol stations during the election campaign to focus on the Coalition's plan to cut fuel excise for one year. James Brickwood Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese shake hands at the end of the third leaders' debate at the Nine studios in Sydney. Alex Ellinghausen Peter Dutton attends the Assyrian New Year celebrations at Fairfield Showgrounds in Sydney. James Brickwood Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have lunch with Chinese business leaders in Melbourne. Alex Ellinghausen
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Marine calls for affordable, lethal and autonomous systems
The Marine Corps' highest-ranking officer continues to emphasize the service's key mission in crisis response through its expeditionary units, while asking industry to give the Corps affordable and autonomous ways to modernize the force. Marine Corps Commandant Eric Smith told the audience at the annual Modern Day Marine exposition Thursday that the force design decisions made over the past six years have put new capabilities in the hands of crucial formations, such as the Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU. 'This is about more than ships, it's about deterrence and denial,' Smith said. 'That is why the 3.0 [Amphibious Ready Group] MEU matters, it gives our leaders options.' A 3.0 presence means a three-ship ARG-MEU, each deployed out of the East Coast, one out of the West Coast and a third on episodic deployments out of Okinawa, Japan. Top Marine's deployment plans face familiar wrinkle: Inert Navy ships An ARG includes an assault ship, a landing ship with helicopter platform and a dock landing ship. The MEU contains a battalion landing team, ground combat element, aviation combat element and combat logistics element to form a Marine Air Ground Task Force, or MAGTF. To achieve that, the Corps needs 31 amphibious ships at a readiness level of 80%. Demand is higher from combatant commands, Smith said. The demand is more than five ARG MEUs, the most requested asset behind the Carrier Strike Group. Readiness levels hover at around 50%, Smith said in early April at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition. That's because following two decades of land-based wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Corps had largely not maintained its fleet. Money for maintenance and shipbuilding went to those wars instead. And Smith wants more capabilities for those MEUs as the service battles an amphibious ship shortage. 'What I need is affordable, lethal, autonomous, light and I can fund at budget time,' Smith said. Some of those new developments include the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, and its lighter version, the L-MADIS. The system still needs more autonomous solutions to get after a major threat – drone swarms. 'The big thing that really keeps me up at night is swarms,' Col. Andrew Konicki, head of ground-based air defense for Marine Corps Systems Command, said Wednesday. Striking those threats from aboard ship or on shore is vital to keeping Marines alive. 'That is how we're going to say ahead of the adversary, with autonomy,' Smith said. Thirteen of 21 Light Marine Air Defense Integrated Systems, or L-MADIS, have been fielded over the past three years. That light system was fielded to the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion, 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment in 2024. It handles group I and II drone threats. Marine Expeditionary Units have used the system when crossing various maritime chokepoints, and it has proved effective in the maritime environment, despite the system being built mainly as a ground-based air defense system, Konicki said. Seven more of the larger MADIS system will be fielded by September, bringing the Corps total to 20, with full fielding expected by 2033. That's for air defense. For a more offensive approach, the Corps expects to receive four-dozen mobile fires platforms, dubbed the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS. The NMESIS is made up of a Naval Strike Missile mounted on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle platform with semi-autonomous and autonomous capabilities to launch remotely. The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, a newly created unit for fighting in the littorals, or waters near land, received the first six NMESIS in November. The Hawaii-based unit formed in 2021. The service then established the 12th MLR on Okinawa, Japan, with plans for a third rotational MLR on Guam. Six of the NMESIS systems are set to field with 12th MLR beginning March 2026. All these moves and the push for new, better equipment have a singular aim, he said. 'Modernization with a clear purpose – to keep Marines lethal and survivable,' Smith said.
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The 2025 Australian federal election so far
The shadow Minister for infrastructure, Bridget McKenzie, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, at the Marnong Winery on the northern outskirts of Melbourne. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Greens Leader Adam Bandt with a giant toothbrush advocating for the inclusion of dental care in Medicare at Luna Park in Melbourne. Photograph: Nadir Kinani/AAP Prime minister Anthony Albanese takes in the sights on a ferry to Green Island, Queensland, in the electorate of Leichhardt. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP A journalist gets to work with a live cross straight after touchdown in Perth. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Peter Dutton at a press conference in Prestons, in western Sydney, in the seat of Werriwa. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Anthony Albanese falls off the riser as he attends an MEU conference in the electorate of Hunter in the Hunter Valley. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Independent Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel gives her campaign launch speech at Kingston City Hall in Melbourne. Photograph:Peter Dutton at Ampol Carrick petrol station in Tasmania. Photograph: Thomas Lisson/AAP A protestor approaches the minister for climate change and energy Chris Bowen as he arrives for a press conference at a home in Burwood, Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP Peter Dutton visits a Headspace facility in Melton north-east of Melbourne, in the seat of Hawke. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP A protester confronts Peter Dutton at a beer factory in the seat of Brisbane. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP A buff-banded rail bird photobombs Anthony Albanese as he speaks to the media on Green Island. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Peter Dutton tightens a wheel nut during a visit to the Cougar Mining Equipment facility in Tomago in the Hunter Valley in the seat of Paterson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP A Keep the Sheep protester shouts outside Midland hospital in Perth. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP The shadow of Peter Dutton is seen at a press conference in Prestons, in western Sydney in the seat of Werriwa. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Anthony Albanese and the Member for Lalor Jo Ryan during a visit to the The Werribee Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Melbourne. Photograph: Jason Edwards/AAP A pet cockatoo named 'Malcolm Turnbill II' at a home visited by Anthony Albanese in the electorate of Canberra, ACT. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP Anthony Albanese with the minister for regional development Kristy McBain in Bega, NSW. Photograph: Jason Edwards/AAP
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Marine's deployment plans face familiar wrinkle: Inert Navy ships
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The top Marine has a key objective for the Corps: getting Marine Expeditionary Units back on full deployment schedules. But he's going to need some help. 'My top priority ... is restoring a 3.0 MEU presence worldwide,' Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said April 7 at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition. More specifically, that means a three-ship MEU with an Amphibious Ready Group, or ARG-MEU, deployed out of the East Coast, one out of the West Coast and a third on periodic deployments out of Okinawa, Japan. The primary impediment? Amphibious ships. The Corps needs 31 amphibious ships under law at a readiness level of 80% or greater to consistently meet that need, Smith said. But the readiness of that fleet is hovering at about 50% at any given time. Marines hindered by Navy's amphibious ship maintenance delays An Amphibious Ready Group includes an assault ship, a landing ship with helicopter platform and a dock landing ship. The MEU consists of a battalion landing team, aviation combat element and combat logistics element to form a Marine Air Ground Task Force. Bringing the amphib fleet back up to speed will cost maintenance and procurement dollars over multiple years, Smith said. It will take the Marine Corps, the Navy, Congress and shipbuilders. Smith didn't shirk the Corps' role in the state of the fleet. After two decades of land-based wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Corps had largely left its fleet behind. Money for maintenance and building new ships went to those wars instead. And the way the four-star sees it, a 3.0 presence is the bare minimum. That's because combatant commanders are requesting the combat power of more than five MEUs throughout the years, he said. Marine Corps Times reported in December that the Government Accountability Office had audited Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and Naval Base San Diego, California, regarding amphibious ship maintenance status. From 2011 to 2020 amphibs were only available for operations 46% of the time. Also, in 2024 the Boxer and America amphibious readiness groups missed exercises and experienced delayed deployments due to the unavailability of vessels. One ship had not deployed in 12 years due to maintenance issues. At the time, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Joshua Benson told Marine Corps Times, 'The current state of readiness impacts the Marine Corps' capacity to support Combatant Commander's needs, to maintain a 3.0 presence with Marine Expeditionary Units performing heel-to-toe deployments, and ultimately limits our ability to respond to crisis around the globe.' Beyond regular maintenance and catch-up work, the lifespan of much of the fleet is in doubt. Out of 32 amphibious-warfare ships, 16 are not expected to reach their 40-year service life. But the entire fleet must serve beyond that time limit to maintain at least a 31-amphibious warfare ship requirement, according to the report. Also at the expo Monday, America's largest naval shipbuilder, HII, reached an agreement to partner with South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to boost shipbuilding across numerous vessel classes. 'By working with our shipbuilding allies and sharing best practices, we believe this [agreement] offers real potential to help accelerate delivery of quality ships,' Brian Blanchette, HII executive vice president and president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said in a release announcing the partnership.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Oorah!,' Military training exercises being conducted in Campbell County
CAMPBELL COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) – The Campbell County Sheriff says to keep your eyes open and not to be surprised if you see an increased military presence in the area over the next two weeks. According to local county officials, residents can expect to see a heavy military presence while Marines and Sailors of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) conduct training exercises in the region. (Photo Credit: Marines and Sailors of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) This will include military personnel, watercraft, and low-flying aircraft, as well as an increase in noise from the activity. VMI Board doesn't extend superintendent's contract, prompting cries of racism Training exercises are planned from March 8 through March 19 and are designed to ensure preparedness. 'We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.' For additional details, you can visit the 22nd MEU Website or follow them on Social Media: @22ndmeu (Facebook) | @22nd_meu (Instagram). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
