Bold Alligator Wargame Goes Off-Script, On Purpose

Bold Alligator Wargame Goes Off-Script, On Purpose
Bold Alligator Wargame Goes Off-Script, On Purpose

ABOARD THE USS ARLINGTON: 17 warships and two submarines. Thousands of personnel from 19 countries. Billions of dollars of high-tech hardware. Months of planning. But sometimes you still have to improvise. When US and Dutch warships and marines united in an international task force for the 2014 Bold Alligator wargames off Virginia, the two countries could…

Marines Won’t Take The Beaches Head-On Any More; ‘Find The Gaps’

Marines Won’t Take The Beaches Head-On Any More; ‘Find The Gaps’
Marines Won’t Take The Beaches Head-On Any More; ‘Find The Gaps’

WASHINGTON: Tarawa. Saipan. Iwo Jima. Peleliu. Okinawa, Inchon. These are among the most sacred names in Marine Corps history. They define the sea-borne warriors’ in so many ways: sacrifice, grit, honor, competence. To most Americans, and to many Marines, those amphibious assaults are the soul of the Corps. But those bloody and costly frontal assaults are…

F-35s, V-22s, And Samsung Tablets: Junior Marines Pioneer New Tech, Tactics

F-35s, V-22s, And Samsung Tablets: Junior Marines Pioneer New Tech, Tactics
F-35s, V-22s, And Samsung Tablets: Junior Marines Pioneer New Tech, Tactics

For the valedictory wargame of the Marine Corps’s Infantry Officer Course, young second lieutenants launched an airborne raid on San Clemente Island off the California coast to try out new tactics and techniques with V-22s and F-35s. Their mission: fly in on V-22 Ospreys, wipe out simulated missile launch sites so US warships could move…

Introducing America’s New ‘Expeditionary Fleet’

Introducing America’s New ‘Expeditionary Fleet’
Introducing America’s New ‘Expeditionary Fleet’

What’s in a name? A lot, especially for the military. Over the next decade, the Navy will take delivery of at least 32 Littoral Combat Ships (LCS); 10 Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV); three Mobile Landing Platforms (MLP); several Afloat Forward Staging Bases; and new versions of amphibious assault ships and Ship-to-Shore connector craft. New…

V-22s, Other Marine Aircraft Need Battle Networks

V-22s, Other Marine Aircraft Need Battle Networks
V-22s, Other Marine Aircraft Need Battle Networks

WASHINGTON: When Americans were threatened during the civil war in South Sudan, Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys flew a Marine response force from Spain to Djibouti in a non-stop flight of 3,200 nautical miles – the distance from Alaska to Florida. That’s an extraordinary feat for an aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter. But…

Marines Seek New Tech To Get Ashore Vs. Missiles; Reinventing Amphib Assault

Marines Seek New Tech To Get Ashore Vs. Missiles; Reinventing Amphib Assault
Marines Seek New Tech To Get Ashore Vs. Missiles; Reinventing Amphib Assault

NATIONAL HARBOR: Cheap grey-market missiles and commercially available radar kits are forcing the Marines to reinvent amphibious warfare for the 21st century. The new Corps concept, Expeditionary Force 21, predicts long-range threats will force the fleet to stay at least 65 nautical miles offshore, a dozen times the distance that existing Marine amphibious vehicles are…

Hard Corps: Marine’s ‘Expeditionary Force 21’ To Be ‘Fast, Austere, & Lethal,’ And Expensive

Hard Corps: Marine’s ‘Expeditionary Force 21’ To Be ‘Fast, Austere, & Lethal,’ And Expensive
Hard Corps: Marine’s ‘Expeditionary Force 21’ To Be ‘Fast, Austere, & Lethal,’ And Expensive

WASHINGTON: In a move with major implications for the defense budget, defense contractors, and inter-service politics, the Marine Corps is set to publish a new “capstone concept” — leaked to Breaking Defense — that will guide the entire service for the next decade. From the title on, Expeditionary Force 21 paints an emphatic, uncompromising picture of a future Marine…