Commandant: Marines ‘Not Optimized For Great Power Competition’

Commandant: Marines ‘Not Optimized For Great Power Competition’
Commandant: Marines ‘Not Optimized For Great Power Competition’

The new commandant says the Corps has to start “unshackling ourselves from previous notions of what war looks like and reimagining how Marines will train, how we will operate, and how we will fight.”

Marines: FVL Intriguing, BUT CH-53K Is Essential

Marines: FVL Intriguing, BUT CH-53K Is Essential
Marines: FVL Intriguing, BUT CH-53K Is Essential

The Marines are hellbent on fielding the troubled CH-53K helicopter to supply the far-flung island outposts they plan on using against China.

Marines Want Missiles To Sink Ships From Shores, And They Want Them Fast

Marines Want Missiles To Sink Ships From Shores, And They Want Them Fast
Marines Want Missiles To Sink Ships From Shores, And They Want Them Fast

“The Army is looking at this too but probably on a different timeline — the Marine Corps wants to get after this pretty quickly.”

Sea Dragon II: Streamline Marine Logistics For Future War

Sea Dragon II: Streamline Marine Logistics For Future War
Sea Dragon II: Streamline Marine Logistics For Future War

The concepts the Warfighting Lab comes up with aren’t holy writ, but rather a baseline for young Marines to build on, “a point from which to deviate,” said Maj. J.B. Persons, a special projects officer at MCWL. “Give Marines new tools or toys, and they’ll surprise you every time.”

The Next Pacific War: Lessons From Wake Island For The PLA

The Next Pacific War: Lessons From Wake Island For The PLA
The Next Pacific War: Lessons From Wake Island For The PLA

China’s increasingly aggressive rise puts the Pacific theater in play in a way it hasn’t been since 1945. In this essay, Singaporean scholar Ben Ho Wan Beng and retired US Marine Gary Lehmann look at what a critical but overlooked World War II battle has to tell us about the potential strengths — and weaknesses — of the Marine Corps’s new concept for waging the next Pacific war. — the editors

Marine Missile Strategy: Buy Some ASAP, Then Develop With Army

Marine Missile Strategy: Buy Some ASAP, Then Develop With Army
Marine Missile Strategy: Buy Some ASAP, Then Develop With Army

The Marines want new missiles for multiple missions: attacking enemy aircraft, ships at sea, and ground targets. But getting them on a tight budget will require working closely with the Army and Navy.

Marines Seek Anti-Ship HIMARS: High Cost, Hard Mission

Marines Seek Anti-Ship HIMARS: High Cost, Hard Mission
Marines Seek Anti-Ship HIMARS: High Cost, Hard Mission

For the first time since December 1941, when Wake Island’s shore gunners sank the invading destroyer Hayate, Marine Corps artillery wants to kill ships. That could be a big boost for the Navy, which confronts ever more powerful Russian and Chinese fleets. Army artillery is also exploring anti-ship missiles, and the Marines may buy the…

Marine Airpower’s Future: Networking F-35s, V-22s, & MUX Drones

Marine Airpower’s Future: Networking F-35s, V-22s, & MUX Drones
Marine Airpower’s Future: Networking F-35s, V-22s, & MUX Drones

CAPITOL HILL: The Marine Corps’ top pilot sketched a vision of fast-paced and networked air operations, spearheaded by F-35 fighters, V-22 tiltrotors, and the future MUX drones, all linked to each other and the rest of the force by Link-16 and MADL. Marine F-35s have already practiced spotting targets for Marine artillery rockets and Navy…

A Bridgehead Too Far? CSBA’s Aggressive, Risky Strategy For Marines

A Bridgehead Too Far? CSBA’s Aggressive, Risky Strategy For Marines
A Bridgehead Too Far? CSBA’s Aggressive, Risky Strategy For Marines

UPDATED with Brig. Gen. Turner remarks on the report WASHINGTON: Marines are famously aggressive, but a new battle plan from a leading thinktank makes Iwo Jima look low-risk. The Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments’ proposed concept of operations is imaginative, exciting and more than a little scary: In a future war, rather than stay far…