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Force-Design-2030

Marines to stand up first littoral regiment, eyeing more agile deployments – Breaking Defense Breaking Defense

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Sgt. Maj. Steven Morefield, of III Marine Expeditionary Force, addresses Marines and Sailors from III MEF and Marine Corps Installations Pacific at Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan, Oct 25, 2012. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler S. Dietrich/ Released)

WASHINGTON: The Marine Corps this week will formally redesignate its Hawaii-based 3rd Marine Regiment to the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, a move the service’s second most senior officer says will shift the unit from traditional deployment schedules to being ready to deploy “tonight.”

“The 3rd Marine Regiment, as it existed, could not have done what we’re asking the 3rd [Marine] Littoral Regiment to do,” Gen. Eric Smith, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, told reporters on Monday. “The 3rd Littoral Regiment that is standing up on Thursday, after a year or more of reorganizing, is now built into smaller units that actually are capable of deploying tonight.”

Smith said traditional Marine regiments for decades have operated on a six-month deployment cycle, in which three 900-man battalions prepare for six months, spend six months deployed and enjoy six months rest. The new Marine Littoral Regiment will take much smaller groups of Marines — between 75 and 100 —  and deploy them strategically depending on the tasks at hand. The establishment of the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment is part of Gen. David Berger’s Force Design 2030 initiative, an effort Berger set in motion shortly after becoming commandant in 2019.

The unit’s capabilities — such as the MQ-9A Reaper, the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System and the Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar — and training will be centered around the service’s key concepts of Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations and Stand In Forces.

The Marine Corps currently plans on redesignating two other Marine regiments, the 4th and 12th, into MLRs between now and 2030. Smith added those designations may take more time as the service looks to incorporate lessons learned from establishing the 3rd MLR. He added that while only three MLRs are currently planned, additional units are not “off the table.”

During the call with reporters, Smith repeatedly stressed China as the service’s “pacing threat” and the impetus for change.

“Despite what’s happening today with Russia and Ukraine, the pacing threat of China hasn’t changed,” he said. “These capabilities that we’re talking about, while purpose-built for the Indo-Pacific, again, [are] highly useful in any theater. These are capabilities that I would have loved to have had in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The Marine Corps is not moving fast enough to face China, general says

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The Marine Corps is moving fast, but not fast enough to modernize for a potential future war against China, the new deputy commandant for combat development and integration said Wednesday.

The Corps has taken the lead in the Department of Defense in its preparation for a war in the Pacific, with its Force Design 2030 plan released shortly after Gen. David Berger took over as commandant of the Marine Corps in summer 2019.

“If anybody thinks we are moving fast enough, you’re crazy,” Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl said Wednesday at the Marine Corps’ western seaboard West Conference.

“I would say we need to double down our efforts and figure out a way to move quicker,” Heckl said.

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The commandant’s plan sees the Marine Corps getting smaller, lighter and more mobile in order to conduct a distributed fight in the Pacific, with the focus shifting toward how the Marine Corps can support a naval campaign in the region.

Small teams of Marines potentially armed with ship sinking missiles will take up small outposts throughout the Pacific.

The small size will ideally keep them hidden from enemy forces. If the Marines are detected, the increased maneuverability will ideally allow them to leave a position before it is targeted by the potential enemy.

The Marine Corps already has created units that are experimenting with the new formations Marine leaders believe are needed to fight in this way.

“My commandant has stepped off at speed,” Heckl said Wednesday. “We are moving very, very quickly and I assure you there will be no let up on the accelerator.”

In August 2021 the Marine Corps launched a Naval strike missile at U.S. Navy hull, and plans on spending the next two years allowing the 11th Marine Regiment to experiment with the missile and the best way to incorporate it into the fleet.

Heckl said he wants industry to give the Corps more products to the fleet in order to start testing them.

“What I’m looking for is getting certain different capabilities in the hands of the operators and letting them begin to experiment,” Heckl said.

Heckl added that continuing resolutions risk slowing down the progress the Marine Corps is making.

The government has been operating on a series of continuing resolutions, which freeze government speeding at the fiscal year 2021 levels since the new fiscal year started in October.

The current continuing resolution would fund the government through March 11.

“We need stable, predictable funding,” Heckl said.

The general went on to voice his concerns that military development tends to lead to over engineering at the cost of developmental speed.

“If we continue to overengineer, over cost everything and over schedule everything the Chinese are just going to get farther and farther and farther ahead,” Heckl said.

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