Tag Archives: RQ-21A Blackjack

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 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

First Marine F-35B Combat Deployment Hints at New Roles for Amphibious Ready Group

First Marine F-35B Combat Deployment Hints at New Roles for Amphibious Ready Group

An F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), prepares to land aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2), while another F-35B Lightning II flies over on Dec. 4, 2018. US Marine Corps Photo

After eight months at sea with a squadron of F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters, the Marines and the Navy are seeing how the next-generation aircraft will expand the effectiveness of U.S. amphibious forces. Read More

Marines UAV Crews to Train on Air Force Reapers as Prep for Group 5 UAV Fielding

Marines UAV Crews to Train on Air Force Reapers as Prep for Group 5 UAV Fielding

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

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – The Marine Corps will work with the Air Force to put its Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) crews through Group 5 UAV training to be qualified to operate MQ-9 Reapers. The idea is to help create an infrastructure and a knowledge base on large UAV operations ahead of fielding the Marines’ ship-based UAV in the 2020s. Read More