Tag Archives: Marine Corps Warfighting Lab

Marines Look Beyond LAVs as Recon Roles Expand

Marines Look Beyond LAVs as Recon Roles Expand

Sgt. David Seeley, a squad leader with Battalion Landing Team 3/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and a native of Dunwoody, Georgia, walks past a light armored vehicle (LAV) at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan on Feb. 8, 2021. Marine Corps Photo

Marines are rethinking how the service does reconnaissance beyond its traditional light armored vehicles as part of the ongoing Force Design 2030 effort, officials said last week. Read More

Marines Look to EPFs, ESBs as Interim Solution for Light Amphibious Warship

Marines Look to EPFs, ESBs as Interim Solution for Light Amphibious Warship

Expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Brunswick (T-EPF 6) departs Naval Base Guam, passing the MSC expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4) and marking the start of Pacific Partnership 2019. Navy photo

WASHINGTON D.C. — With the Light Amphibious Warship delayed by several years, the Marine Corps is looking to ship classes already in the fleet as an interim solution to move Marines around the Indo-Pacific. Read More

Fewer Marines, More Sensors Part of Berger’s Latest Force Design Revision

Fewer Marines, More Sensors Part of Berger’s Latest Force Design Revision

Marines with 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment (1/2), 2d Marine Division, board a KC-130J Super Hercules at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, April 22, 2022. US Marine Corps Photo

THE PENTAGON – Reducing the Marines to 175,000 and adding more sensor capability to smaller units are part of a wide swath of adjustments the Marine Corps is pursuing in the latest iteration of its modernization drive. Read More

Marines Update Force Design 2030 After a Year of Experimentation in the Field

Marines Update Force Design 2030 After a Year of Experimentation in the Field

A U.S. Marine with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3d Marines, crawls onto the beach during reconnaissance scout swimmer training part of Exercise Bougainville I at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii, Feb. 8, 2021.US Marine Corps Photo

The Marine Corps is a year into reshaping its force to become optimized for modern operations – in combat and in everyday competition – by 2030, and the service has already taken some major steps such as getting rid of all its tanks and refining its vision for how to buy the next reconnaissance vehicle Read More

Marines Begin Experimentation to Refine Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations

Marines Begin Experimentation to Refine Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Brian W. Nickerson, a platoon commander with Battalion Landing Team 3/4, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), sets security with his Marines during a raid on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 1, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

The Marine Corps has released the first version of its Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations manual and is kicking off a two-year process of near-constant experimentation and analysis to help refine the document before it becomes formal doctrine. Read More

Marine Corps Conducting 'Campaign of Learning' to Wring Out Force Design 2030 Plans

Marine Corps Conducting ‘Campaign of Learning’ to Wring Out Force Design 2030 Plans

U.S. Marines with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment, scope out their terrain during an amphibious assault exercise, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, May 28, 2020. Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment, and Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment, conducted an amphibious assault exercise and military operations in urban terrain to increase littoral mobility proficiency in 3d Marine Regiment and advance the goals of the Commandant of the Marine Corps 2030 Force Design. US Marine Corps photo.

The Marine Corps is asking hard questions about its Force Design 2030 plan and gaining answers through a flurry of experimentation and wargaming, to help quickly reshape the force to deter or win a fight against China.
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Marines Placing Small UAVs into Ground Combat Element, As Aviators Still Refining Large UAS Requirement

Marines Placing Small UAVs into Ground Combat Element, As Aviators Still Refining Large UAS Requirement

U.S. Marines with Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 launch a RQ-21A Blackjack for Assault Support Tactics 2 at Canon Air Defense Complex (P111), Yuma, Ariz., Oct. 12, 2016. US Marine Corps photo.

While the Marine Corps is still charting its path forward for large drones, the service is moving smaller unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into its ground combat units. Read More