The following is the recently released 2019 U.S. Marine Corps aviation plan.
From the report
The Marine Corps is an inherently naval organization – a combined arms force organized, manned, trained and equipped to fight from the sea into austere environments. As a key component of the air-ground team, Marine aviation exists to support the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) commander and the scheme of maneuver. The goal of Marine Corps aviation, therefore, is to attain and maintain combat readiness to support expeditionary maneuver warfare. This is our identity.
The naval aviation enterprise of which we are a part keeps the nation ready, in any clime and in any place, to address threats as they arise. To do that, ships at sea employ expeditionary, amphibious and carrier-based forces ready to execute missions as tasked. Those missions often require rapid response; therefore, these forces are forward-deployed, ready to fight as required across the conflict continuum. Preparing for pacing threats, those presented by strategic competitors, means that we are also prepared for the lesserincluded missions our MAGTFs – Marine Expeditionary Forces, Brigades and Units – might be called upon to execute.
The National Defense Strategy (NDS): Sharpening the American Military’s Competitive Edge articulates the Defense Department’s strategy to deter, compete, and win in the emerging and future security environment. This document states that “the reemergence of long-term strategic competition, rapid dispersion of technologies, and new concepts of warfare and competition that span the entire
spectrum of conflict…requires a more lethal, resilient and rapidly innovating joint force.”
These are our marching orders. The six functions of Marine aviation are designed to support the MAGTF, which in turn is aligned with
both the National Military Strategy and this NDS.
With readiness trend lines moving up and our warfighting functions delineated, we now establish lines to maximize our strengths in
building the joint force our Secretary of Defense has defined. This requires a competitive approach to force development and a
consistent, multiyear investment to restore warfighting readiness and field a lethal force. We will be key to a joint force with decisive advantage for any likely conflict, while remaining proficient across the entire spectrum of conflict.
Marine aviation remains agile and will continue to evolve as we always have: to innovate; to fly; to fight; to win.
Semper Fidelis,
[signed]
Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder
Deputy Commandant for Aviation
Download the document here.
