Basic instincts: Resetting USMC core operational mindset

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by Corsair1963 » 24 Aug 2020, 09:41

spazsinbad wrote:Same article posted in REDflag thread two days ago: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=57236&p=443503&hilit=honor%2A#p443503



Clearly, little get's by you... :wink:


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by doge » 02 Dec 2020, 17:55

It's a USMC article so I'll post it here. (Looooong :doh: )
https://sldinfo.com/2020/05/working-exp ... -the-f-35/
Working Expeditionary Basing: MAWTS-1 and the F-35
05/29/2020 By Robbin Laird
Over the past few weeks, I have been discussing with USAF and U.S. Navy officers, how the two services are training to shape greater synergy with regard to the integrated distributed force.
The fusing of multiple sensors via a common interactive self-healing web enhances the ability of the entire force, including key partners and allies, to engage cooperatively enemy targets in a time of conflict.
Interactive webs can be used for a wide range of purposes throughout the spectrum of conflict and are a key foundation for full spectrum crisis management.
To play their critical role when it comes to strike, whether kinetic or non-kinetic, this final layer of the web needs to have the highest standards of protection possible.
From the USAF and US Navy perspective, where does the USMC fit into the evolving kill web approach?
Clearly, one answer which has been given several times can be expressed in terms of one of the Marines key competence – bringing an integrated force to a mobile operational setting whether afloat or ashore.

It is important to consider a base afloat or ashore as part of the chessboard from a basing point of view.
Too often when one mentions basing, the mind goes quickly to a fixed air or ground base, but in the evolving strategic environment, an ability to work across a wide variety of basing options is crucial.
And no force in the world is more focused on how to do this than the USMC.
And with the arrival of the USS America class LHA, the amphibious fleet moves out from its greyhound bus role to being able to contribute fully to sea control in transit or in operations, thereby relieving the U.S. Navy large deck carriers from a primary protection role.
To be clear, when one is talking about a combat cloud, the processing power empowering webs comes from cloud processing power.
With a focus on interactive kill webs, the processing power is distributed.
The capability of the F-35s to hunt as a pack and through its CNI system and data fusion capabilities, the pack can work as one.

The integration of the F-35 into the Marine Corps and its ability to work with joint and coalition F-35s provides significant reach to F-35 empowered mobile bases afloat or ashore
When I last visited MAWTS-1 at MCAS Yuma, I had a chance to discuss the evolving focus on mobile basing and learned that indeed the US Navy and USAF were visitors to Yuma to discuss mobile basing.
Because the approach to mobile basing is being worked in the context of preparing for conflicts against full spectrum capable adversaries, in effect, the mobile basing approach will be about moving pieces on the kill web chessboard.
Recently, I had a chance to talk with Major Brian “Flubes” Hansell, MAWTS-1 F-35 Division Head, with regard to how the Marines are working the F-35 into their approach or better yet approaches to expeditionary basing.
I have a number of takeaways from my conversation with Major Hansell, which include points that he made, but also extrapolations from our conversation as well.
The first takeaway is that following a significant focus on the land wars in the past twenty years combined with the return to the sea, the Marines are shaping new capabilities to operate at sea and in a way that can have significant combat effects on the expanded battlespace.
And they are doing so from expeditionary bases, afloat and ashore.

According to Major Hansell: “The Marine Corps is a force committed to expeditionary operations. When it comes to F-35, we are focused on how best to operate the F-35 in the evolving expeditionary environment, and I think we are pushing the envelope more than other services and other partners in this regard.
“One of the reasons we are able to do this is because of our organizational culture. If you look at the history of the Marine Corps, that’s what we do.
“We are an expeditionary, forward-leaning service that prides itself in flexibility and adaptability.”
The second takeaway is that the coming of the F-35 to the USMC has expanded their ability to operate within a broader kill web and to both empower their expeditionary bases as well as to contribute to the broader kill web approach.
The Marine’s F-35s are part of the broader joint and coalition force of F-35s, and notably in the Pacific this extends the reach significantly of the Marine’s F-35s and brings greater situational awareness as well as reach to other strike platforms to the force operating from an expeditionary base as well as enhancing the kill web reach for the joint or coalition force.
As Major Hansell put it: “By being an expeditionary, forward-based service, we’re effectively extending the bounds of the kill web for the entire joint and coalition force.”

The third takeaway is how the concepts of operations empowers a kill web approach.
The F-35 is not just another combat asset, but at the heart of empowering an expeditionary kill web-enabled and enabling force.
On the one hand, the F-35 leads the wolfpack.
This was a concept which Secretary Wynne highlighted when I worked for him in DoD.
His perspective then is now reality and one which empowers an expeditionary force.
As Major Hansell put it: “During every course, we are lucky to have one of the lead software design engineers for the F-35 come out as a guest lecturer to teach our students the intricacies of data fusion.
“During one of these lectures, a student asked the engineer to compare the design methodology of the F-35 Lightning II to that of the F-22 Raptor.
“I like this anecdote because it is really insightful into how the F-35 fights.
“To paraphrase, this engineer explained that “the F-22 was designed to be the most lethal single-ship air dominance fighter ever designed. Period.
“The F-35, however, was able to leverage that experience to create a multi-role fighter designed from its very inception to hunt as a pack.”
Simply put, the F-35 does not tactically operate as a single aircraft.
It hunts as a network-enabled, cooperative four-ship fighting a fused picture, and was designed to do so from the very beginning.

“We hunt as a pack.
“Future upgrades may look to expand the size of the pack.”
The hunt concept and the configuration of the wolfpack is important not just in terms of understanding how the wolfpack can empower the ground insertion force with a mobile kill web capability but also in terms of configuration of aircraft on the sea base working both sea control and support to what then becomes a land base insertion force.
The fourth takeaway focuses on the reach not range point about the F-35 global enterprise.
The F-35 wolfpack has reach through its unique C2 and data fusion links into the joint and coalition force F-35s with which it can link and work.
And given the global enterprise, the coalition and joint partners are working seamlessly because of common TTP or Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures.
As Major Hansell put it: “From the very beginning we write a tactics manual that is distributed to every country that buys the F-35.
“This means that if I need to integrate with a coalition F-35 partner, I know they understand how to employ this aircraft, because they’re studying and practicing and training in the same manner that we are.
“And because we know how to integrate so well, we can distribute well in the extended battlespace as well.
“I’m completely integrated with the allied force into one seamless kill web via the F-35 as a global force enabler.”
The fifth takeaway is the evolving role of the amphibious task force in the sea control mission.

With the changing capabilities of strategic adversaries, sea control cannot be assumed but must be established.
With the coming of the F-35 to the amphibious force, the role of that force in sea control is expanding and when worked with large deck carriers can expand the capabilities of the afloat force’s ability to establish and exercise sea control.
With the coming of the USS America Class LHA, the large deck amphibious ship with its F-35s onboard is no longer a greyhound bus, but a significant contributor to sea control as well.
As Major Hansell noted: “The LHA and LHD can plug and play into the sea control concept. It’s absolutely something you would want if your mission is sea control.
“There is tremendous flexibility to either supplement the traditional Carrier Strike Group capability with that of an Expeditionary Strike Group, or even to combine an ESG alongside a CSG in order to mass combat capability into something like an expeditionary strike force.
“This provides the Navy-Marine Corps team with enhanced flexibility and lethality on the kill web chessboard.”
The sixth takeaway is that MAWTS-1 overall and the F-35 part of MAWTS-1 are clearly focusing on the integrated distributed force and how the Marines can both leverage an overall joint and coalition force able to operate in such a manner as well as how the Marines can maximize their contribution to the integrated distributed force.

Similar to the comments made in my recent interviews at Nellis, Major Hansell highlighted that MAWTS-1 was focusing upon shaping integrated force problem solving as a core aspect of their training.
According to Major Hansell, the CO of MAWTS-1, Colonel Gillette has put a priority on how to integrate as best as we can with the Navy, as well as the joint force.”
And for the F-35 period of instruction during all Weapons Schools, we focus a tremendous amount of effort on integrating with the joint force, more so than I ever did on a legacy platform.
“We really strive to make our graduates joint integrators, as well as naval integrators.
And I give Colonel Gillette (the current CO of MAWtS-1) all the credit in the world for moving us to that mindset and pushing us to learn how to operate in the evolving expeditionary environment.”
In short, the USMC provides a critical piece of the kill web puzzle, as the United States and its allies rework their warfighting and deterrence strategies to deal with peer competitors worldwide.
It is clearly a work in progress but new platforms are coming to the Marines, such as the CH-53K which clearly can support more effectively than the legacy asset, mobile basing, as well as the digital interoperability approach, which I have highlighted in recent interviews, which make the Marines more effectively woven into the kill web approach as well.


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by doge » 02 Dec 2020, 17:56

The Lightning Carriers 8)
https://www.businessinsider.com/marine- ... ier-2020-2
The top Marine officer thinks the Corps needs to be more unpredictable and that it needs the 'Lightning carrier' to do it
Christopher Woody Feb 20, 2020
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger believes the force needs to be more unpredictable and more dispersed to deter adversaries in the Pacific.
The "Lightning-carrier" concept that the Corps has been testing is one way to do that, Berger said earlier this month, but it may also require new ships.

The Marine Corps wants to overhaul its force to prepare to be more dispersed and more flexible to deter and, if need be, take on China's growing military in the Pacific.
"China has moved out to sea, and they have long-range weapons and a lot of them," Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger said on February 11 at an Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition event on Capitol Hill.
"Those two things have changed the game," Berger added. "Take those away, in other words, we could keep operating with dominance everywhere we wanted to, as we have. We cannot do that. We can't get stuck in old things. We are being challenged everywhere."
Since taking over last summer, Berger has called for a shift from a force suited for fighting insurgencies to one that can square off with China across the Pacific.

What Berger has outlined is a lighter, more mobile force that can operate in small units on Pacific islands. But the amphibious force that will support those units is not where it needs to be, Berger said last week.
That may mean the Corps needs new ships in the future, but he said it also needed to make better use of its current assets, which is where the "Lightning carrier" — an amphibious assault ship decked out with 16 to 20 F-35B stealth fighters — comes in.
"I'm in favor of things like the Lightning-carrier concept because I believe we need to tactically and operationally be ... unpredictable," Berger said. "We've been sending out every [Amphibious Ready Group] and [Marine Expeditionary Unit] looking mirror-image for 20 years. We need to change that."
"You would like to see one of those big decks one time go out with two squadrons of F-35s and next time fully loaded with MV-22s and another MEU with a 50-50 combo. Now that's how you become unpredictable. How do you defend against that?" Berger added.

'A force multiplier'
The Lightning carrier's nontraditional configuration is "a force multiplier," the Corps said in its 2017 aviation plan.
In his commandant's planning guidance issued in July, Berger said the Corps would "consider employment models of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)/MEU other than the traditional three-ship model" and that he saw "potential in the 'Lightning Carrier' concept" based on Wasp-class landing-helicopter-dock ships and the newer America-class amphibious assault ships.
The USS Wasp exercised in the South China Sea in spring with 10 F-35Bs aboard, more than it would normally carry.
In October, the USS America sailed into the eastern Pacific with 13 F-35Bs embarked — a first for the America that "signaled the birth of the most lethal, aviation-capable amphibious assault ship to date," the Corps said.
The Lightning-carrier configuration gives the Marine Air-Ground Task Force aviation element "more of a strike mindset with 12 or more jets that give the fleet or MAGTF commander the ability to better influence the enemy at range," Lt. Col. John Dirk, a Marine attack-squadron commander aboard the America, said at the time.
In October, then-Navy Secretary Richard Spencer touted the concept as a way to augment the fleet at a time when the Navy is pondering the future of its own carriers.
"You might see us do that in the near future," Spencer said. "We might just launch it out once, just to try it out, put it in a couple of exercises and know that we have it up our sleeve."

More ships, more deterrence
Even with the Lightning carrier, more needs to be done, Berger said on Capitol Hill.
"I think our ... amphibious fleet has great capability. It is not enough for 2030. It's not enough for 2025," he said.
"We need the big decks, absolutely. We need the LPD-17. That is the mothership, the quarterback in the middle," Berger said, referring to the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, the "functional replacement" for more than 41 other amphibious ships. Eleven are in active service, and the Navy plans to buy one in 2021.
"We need a light amphibious force ship, a lot of them, that we don't have today," Berger added.
When asked by Military.com, Berger declined to say how many Marines and aircraft those light amphibious ships could carry or whether they would be in the Navy's new force-structure assessment, which is still being finalized. The Corps is also conducting its own force redesign, which Berger said would be released within the next month.
Berger also said he thought there was a role for the littoral combat ship, four of which the Navy plans to decommission in 2021, and the Navy's future frigate.
"We cannot put anything on the side right now, not with your adversary building to north of 400" ships, he said, referring to Chinese naval expansion.
"The ships that we have, we need to increase the survivability of them, increase the command-and-control capability of them, arm them where we need to," Berger added.


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by doge » 11 Dec 2020, 19:42

Increase B ? 8)
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/12/cjc ... riorities/
CJCS Milley Predicts DoD Budget ‘Bloodletting’ To Fund Navy
"Look, I'm an Army guy,” Milley said. "And I love the Army...but the fundamental defense of the United States and the ability to project power forward will always be for America naval and air and space power."
By PAUL MCLEARY on December 03, 2020


It was notable that both Milley, and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday today each rejected suggestions the Navy would try to reduce the number of super carriers below the currently legally mandated eleven. The massive flat tops can project consistent air power like no other ship in the world, but the slow vessels are also increasingly seen as relatively lightly-defended targets for long-range Chinese missiles.

Speaking before Milley at the same conference, Gilday said the new plan calls for keeping “the line of supercarriers to remain around 11,” while Milley said “we’ll stick with the 11 for now until we have something else.” Esper in recent months had suggested the number of carriers could fall to about eight.

Another aspect of the plan revealed by both Milley and Gilday is the desire to build as many as six “light” carriers, similar to the Navy’s current amphibious ships, to ferry F-35Bs across the globe. The ships would be much smaller than the current carriers, making them more nimble and harder to target in the expanse of open ocean, though it is unclear what their final size or shape might be. “We know we need to be smaller, more distributed and equally as lethal” as the larger ships, Milley said.

Pentagon officials have said they expect some kind of public release of the new Navy plan in coming weeks.


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by spazsinbad » 25 Feb 2021, 05:08

U.S. Marines conduct air field assault at Ie Shima, Okinawa, Japan [25 Feb 2021 - 8min+]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc_IWLYkvEo [where F-35Bs practice VLs & STOs - Japanese eventually also]



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by spazsinbad » 02 Apr 2021, 20:02

NOT anything about the USMC F-35s in this article about the radical changes being asked for - except the last paragraph.
Historic Marine Plan to Reinvent The Corps EXCLUSIVE [Is it an APRIL FOOL JOKE?]
01 Apr 2021 PAUL MCLEARY

"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....

...The unreleased 180-page document is meant as a first iteration of an effort to create a series of small, agile units tasked with air defense, anti-ship and submarine warfare, and seizing, holding and resupplying small temporary bases as part of an island-hopping campaign in the Pacific.

The Tentative Manual For Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, a copy of which was obtained by Breaking Defense, calls for putting into practice by 2030 the vision Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger has been hinting at for years. There are plans for small, ad hoc bases to launch missiles and refuel and resupply troops on the move. New generations of precision-guided missiles to sink ships. Classes of manned and unmanned ships to both shoot and quickly ferry troops and supplies amid contested islands, and partnerships with the Navy and special operations troops to secure shipping lanes and austere outposts.

“The scale of the problem today cannot be met by merely refining current methods and capabilities,” the authors proclaim, opening the door for their demand to overhaul of how the Corps does business. Their solution suggests there will be a unique list of demands in the 2022 budget coming this spring, and the five-year projection that accompanies it....

...To pay for these new drones, ships, and missiles, Berger has said he plans to divest of the Corps’ inventory of Abrams tanks and shed 12,000 Marines, along with towed artillery, aircraft and helicopters. He has also pledged to reduce the number of F-35s in squadrons while questioning the role the aircraft will play in his plans going forward. Those ideas will now run into the desires of members of Congress with jobs, and prestige at home, on the line."

Source: https://breakingdefense.com/2021/04/his ... exclusive/


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by XanderCrews » 03 Apr 2021, 00:03

spazsinbad wrote:NOT anything about the USMC F-35s in this article about the radical changes being asked for - except the last paragraph.
Historic Marine Plan to Reinvent The Corps EXCLUSIVE [Is it an APRIL FOOL JOKE?]
01 Apr 2021 PAUL MCLEARY

"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....

...The unreleased 180-page document is meant as a first iteration of an effort to create a series of small, agile units tasked with air defense, anti-ship and submarine warfare, and seizing, holding and resupplying small temporary bases as part of an island-hopping campaign in the Pacific.

The Tentative Manual For Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, a copy of which was obtained by Breaking Defense, calls for putting into practice by 2030 the vision Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger has been hinting at for years. There are plans for small, ad hoc bases to launch missiles and refuel and resupply troops on the move. New generations of precision-guided missiles to sink ships. Classes of manned and unmanned ships to both shoot and quickly ferry troops and supplies amid contested islands, and partnerships with the Navy and special operations troops to secure shipping lanes and austere outposts.

“The scale of the problem today cannot be met by merely refining current methods and capabilities,” the authors proclaim, opening the door for their demand to overhaul of how the Corps does business. Their solution suggests there will be a unique list of demands in the 2022 budget coming this spring, and the five-year projection that accompanies it....

...To pay for these new drones, ships, and missiles, Berger has said he plans to divest of the Corps’ inventory of Abrams tanks and shed 12,000 Marines, along with towed artillery, aircraft and helicopters. He has also pledged to reduce the number of F-35s in squadrons while questioning the role the aircraft will play in his plans going forward. Those ideas will now run into the desires of members of Congress with jobs, and prestige at home, on the line."

Source: https://breakingdefense.com/2021/04/his ... exclusive/


I presume the 10 aircraft squadrons are to get as many F-35 squadrons "stood up" quicker. and then add more some years later. Every time we get a new CMC we get new F-35 numbers.
Choose Crews


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by steve2267 » 03 Apr 2021, 16:35

Ten aircraft squadrons seems to correspond to ten LHA/LHD's. No squadrons in reserve for training / maintenance / refitting? Seems a bit tight. When gator navy has sailed recently in other-than-Lightning-carrier mode, the embarked Killer Bees have numbered what? Six aircraft per boat? Does this suggest only six Killer Bees per squadron then? I used to think the jarheads had sixteen aircraft per tactical squadron (and then ten). Oh the shrinkage.
Take an F-16, stir in A-7, dollop of F-117, gob of F-22, dash of F/A-18, sprinkle with AV-8B, stir well + bake. Whaddya get? F-35.


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by quicksilver » 03 Apr 2021, 17:12

Harrier squadrons were notionally sized to sustain a substantial capability as a squadron (-) in the mother unit when it had detached a Det to a MEU. There are a variety of ways to do that; once upon a time it was 7x20, then 7x16. I tend to view the 10 a/c PAA in the same light as xman.


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by spazsinbad » 09 Apr 2021, 06:19

MAG-13 Conducts Massive Large Force Exercise
07 Apr 2021 Story by 1st Lt. Zachary Bodner 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing

"Across the skies of Arizona and off the coast of Southern California, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 13, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) conducted a large force exercise on March 4, 2021. The exercise tested MAG-13’s ability to effectively find and destroy enemy surface to air threats to enable follow-on amphibious landings, defend naval assets against a peer threat, and refuel and rearm their aircraft at expeditionary airfields. “The exercise demonstrated the strategic mobility that the Short-Take off Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35 “B” variant provides to Combatant Commander’s,” said Lt. Col. Luke "Espo" Esposito, MAG-13 operations officer. “That capability provides more flexible and adaptable 5th generation combat power in austere environments that exist around the globe.”

In planning guidance released to the fleet, the Commandant of the Marine Corps highlighted that we are naval expeditionary force capable of deterring malign behavior and, when necessary, fighting inside our adversary’s sensors and weapons engagement zone to facilitate sea denial in support of fleet operations and joint force horizontal escalation. The full-day evolution underscored 3rd MAW’s continued effort to train against peer threats and to shift away from static, built up airfields towards expeditionary advanced basing operations (EABO). MAG-13’s SVOTL capabilities make them uniquely qualified to support distributed maritime operations.

The exercise carefully combined capabilities from F-35B Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II’s from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, VMFA-211, AV-8B Harriers from Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 214, introductory MQ-9 training from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 1, and expeditionary support from Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 371. Also participating in the exercise were F-35Bs and Cs from Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron (VMX) 1 and the Navy Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX-9), F-5N Tiger IIs from Marine Fighter Training Squadron (VMFT) 401, and F-22 Raptors from US Air Force 90th Fighter Squadron. Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 352 and contracted tanker has provided aerial refueling to extend the jet’s reach.

EABO is a Navy-Marine Corps concept approved by the Chief of Naval Operations and Commandant of the Marine Corps in mid-March 2019. The EABO concept calls for employing mobile, low signature, operationally relevant, and relatively easy to maintain and sustain expeditionary forces from a series of austere, temporary locations ashore or inshore within a contested or potentially contested maritime area in order to conduct sea denial or support sea control.

When asked how MAG-13 Marines and machines can support the EABO concept, Esposito responded “If airfields have been degraded by enemy long-range fires, and carriers cannot venture into certain enemy weapon engagement zones, the STOVL characteristics of the F-35B allow for it to recover to and launch from surfaces that conventional fighters would not have access to. This includes bombed out runways, roads, or other paved areas like parking lots. The ability of this asset to get into and out of FARPs that are rapidly stood up, executed, and then disassembled again, will be vital to combat power projection in possible future conflicts in the region.”

The unique STOVL capabilities of MAG-13’s F-35Bs allowed them to utilize Marine Corps Air Station Yuma’s auxiliary airfield to simulate FARP operations. Additionally, they co-located a Combat Operations Center (COC) to manage the fight and provide command and control.

While operating a FARP is already complex, MAG-13 challenged their Marines by building a scenario that required setting their aircraft on a five minute alert launch status. When intelligence estimates injected into the scenario indicated enemy aircraft man-up and launch preparations, the aircraft were then sequenced into the fight to ensure that the defense of friendly assets was accomplished. By inviting F-22 Raptors from a visiting USAF squadron and utilizing other 5th generation aircraft as enemy forces, they were able to increase the complexity of the mission and train to a peer-level threat.

3rd MAW continues to "Fix, Fly, and Fight" as the Marine Corps' largest aircraft wing and remains combat-ready, deployable on short notice, and lethal when called into action."

Photo: "U.S. Marines with Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 13 conduct refueling operations during a Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance (SCAR) mission aboard a simulated naval vessel at KNOZ range, Yuma, AZ., March 4, 2021. The large-force exercise was implemented in order to project the capabilities of “island hopping” and consisted of multiple MAG-13 assets, including ground support from Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 371 and aircraft from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl John Hall)" http://alert5.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... 551476.jpg (6.1Mb)


Source: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/393327/ma ... e-exercise
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F-35BscarUSMCvlMar2021.jpg


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by spazsinbad » 16 Apr 2021, 09:24

Marines Begin Experimentation to Refine Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations
15 Apr 2021 Megan Eckstein

"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.

EABO asks small formations of Marines to move by sea to strategic pieces of land to conduct a mission – surveillance, launching anti-ship missiles, setting up a rugged forward refueling and rearming base, jamming an enemy – and then retreat back to the sea and move elsewhere.

The Marine Corps is investing in new technology to support these kinds of operations, including the Light Amphibious Warship, long-range anti-ship missiles, unmanned systems, new communications gear and more, all of which the service is experimenting with. But the service needs to ensure that the fundamentals of EABO are right, regardless of what technology the Marine Corps ends up fielding – and that’s what this tentative manual and subsequent experimentation drive are all about...

..."The manual tried to be agnostic to technology and agnostic to a specific formation – even, to much extent, agnostic to a given region in the world,” said Henderson [Col. Tony Henderson, the director of concepts and plans at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab]...

...Additionally, in the course of all this experimentation, Smith said he expects to learn a lot about what kinds of Marines should be performing certain missions and therefore if there are any training or manning implications. He stressed that the Marine Corps was firm in its belief that it would self-fund all these changes by divesting of legacy gear and some occupational specialties – and that developing an EABO capability couldn’t require a huge price tag or a request for a larger force size – but Henderson and Smith said they may find new types of skillsets and competencies, especially in the domains of cyber and information warfare, where perhaps new military occupational specialties will be created, or more thought will be given as to how to develop a cyber warrior of the right rank and skillset to perform a job.

Though many changes may come as a result of this EABO experimentation, Smith [Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, the deputy commandant for combat development and integration] stressed that the Marine Corps would still retain its ability to do forcible entry, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, partner-building exercises and other traditional missions.

”We are a force … that’s capable of doing EABO, but it is not an EABO force,” he said."

Source: https://news.usni.org/2021/04/15/marine ... operations

USMC TENTATIVE MANUAL FOR EABO AND ACTIVITIES ROAD MAP Feb 2021
https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume ... 210211.pdf (3.6Mb)
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Last edited by spazsinbad on 16 Apr 2021, 14:11, edited 1 time in total.


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by madrat » 16 Apr 2021, 13:28

I want USMC to have miniature u-boat like drones to stealthily move in to a coast to do reconn. Has to be much cheaper than all the big gee whiz toys that fly these days. The drones make better use of weight and remove the human fatigue factor.


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by spazsinbad » 17 Apr 2021, 06:13

Warrior mindset must remain, Corps says, even as Marines shift from infantry to the sea
15 Mar 2021 Philip Athey

"The Corps will no longer field a force focused on capturing a contested area, but rather one designed to survive deep inside a contested zone while supporting a Naval campaign. The focus was announced in the new Tentative Manual for Expeditionary Advance Base Operations Manual released by the Marine Corps in February.

The 184-page tentative manual is meant to give Marines an idea of the future operating concept while the Corps continues develop the strategy. As the Corps transforms over the next decade the traditional infantry-focused, land-capturing mission of the Marine Corps may be de-emphasized, but the “warrior mindset” of Marines must remain, the manual said.

“A littoral force is only relevant if it maintains the ability to apply force at the time necessary to generate options and influence the greater campaign,” the manual said. “Operating in a distributed environment with limited support and resources will require a force with the warrior mindset, as well as the mental agility to rapidly shift perspectives and generate alternatives.”

The tentative manual’s release is the latest of several steps the Corps has taken as it prepares to faceoff against China in the littorals of the South China Sea and moves away from the force that has spent the majority of the past two decades fighting insurgents in the Middle East.

Against China, Marines would be forced to operate well within range of long-range missiles that could potentially knockout large formations in a single blow.... [much more at the URL]

...Future MEUs will be capable of “operating both from the sea and expeditionary advanced bases,” the report said. “It will be capable of enabling sea denial and conducting amphibious operations, crisis-response operations, and designated special operations to support the requirements of multiple combatant commanders,” it added.

In 2030 each MEU will look a little different depending on where it is deploying to and the expected missions it will take on. The only constant will be the command element, the manual said.

The change in force design has been championed by current Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger since he took over as the top Devil Dog in 2019. The plan will see the Marine Corps get smaller and lighter, shedding certain capabilities like its tanks, while focusing on investments into long-range missile fires, drones and cyber warfare.

Berger hopes the Marine Corps will complete its transformation by 2030. “The threats we face morph daily, and so this is an initial concept that will only turn into doctrine when we are satisfied that it best blends a fixed body of experiments and data with the flexibility to outpace the threat,” Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, deputy commandant for Combat Development and Integration, said in an email."

Source: https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/y ... o-the-sea/


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by element1loop » 17 Apr 2021, 09:51

spazsinbad wrote:USMC TENTATIVE MANUAL FOR EABO AND ACTIVITIES ROAD MAP Feb 2021
https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume ... 210211.pdf (3.6Mb)


Thanks for posting, was looking for this last week.
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by madrat » 17 Apr 2021, 19:00

Army surplus should go to their Marine counterparts. Army revamps constantly while in some ways the Corps is stuck in 1999.


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