The hull of the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8) at Ingalls Shipbuilding on Aug. 4, 2022. USNI News Photo
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro named a future landing helicopter assault ship after the first and second Battle of Fallujah, the Navy announced Tuesday. Read More
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyrell Lewis, a student in the Detachment Hawaii Enhanced Squad Leader Course, aims a dummy rocket launcher at the rocket station, one of twelve stations in the initial performance assessment portion of the course, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, April 8, 2021. The course is an experimental proof of concept, with the intent of modernizing training and providing squad leaders with new capabilities. US Marine Corps photo.
The chief of naval operations and commandant of the Marine Corps say they are increasingly clear on how they’d want to fight a peer adversary, what attributes would make their forces successful and what platforms they need to equip that force. Now, they just need help from Congress turning that into a budget everyone can agree upon, they say. Read More
A Marine with Echo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, posts security during a simulated airfield seizure after a long-range raid from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) at Ie Shima Training Facility, Okinawa, Japan, Aug. 12, 2019. The 31st MEU and Amphibious Squadron 11, aboard Wasp Amphibious Ready Group ships, conducted a series of sequential operations which simulated naval expeditionary combined-arms maneuver from amphibious assets to shore, utilizing Marine Air-Ground Task Force capabilities integrated across all warfighting domains. US Marine Corps photo.
Today, every Marine is a rifleman. Tomorrow, they could be sub-hunters. Read More
USS America (LHA-6) conducts a replenishment at sea with the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14) on Aug. 12, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy and Marine Corps need to grow their capacity to move people and supplies to and around a contested sea space – using both manned and unmanned ships and aircraft – and the service leaders asked lawmakers today for help in creating a supply chain that can stand up to a peer competitor. Read More
A U.S. Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 365 (reinforced), 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), takes off from the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) during a transit through the Strait of Hormuz on May 31, 2020. US Marine Crops Photo
As the Marines reshape their force to take on the Chinese in the Western Pacific, some experts worry the new emphasis could leave the Marines fewer tools to operate in other parts of the world and fight different types of adversaries.
U.S. Navy Chief Aerographer’s Mate Travis Lawson and U.S. Navy Mineman 2nd Class Mathew Williams, both assigned to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 5 Unmanned Systems (UMS) Platoon 141, lower an Mark 18 MOD 1 Swordfish unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) into the water as members of the Indonesian Navy’s Komando Pasukan Katak (KOPASKA) 2nd Fleet Surabaya Unit observe during a UUV familiarization drill as part of a mine countermeasures knowledge exchange for Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Indonesia 2019. US Navy photo.
Huntington Ingalls Industries is restructuring its shipbuilding businesses to tap into the Navy’s growing demand for unmanned undersea vehicles. Read More
U.S. Marines drive a Joint Light Tactical Vehicles through the water at White Beach as part of the I Marine Expeditionary Force JLTV Operator New Equipment Training course on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Oct. 24, 2019. US Marine Photo
CAPITOL HILL — The Marine Corps is on a course to overhaul its force design in just a matter of years to better position itself to deter and, if needed, defeat China in the Pacific, the commandant said today. The outcomes of two future force reviews should be publicly released within the next month, he said, though they’re currently waiting for final approval from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Read More
General David H. Berger, commandant of the Marine Corps, and Adm. Michael M. Gilday, chief of naval operations march down center walk with their wives during a Friday Evening Parade at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., Aug. 30, 2019. US Marine Corps photo.
This post is part of a series of review stories looking back at the top naval news from 2019.
2019 brought an overhaul to uniformed and civilian leadership for the Navy and Marine Corps, and with it a refined vision for where the services should be heading. Read More
Gen. David H. Berger addresses an audience of senior enlisted Marines and Sailors about Force Design at the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Symposium in Quantico, Va. on Oct. 17, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger previewed a shift in focus for the Marine Corps soon after taking over the job this summer, with his Commandant’s Planning Guidance. Now, he’s previewing what that shift will mean for the gear the Marines use and how they spend their money, writing in an essay in War on the Rocks that the service is over-invested in gear to support traditional land wars and under-invested in naval expeditionary capabilities. Read More
USS America (LHA-6) transits the Pacific Ocean near Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in 2018. US Navy
THE PENTAGON – Though the Navy had already advertised it was updating its desired fleet size and composition, after a 2016 effort pegged the future fleet at 355 ships, the service is now taking an even bigger step: working on an Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment that also includes emerging unmanned and expeditionary platforms to support new concepts of warfare, according to a memo signed by the chief of naval operations and commandant of the Marine Corps. Read More
