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. 

The War Zone – F-35Bs and C-17As fighting their way to, from, and out of the island is the best glimpse yet at what Pacific combat may look like for Marine Joint Strike Fighters.

The War Zone – The Navy halted the Medium Landing Ship effort last month after high cost estimates and is now seeking commercial vessel designs to move Marines in a Pacific fight.

Defense News – Nearly half of the amphibious warfare ships Marines need to deploy often are unavailable due to maintenance, according to a government watchdog. How the Navy currently manages those repairs means jarheads will continue to deploy late to the fight.

USNI News – Delayed and skipped amphibious warship maintenance has prevented Marine Corps units from training and deploying on schedule, reads a new Government Accountability Office report released on Tuesday.

USNI News – Boxer and its 1,200-member crew returned Sunday to its berth at Naval Base San Diego, marking the end of an extended operational deployment that broke apart its three-ship amphibious ready group. The deployment played out differently than what Marines, sailors and their commanders had expected just a year ago.

The War Zone – If China invades Taiwan, U.S. Marine Corps units and their High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be rushed to southwestern Japanese islands near Taiwan and abutting the East China Sea, while a relatively new U.S. Army unit built in part to stop China from closing off the South China Sea would head to adjacent military bases in the Philippines.

CIMSEC – U.S. Central Command poses an opportunity for the Marine Corps. During his March 2023 testimony to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), CENTCOM commander General Erik Kurilla stated, “God forbid there’s ever a conflict with China, but we could end up holding a lot of their economy at risk in the CENTCOM region.” In the same testimony he pointed to how “72 percent of all Chinese oil is imported. That can make them vulnerable.” Then General Kurilla zeroed in on the sea lanes within the Middle East adding, “98 percent-plus goes through by ship. That makes them vulnerable.” The Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) could be the contact and blunt force that is tasked with the mission of holding key Chinese imports at risk in the Middle East.

War on the Rocks – As highlighted in the 2024 Marine Corps tactical publication, Deception, decoy efforts will ensure force survivability and degrade adversary targeting capabilities in the modern battlespace. To succeed, the Marine Corps must disrupt enemy sensors, deny the adversary the ability to engage first, and remain agile in contested environments deep within the enemy’s weapons engagement zone, where our opponents possess significant targeting capabilities. Decoys can be introduced into the force to enhance survivability, create ambiguity in enemy targeting processes, and maintain operational advantage in future conflicts. However, as it stands now, the Marine Corps has not integrated decoy operations into doctrine, training programs, or standardized equipment across the force.

CIMSEC – As the Marine Corps prepares to contest the regional superiority of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Indo-Pacific alongside the Navy and the joint force, the service must strengthen its organic killchains and ensure that each new capability acquisition aligns to the concepts that the service must execute.

National Interest – General Eric Smith, the new Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, has reaffirmed his commitment to the “Force Design” initiative, originally launched by his predecessor, General David Berger. This strategy focuses on adapting the Marine Corps for island warfare in the Western Pacific, particularly in countering China’s ambitions.

USNI News – The Marines are testing vessels inspired by narco-boats and support ships used to supply oil rigs to see how they could resupply Marines fighting across the Indo-Pacific.

USNI News – Up to six U.S Marine Corps MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles will operate from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa for a year to carry out Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions around the southwest region of Japan, according to a Japan Ministry of Defense and Foreign Ministry public explainer document released Tuesday.

USNI News – How to meet the logistics needs of Marines and sailors in an Indo-Pacific conflict is a major question in how the U.S. could fight in the region and one that seasoned logistical leaders within I Marine Expeditionary Force began to tackle during last month’s Valiant Shield exercise.

Defense News – A key vessel Marines need to move around in a potential island shootout with China is two years behind schedule, could cost nearly triple its original estimate and the short-term fix isn’t cheap.

Breaking Defense – Although the tiltrotor aircraft is back in the skies, it’s restricted to flying within 30 minutes of an airfield. And now, a senior official revealed today it likely won’t resume its full mission profile until mid-2025.

Defense News – The Corps’ newest regiment, the ­Marine littoral regiment, combines new drone and sensing tech, anti-aircraft equipment and a ship-sinking missile into one formation — purpose-built to move around the land and sea, ­hopefully going unnoticed so that it can strike when needed, allowing Navy ships to roam freely while thwarting the Chinese military’s access to key terrain and ­maritime choke points.

USNI News – While the long-term future for the amphibious fleet is secured with a Navy commitment to 31 amphibious warships in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, the short-term problem of getting Marines to sea is less settled.

The War Zone – The USMC is tackling the huge threat posed by unmanned aerial systems in a holistic fashion, where every Marine could play a role.

The War Zone – Software, cockpit, and maintenance improvements are all on the cards, as is a potential optionally piloted configuration.

Breaking Defense – “No matter what theater we talk about – PACOM, Europe – everything needs to be smaller, lighter [and] very modular, so…we can throw it in the back of a pickup truck,” said Col. Devin Licklider, program manager for MAGTF Command & Control.

Defense News – The Houthis have imposed costs on a powerful navy by tracking down ships, threatening them with drones and missiles, and disrupting travel through vital waterways, while lurking near shore. To some observers of the Marine Corps’ modernization plans, that sounds familiar.

The War Zone – The future of the Harvest Hawk armament kit for Marine Corps KC-130J Herculestanker/transport aircraft is facing uncertainty as the service questions whether this capability would be relevant in a future high-end fight. Other new capabilities, like the Intrepid Tiger II electronic warfare system, are on the horizon for Marine KC-130Js, and these aircraft could potentially make use of the Air Force’s Rapid Dragon palletized cruise missile launching system down the line.

Defense News – The Congressional Budget Office expects the Landing Ship Medium program to cost billions of dollars more than the U.S. Navy previously estimated, though the organization noted that ongoing questions about the ship’s role create uncertainty on the final design and cost.

Defense News – The Corps’ top operations general is seeing Pacific allies copy some of the new littoral-based war-fighting concepts that the service’s has developed to counter China in the region.