Military Times – “Expect to start by getting wet.”

Breaking Defense – The drones would be part of a new multi-domain Mobile Reconnaissance unit that includes unmanned ships and new ground vehicles

USNI News – After the March 2020 release of Force Design 2030, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger today released an annual update to the document that lays out the progress already made and the steps still to come, as the service continues to learn more about what it will need to deter evolving threats in the Pacific and around the globe.

USNI News – The first LPD Flight II amphibious warship is still in the early stages of construction, but the Marine Corps is already eyeing a more lethal replacement for the ship.

C4ISRNet – Recognizing the importance electromagnetic warfare will play, the Marine Corps plans to make big investments in new systems.

Marine Times – In preparation for a future war where Marine infantry platoons take on the responsibilities currently at the company level, the Corps is launching a new experimental School of Infantry curriculum that will teach aspiring grunts 21 new lessons, or “behaviors.”

USNI News – After honing naval integration and then exercising in the Indo-Pacific with the joint force, the Marine Corps is ready to take its new island-hopping campaign concept to the next level by drilling with international allies and partners.

Breaking Defense – The document outlines an evolving effort to stand up a series of small, agile units tasked with air defense, anti-ship and submarine warfare, and seizing, holding and resupplying ad hoc bases to support an island-hopping campaign in the Pacific.

USNI Proceedings – The Marine Corps needs to develop new capabilities to support the Commandant’s call to play a role in ASW.

1945 – James Holmes writes that the U.S. should compile a Small Wars Manual for the twenty-first century—and avoid having to improvise a brilliant new strategy from scratch the next time America embroils itself in another country’s internal affairs. 

USNI Proceedings – Marine Corps and Navy aviation must team up for the maritime campaign.

USNI News – 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.

War Zone – Defending against beach landings and ducking between islands in the dead of night, the Marines are looking to small boats to help fight big conflicts.

USNI Proceedings – As the Marine Corps faces new challenges, it should heed lessons from the past on guiding innovation.

War Zone – A recent exercise on and around the Japanese island of Okinawa featured U.S. Marines armed with FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles riding in rubber rafts. This offers a look into how the Marine Corps might incorporate short-range air defense capabilities into their new distributed and expeditionary warfighting plans.

USNI News – The Marine Corps’ 20-year odyssey to replace its 1970s-era amphibious vehicle has hit more than a few roadblocks, but after months of operational testing, the service says the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle program is on its way to joining the fleet in earnest.

USNI News – Ongoing testing and experimentation are proving the Marine Corps can be more lethal even while being lighter and more maneuverable, as the service evolves to support littoral operations under its Force Design 2030 plan.

Marine Corps Times – Throughout the next decade the Marine Corps may create as many as three Marine littoral regiments, all based in the Pacific to keep a continued presence to deter China.

USNI Blog – If Light Amphibious Warships are sailing, Light Amphibious Warship protection is needed.

Marine Times – The reviews are in for the Marine Corps’ newest amphibious vehicle and they are not good.

USNI News – The Marine Corps plans to officially form the new unit designed to execute its island-hopping strategy in the Indo-Pacific next fiscal year.

USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps are quickly seeking new ideas that allow Marines to support the Navy in sea control and other maritime missions, including the rapid acquisition of a light amphibious ship and a movement toward using Marine weapons while at sea.

Sea Power – The U.S. Marine Corps general in charge of the U.S. Navy’s expeditionary warfare directorate said the Navy is looking at options to increase the lethality of its amphibious warfare ships with a containerized weapon system.

National Interest – James Holmes says the U.S. Marine Corps sensibly asked for Tomahawk cruise missiles for its strategy to fight the Chinese Navy in case of war. Why then did Congress say no?

USNI Proceedings – The amphibious ships that transport the U.S. Marine Corps to hostile shores have undergone major changes over the past 80 years. In World War II, the fleet transformed from a force of hastily converted civilian commercial vessels to an armada of thousands of mass-produced ships and boats in a matter of months. The Cold War saw amphibious ships change radically to incorporate new landing craft technology, while post–Cold War types consolidated and grew larger. Today’s fleet is on the cusp of yet another transformation, with planners again eyeing small ships to survive war with a near-peer competitor in the Pacific.