Modern War Institute – Marine Corps leadership has not clearly articulated the demands stand-in forces will face and the joint dependencies they will generate. To prepare for war in the Pacific, leadership must anticipate and define these forces’ worst day. Through this necessary—yet sobering—visualization, the Corps can identify and train for the challenges they will face when (not if) crisis strikes in the Pacific.

CIMSEC – As the 21st century’s strategic environment becomes increasingly complex with peer competitors, the enemy’s advanced anti-access/area-denial capabilities, and the proliferation of long-range precision fires, the Navy and Marine Corps must embark on a new phase of naval integration. The CNO, in conjunction with the CMC, should provide guidance on how to enhance maritime lethality to transcend the traditional ARG/MEU construct, thereby forging an integrated naval force capable of securing contested littorals and responding to emergent threats. 

War on the Rocks – In the Indo-Pacific, the first to arrive may not just win — their very arrival may prevent the fight. Without reliable mobility, III Marine Expeditionary Force risks becoming the most forward-postured but strategically stranded force in the joint arsenal. The task ahead is clear: fund the platforms, train the crews, and flood the zone before deterrence fails.

USNI News – Gulf Coast-based Bollinger Shipyards won a $9.5 million contract to build the first Landing Ship Medium.

Naval News – The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to branch out across the West Pacific with new prepositioning sites as the force continues to shape its force design and long term planning goals around restricted mobility and a lack of hardened supply chains, according to documents published by the service last month.

USNI News – The U.S. Marine Corps continues to refine the role of MV-22B Ospreys in anti-submarine warfare, this time with an eye on the Indo-Pacific.

USNI News – The Marine Corps recently refined how MV-22B Ospreys can support anti-submarine warfare during an exercise alongside U.S. and Dutch forces off the East Coast.

Naval News – The U.S. Marine Corps’ Long Range Fires (LRF) launcher, built around a single-cell Mark 41 VLS cell for Tomahawk missiles on a ROGUE-Fires carrier vehicle, has been cancelled due to concerns over maneuverability in littoral and austere environments.

War on the Rocks – Commandant Eric Smith clearly articulated his vision for the future of the Marine Corps: While retaining focus on the China threat, the service will recenter on global crisis response. This means getting more marines — and more of their combat gear — on ship and deployed around the world. Smith believes marines should be America’s premier 9-1-1 force, just like they were before the “Global War on Terror.” But as I pointed out in the first two parts of this series, he faces some daunting challenges. Recentering the Marine Corps on crisis response will require more than just “re-bluing,” or getting marines back on globally deployed Navy ships.

War on the Rocks – In just over 20 years, the Marine Corps has gone from being America’s reliable middleweight force in readiness to more of a secondary, general purpose backup force. Today, marines are more likely to find themselves assisting special operations teams and U.S. Army crisis response task forces than spearheading operations. Without meaningful change, a dangerous question resurfaces: “Why do we need a Marine Corps?”

War on the Rocks – Marines have spent too much energy in the past five years debating the merits of former Commandant David H. Berger’s Force Design 2030 plan. Force Design is now part of the Marine Corps. It is time for all marines on and off active duty to set aside their disagreements and focus forward, towards the vision articulated by current Commandant Eric M. Smith. And it is time for the allies of the Marine Corps to lean in and support this reorientation. The U.S. Marine Corps is facing a relatively slow moving but all too real existential threat.

The War Zone – The Ancillary Surface Craft will help the Marines further develop their island-hopping playbook until larger landing ships arrive, but time is ticking.

The War Zone – Harpoons would give AC-130Js a dedicated tool for engaging enemy ships and fit well with plans to boost their capabilities with new radars.

The War Zone – The modular Red Wolf launched effects weapon could give Marine AH-1Zs a key new standoff strike tool and open the door to other capabilities.

War on the Rocks – Modernization as readiness is a journey that requires the Marine Corps to move out now. The service can no longer afford to move at the pace of the future years’ defense plan. The horizon for pursuing advanced technologies is moving ever closer and the Marine Corps can longer afford to innovate at the pace of money. The commandant has been clear-eyed on how the Marine Corps will be postured for near-peer conflict, crisis response, and future warfare. Service efforts to pursue high-end intelligent systems and supporting capabilities will not only make the Marine Corps more lethal but help avoid the false dilemma of modernization versus readiness.

USNI News – Marine Corps Combat Logistics Battalions in Japan and the United States have been employing logistics supply drones inspired by drug-smuggling narco subs in recent exercises and tests.

Naval News – The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment’s Medium-Range Missile Battery will send Naval Strike Missile-equipped Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction Systems (NMESIS) to the Luzon Strait during Balikatan 2025, marking the first-ever American anti-ship missile deployment to the strategically located Batanes Island Chain. 

USNI News – The Navy wants a Louisiana shipyard to build the first hull for the Landing Ship Medium program as part of a plan to find an off-the-shelf design to support the Marine Corps’ new island-hopping regiments, a Navy official told USNI News. The Navy also wants the data rights for a Dutch tank landing ship used by international navies.

USNI News – Last month, the Okinawa, Japan-based 12th Marine Littoral Regiment stood up the last of its subordinate units, pulling a storied combat infantry battalion into the fold of a modern front-line Marine Corps force in the Western Pacific.

Defense News – The top Marine has a key objective for the Corps: getting Marine Expeditionary Units back on full deployment schedules. But he’s going to need some help.

USNI News – The Marines are set to deploy a new rotational force to the Philippines at a major upcoming exercise. The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment will debut the new Littoral Rotational Force-Luzon at the Balikatan 2025 exercise in the Philippines.

CIMSEC – The United States Marine Corps has an outsized effect on Navy force planning. While the Navy and the Marines exhibit a sincere and genuine single team spirit conducting global naval operations, they are a fierce team of rivals when determining the requirements for amphibious ships (also known as “amphibs”), which the Navy funds for their construction and operation.

The War Zone – The Marines are working to dramatically extend the kinetic reach of their AH-1Zs to help ensure their relevance in future high-end fights.

USNI News – With the impending retirement of the aging Wright-class, the Marine Corps wants a new class of aviation logistics support ships, according to the 2025 aviation plan released this week.  The Marines currently have two aviation support ships that serve as floating repair stations with detachments of embarked Marines that can perform up-to-depot-level maintenance on Marine aircraft.

Breaking Defense – The Marine Corps is shifting the balance of F-35 Joint Strike Fightersit intends to buy, opting to purchase dozens more carrier-based variants in lieu of the short-take-off and vertical landing variant, according to the service’s new 2025 aviation plan.