Posted on 07/07/2023 10:08:25 AM PDT by george76
The service is returning to its roots as an island-hopping tornado to face off against Russia and China.
The U.S. Marine Corps is in the process of reinventing itself to deal with future threats . . . and future budgets.
The service is concentrating on island and littoral missions, and going lighter and more mobile as a result.
The plan, Force Design 2030, aims to make the Corps an indispensable tool in America’s toolbox.
The U.S. Marine Corps is undergoing its biggest reorganization in decades, slimming down and chopping weapon systems, such as tanks and howitzers, in an effort to become quicker, more agile, and more lethal, while specializing in operating in island chains and coastal areas. It’s all built on the service’s belief that the next war will resemble World War II far more than Iraq or Afghanistan.
Force Design 2030.
In Iraq, the U.S. Marine Corps was virtually indistinguishable from the U.S. Army, operating tanks hundreds of miles inland. This Marines are working to ensure they won’t be used like this again.
After the Cold War, the Marine Corps began to resemble a second American land army; the Marines invaded Iraq over land in 1991 and again in 2003, and were functionally a land army in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. While the Marines were successful in this role, it was clear that with an aging U.S. population and rising entitlement spending, defense budgets would soon come under increasing scrutiny. Those inside the Marine Corps believed its role as a second land army would make the service seem redundant, bracing for future cuts.
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If the Marines were to survive the coming budget wars, the Marine Corps’ leadership argued, the service would need to be seen as necessary within a well-defined and relevant niche. The result was Force Design 2030, a radical plan to sculpt the Marines to operate against Russia and China in coastal areas, the so-called littorals, and island chains and archipelagos. This included areas such as the Baltic Sea against Russia and the South China Sea against China—both areas where fighting would likely take place if the U.S. and its allies traded blows with Moscow and Beijing. Perhaps most importantly, it is the sort of warfare the U.S. Army has shifted its attention away from, giving the Marines the opportunity to seize it for themselves.
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The Marines will substitute most of their howitzers for the M142 HIMARS rocket launcher
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Force Design 2030 instituted a number of hard changes. The Marine Corps eliminated tanks from its global inventory, transferring more than 450 to the U.S. Army, plus the heavy bridging equipment that would allow tanks to cross rivers, ditches, and other obstacles. The Marines are sharply reducing the number of M777 155-millimeter howitzers, and instituting modest cuts to tiltrotor and helicopter squadrons. The Corps is also reducing the number of infantry battalions from 24 to 21, and cutting each battalion’s manpower by 10 percent. The Marines will maintain their target of 420 F-35Bs and F-35Cs, while reducing the number of aircraft per squadron from 16 to 10.
The eliminations and reductions are designed to make the service lighter and more easily deployable. M1A1 Abrams tanks are highly capable, but less useful fighting on the small artificial islands China has built in the South China Sea, and the Marines believe sea and air-based drones can provide the same firepower. The M777 howitzer has a minimum range of 1.6 miles, leaving them unable to provide fire support on small islands. Manpower cuts to fund new equipment purchases would result in the need for fewer helicopters and tiltrotors like the UH-1Y Venom and MV-22B Osprey.
Meanwhile, the Marines will boost other categories of equipment and buy new kit. The service will expand its inventory of HIMARS rocket trucks and precision-guided rockets that have proven invaluable in Ukraine. It’s also purchasing NMESIS robotic vehicles armed with the new Naval Strike Missile. Other equipment will include land, air, and sea drones that are lighter and can locate and destroy enemy positions faster than a 70-ton tank.
Fighting in the Littorals and Tiny Island Hopping.
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On the plus side, the Marine Corps is standing up three Marine Littoral Regiments (MLRs). MLRs are ground units designed to project power not only on the ground, but into the nearby sea and air zones. While past Marine units have been centered on land power, the MLR recognizes that land, air, and sea power are all interlinked and addresses all three. The idea is that, once emplaced, a Littoral Regiment can scatter smaller subunits armed with sensors, anti-ship missiles, and air-defense missiles throughout an area. The MLR is built around a reinforced infantry battalion, an air-defense battalion, and a logistics battalion.
In practice, it would work like this: in the event of conflict, an MLR would use its infantry battalion to carve out an advance base on an enemy-held island. Next, it would use anti-ship missiles and air-defense missiles to fortify its position, creating a keep-out zone for the enemy. Instead of concentrating all anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles in one location for ease of control, it would spread them out across a wide area to prevent destruction in a single, catastrophic attack. (Spreading out its forces would also allow the Marines to control a larger area.) Once the enemy is on the ropes, the MLR can advance again, its infantry leapfrogging to the next island, the regiment’s missile forces following along.
The Marines will stand up three Marine Littoral Regiments, each of 1,800 to 2,000 Marines and sailors. The first MLR, the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, is based in Hawaii, with a second to be based in Okinawa, Japan. The location of the third regiment is unknown, but will probably be oriented toward the Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, and Russia.
The Takeaway
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During World War II, the Marine Corps hopped from island to island in the Pacific, taking the war all the way to Okinawa, Japan’s doorstep. China has claimed up to 90 percent of the South China Sea with dozens of islets, and the next war might well look like WWII in miniature—but with even greater stakes between two nuclear-armed powers.
The best way to deter Beijing could be to create a mechanism to wrestle the South China Sea away from Chinese control. That mechanism, if the U.S. Marine Corps has anything to say about it, is the U.S. Marine Corps.
Anyone checked this out on a map recently?
Or are we planning on refighting WWII and engaging in Island Warfare to recapture the Solomon Islands after they are recaptured?
World War II ended almost 80 years ago. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by suggesting that the U.S. Marines aren’t going to be taking any islands away from anybody in 2023.
When the Marines went over to Iraq and Afghanistan and they put them on police duty and the leadership went along with it...
Marines are not a police force, and somebody was kissing a bunch of buttock.
The Muhammad Ali strategy: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”?
They’re using high heels and pink dresses to terrify the enemy 😆
It’s pathetic
The traditional purpose of the Marines was to go to hostile places, secure a beachhead, and then let the Army take things over from there.
We are being told a kinder, gentler WWII Eastern Front type meat grinder world war can be fought against Russia and WON. The DC globalist/neocon cabal is drunk with uncontested power and probably wouldn’t mind fighting another Somme as well.
“Or are we planning on refighting WWII and engaging in Island Warfare to recapture the Solomon Islands after they are recaptured?”
I spent over thirty years in the military industrial complex. There are a lot of issues to unpack. There have been several attempts to fold the Marines into the Army. The fact that they were armed exactly like the army and used in the identical missions made it easier to simply do away with the Marines. They had to find a way to differentiate themselves. Primarily, this is a move to make the Marines something different than the army and to give them a mission that only they can do.
As far as refighting WWII, no. The Chinese will have to seize lots of small islands if they take Taiwan. The Marines are being positioned to counter that move. I’d say they are being made into a deterrent force. I don’t recall the exact number of days, but the objective is to put a substantial force anywhere in the world in a very short time. No other country can do that. As such, any country should think twice before setting themselves in the crosshairs of a Marine expeditionary force.
I don’t know what the present-day numbers are, but in 2010 the Marines outnumbered the UK’s army. They had more aircraft the UK airforce and more ships, including small carriers, then the UK’s navy.
Some of the old ways will be needed if a war were to occur. Remember that even horses were brought back in Afghanistan for our Special Forces to use. Each weapon system has a unique and pragmatic use. Abandoning the older ones for new ones has drawbacks and relearning them is a PIA.
“During World War II, the Marine Corps hopped from island to island in the Pacific, taking the war all the way to Okinawa, Japan’s doorstep. China has claimed up to 90 percent of the South China Sea with dozens of islets, and the next war might well look like WWII in miniature”
And they made healthy use of tanks and howitzers in that island hopping effort. Not to mention that was having uncountable USN big guns offshore. Landing howitzers let them fight dug in enemy close in. Ammo for 105s and 155 is cheap. Missiles are limited and expensive. Ukraine is proving that.
What this really is, is that the USMC leadership is wanting to get into high tech information and weaponry so the generals get lucrative post retirement jobs. Not much money in tanks and arty industries.
HIMARS are no substitute for artillery. And what USMC jackass general wants to park a battalion on some Pacific island to “defend” it. Talk about a fixed target the Chinese can destroy at will.... tell me we wouldn’t have just popped a tactical nuke over Peleliu or Tarawa and sailed right by.
So they’re ditching the 155mm, just as artillery is proving to be THE winning element in the Eurozone... literally as I type this.
Arty is called The King of Battle for a reason.
“I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by suggesting that the U.S. Marines aren’t going to be taking any islands away from anybody in 2023.”
Sadly, you are correct. All USMC Amtracs are forbidden from going into the water except for war emergency now. There Navy has no fire support. The USMC air wings are decimated and with this “everything joint” business are fully controlled in theater by the overall USAF Air commander.
Strip away organic air, arty, artillery, and the USMC is staggered into weakness. Add in women infantry and platoon commanders, and their silly obsession with SOCOM, and the USMC is a bare shadow of it’s power as recently as the early 90s. Compared to WWII it has become a weak sister.
Tanks are obsolete..................
I heard they won’t be carrying rifles anymore. Each Marine and Soldier will have their own lawyer they carry with them.
My evaluation given the recent lessons from both the Ukraine and Russia:
Ditching the tanks - good.
Reducing artillery - bad
Reducing the size of the fighting forces -bad
Cutting rotorcraft - bad
Keeping air assets - good.
Thanks for your expert view. I think you are spot on. The Marines didn’t want to be just another division in the Army. If the fighting in Ukraine is any indication, the reorganization was prescient ditching tanks.
Comparing the Marines to the UK is more of an indictment of NATO than anything else, and for us letting them get away with it for many years.
Of course, the Navy runs the carriers, but I know what you mean about the Marine-oriented amphibious assault ships. They’re basically WWII-sized carriers, that as a group outnumber every other navy’s carriers. Most people don’t know about them, even after the Bonhomme Richard fire.
The army is a sustained large unit fighting and garrison force.
Totally different missions.
Giving up organic armor and artillery doesn't sound like a great idea from a grunt's perspective.
Just one little question from the peanut gallery? Have the Russian agreed to fight tthat kind of a war?
Don't forget the social workers.
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