CIMSEC – The Marine Corps is not prepared for a battle of signatures. Despite being smaller and lighter than the Army, the Marines are no less vulnerable to attacks from spectrally aware adversaries. 

Modern War Institute – The newest US maritime strategy, Advantage at Sea, fails to include the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) as a viable operational component for competition in the gray zone. Though Advantage at Sea recognizes the ever-growing Chinese maritime threat, it does not provide a practical way for the United States to address that threat. As the Marine Corps reshapes itself through the guidance in Force Design 2030,it must take the opportunity to create a forward-deployed, commando-like force to fill the gaps present in Advantage at Sea. Doing so offers a way to counter China by using disruptive and asymmetric means to both coexist with and deter competitors and, if necessary, fight at sea.

War Zone – The adaptable UH-1Y Venom is now playing a role in the Marine Corps’ pivot toward the anti-submarine warfare mission.

War Zone – Images shared online show Marines conducting training exercises with the Drone40, a tiny quadcopter that can carry a wide variety of payloads.

CIMSEC – Warships can provide sealift support for EABO forces. This would naturally have to fit in with other tasking for these ships, so it generally won’t provide predictable resupply, especially when using high-demand assets, but it would still provide additional sealift capacity at essentially no cost.

Breaking Defense – Buried within the Navy’s fiscal 2022 shipbuilding plan is a major disruption of the amphibious fleet and its industrial base.

Defense One – Recommendations for a nimbler unit organization with fewer grunts and more tech will go to the commandant next year.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have finessed their requirement for amphibious ships and are now asking for 28 to 31 traditional amphibious ships that could flow in to support other expeditionary forces already operating during a conflict.

Naval News – According to the United States Marine Corps’ (U.S.M.C.), Fiscal Year 2022 Unfunded Priority List Request PDF, line one requests funds for 35 Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) for the unmanned JLTV “ROGUE Fires” NMESIS program, and line three requests $96 million infunds for 48 Tactical Tomahawks.

War Zone – There have been proposals for a waterborne C-130 Hercules in the past, but the U.S. special operations community might just make it a reality.

USNI News – After 20 years of counterinsurgency and low-end conflict in the Middle East, the Marines are rapidly retooling for a different kind of fight.

USNI News – The Marine Corps has collected proposals to design and build a prototype Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, meant to far surpass the capabilities of the legacy Light Armored Vehicle and help reconnaissance Marines observe their surroundings, find targets and even take out threats on their own.

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.