21st Century Marine Corps
Speed, Flexibility, & Agility
…Globally
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Version 7.0
Exploiting Our Edge
We are building tomorrow’s
Marine Corps upon our
enduring ethos:
 Warfighting excellence
 Combined Arms MAGTFs
 Expeditionary culture in tandem
with our Navy partners
 First to Fight
“Our forces in the next century must be agile, lethal, readily
deployable, and require a minimum of logistical support.
We must be able to project our power over long distances,
in days or weeks, rather than months”
President G.W. Bush
Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
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Sharpening the Sword

Strategic Challenges inform our Concepts

Warfighting Concepts frame our Capabilities

Relevant Capabilities define our Contribution to
the Nation
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Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
Strategic Landscape

The Irregular Threats
 A global radical Islamist insurgency
 Asymmetric warfare fought by decentralized groups of terrorists
 Exploitation of failed and failing states—intrastate conflicts

The Traditional Threats
 Regional powers with conventional and (some) nuclear capability
 Continued instability created by interstate conflicts
Our challenge in this new century is a
difficult one. It’s really to prepare to
defend our nation against the unknown,
the uncertain and what we have to
understand will be the unexpected.
SecDef D. H. Rumsfeld
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Complex mix of non-traditional & traditional threats
Emerging Security Challenges
Security Challenges …
Developing Balanced
Capabilities
 Non-Traditional …
Traditional
Irregular
Higher
 Non-state and state actors employing
“unconventional” methods to counter
stronger state opponents—terrorism,
insurgency, etc. (erode our power)
VULNERABILITY

Catastrophic
 Terrorist or rogue state employment of
WMD or methods producing WMD-like
effects against American interests. (paralyze
our power)
(e.g., attack on homeland, global markets, or key ally that would
generate a state of shock and preclude normal behavior)
(e.g., terrorism, insurgency, civil war, and emerging concepts like
“unrestricted warfare”)
Lower
Traditional
Disruptive
 States employing military forces in wellknown forms of military competition and
conflict. (challenge our power)
Higher
 Competitors employing technology or
methods that might counter or cancel our
current military advantages. (capsize our power)
(e.g., conventional air, sea, and land forces, and nuclear forces of
established nuclear powers)
(e.g., technological – bio, cyber, or space war, ultra miniaturization,
directed-energy, other – diplomatic blackmail, cultural or economic war)
Lower
LIKELIHOOD
Marine
Corps
Operational
Domain
Irregular
Catastrophic
Traditional
Disruptive
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Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
Sharpening the Sword

Strategic Challenges inform our Concepts

Warfighting Concepts frame our Capabilities

Relevant Capabilities define our Contribution to
the Nation
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Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
Warfighting Concepts


Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare
(EMW)
Operational Maneuver From the Sea
(OMFTS)
 Ship-to-Objective Maneuver (STOM)
 Sustained Operations Ashore (SOA)

Seabasing

Maritime Prepositioning Force
(Future) (MPF(F))

Distributed Operations (DO)(DRAFT)
Capstone
EMW
OMFTS
EMW
Operational
Hierarchy of
Concepts
Here
STOM
SOA
Operating
DO
FUNCTIONAL CONCEPTS
Enhanced Network Seabasing,
MPF (F), Info Ops
Expeditionary Fires, Logistics,
Intell, Mine Countermeasures
Beyond C2
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Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
Seabasing
The Marine Corps will exploit the US Navy’s command of the sea to
project, protect, and sustain integrated joint warfighting capabilities

National capability for global force
projection
 Exploits sea as maneuver space 365 days a
year

Requires tools developed from Naval
Capability Pillars
 Sea Shield, Sea Strike, Sea Base, FORCEnet
 Navy and Marines pursuing integrated logistics
system



Enables capabilities of the Joint Force
Maximizes effects of forward presence
Reduces dependence on vulnerable bases,
“steps lightly” on allies and partners
 Increased options for the President
 Operational independence for the Regional
Combatant Commander (RCC)
Exploits Distributed
Operations globally across
the full range of military
operations
Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
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Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future)
Rapid power power projection without a permission slip
Joint Operations Area
CONUS
ESG
OBJ
MPG
CSG
High
Speed
Sealift
High
Speed
Connector
A seabased “system of systems” that enables rapid
Rapid Joint Forcible Entry (10-14 Days)
Joint Forcible
Entry Ops (JFEO) within 10-14 days
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Distributed Operations
Strategic
Across the:



Levels of warStrategic, Operational, & Tactical
Range of military operationsShaping & Engagement to
Stabilization & Reconstruction
(Phase 0 - Phase 4)
Domains of the battlespaceAir, Land, Sea, Space,
Cyberspace
Distributed
Swarming
Concentrated
Tactical
Operational
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Distributed Operations
The Marine Corps of the future will continue to fight as a
combined-arms, integrated force. Enhancing the ability to
operate in a distributed, networked manner; dispersing or
aggregating capabilities against both non- traditional and
traditional threats, will provide future Joint Force Commanders
an additional method with which to threaten the enemy.

An extension of Maneuver Warfare… an additive capability

The design, planning, and execution of actions exploiting networked
units or capabilities that are separated in space and time in order to
apply continuous pressure on an enemy to hasten his defeat.
We execute Distributed Operations in order to…
“…Appear ambiguous and threatening…operate on axes that offer
numerous courses of action, keeping the enemy unclear as to which we
will choose.”
Warfighting (MCDP 1)
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Sharpening the Sword

Strategic Challenges inform our Concepts

Warfighting Concepts frame our Capabilities

Relevant Capabilities define our Contribution to
the Nation
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Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
Enhanced National Capabilities
SPMAGTF
/ MEU
Forward-deployed Forces
Persistent: Provide an agile & networked sea-based force
for shaping & engagement –
MEU
Immediate: Generate and exploit actionable intelligence,
employ joint fires, establish JTF C2 –
MEB
Continuous
Within Hours
Prepositioned & Surged Forces
Rapid: Execute Joint Forcible Entry, enabling follow-on
Joint Force operations –
Within Days
Decisive: Achieving operational level objectives with
MEF
sustainable force; reconstituting and reemploying –
Within Weeks
Shaping &
Engagement
Major Combat
Operations
Stabilization &
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Reconstruction
Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
Exploiting Technology
LHA(R)



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Conducts flight ops 24 hours per day for 6 days (obj)
Can operate with composite RW/TR/FW ACE or JSF
alone
 Either 23 JSF or 28 MV-22 or other aircraft mix
23 JSF = 100% CAS coverage at surge rate to 200NM
Enables higher mission capable rate for MV-22
Optimized for aviation operations
Connectors


Inter-and Intra Theater
 CONUS to Advance Base / Sea Base
 Fills the Strategic Airlift gap
Assault Connectors
 Land surface assault Bn in
one 8-10 hour period of darkness
 Sea base to objective tactical
resupply
MPF(F)

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Enables Rapid employment timeline (10 – 14 days)
Sized to preposition & selectively offload 2015 MEB
Capable of independent employment or with ESG/CSG
Aviation ordnance stowage/handling/arming
Survivability enhanced by Sea Shield
Capable of Joint Forcible Entry when integrated with
ESG / CSG
MV-22
JSF
EFV
MERS
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Naval Logistics
Integration/Modernization
People Processes
Technology

Navy and Marine Corps moving
beyond logistic interoperability to
seek integration of Service logistics
processes in order to optimize
support to daily operations and seabasing

Marine logistics modernization will
improve tactical/operational logistics
support to MAGTF.
 Tailor-made to support EMW and Future
Joint Operating Concepts.
 Integrated approach--People,
Processes, and Technology
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The 21st Century Marine
Every Marine a Rifleman…and more

Leadership
 Increased decision-making ability/authority

Training & Education
 Historical & cultural perspectives
 More complex skill sets
 Intensive tactical training

Equipment
 Enhancing lethality
 Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad
System
 Closing the “Digital Divide”
“It is our leaders – from our
most junior, especially our
non-commissioned officers,
…– who have kept the Corps
successful and victorious.”
General M.W. Hagee
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“Raising the Bar” across the Corps
Enhanced Marine Corps Capabilities

Preserving our unique ethos
We will not change what we do…
“ Our most effective weapon
remains the individual Marine who
out-learns, out-thinks, and outfights any adversary.”
General M. W. Hagee

… We will change how we do it
Innovating for the future
 21st Century Marine
 Exploiting Technology
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Challenges  Concepts  Capabilities
The 21st Century Marine Corps

Building on our ethos and ensuring continued
warfighting excellence

Fulfilling need for:
 Speed – in execution
 Flexibility – in organization, logistical support, and employment
 Agility – in thought and intellect

Prepared to:
 Prevail in the war on terrorism
 Persistently engage globally and respond immediately
 Decisively engage both traditional and irregular threats
We will produce and equip a 21st Century Marine imbued with a
warrior ethos, armed with the skills and modern capabilities to
prevail against traditional and irregular foes.
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Recommended Reading
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Naval Transformation Roadmap
Naval Operating Concept
National Military Strategy
Joint Operations Concept
Seapower 21
Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare
Ship to Objective Maneuver
Sustained Operations Ashore
Maritime Prepositioning Force
(Future) (being updated)
Enhanced Networked Seabasing
Distributed Operations (in-work)
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Strategic Planning Guidance
(Classified)
Major Combat Ops JOC
JFEO JIC
Urban JOC (forthcoming)
Military Operations On
Urbanized Terrain
Seabasing JIC
https://www.mccdc.usmc.mil/futures/library.htm
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