Posted on Feb 2, 2023
How US Marines are being reshaped for China threat
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The US military commitment to the Pacific was underlined in a White House meeting between the leaders of the US and Japan. But behind the scenes, this renewed focus on Asia has sparked a fierce debate within one of its most fabled military forces, writes defence analyst Jonathan Marcus.
A bitter family row has erupted in one of the US military's most hallowed institutions, the US Marine Corps.
A host of its former senior commanders are lining up to attack the current leadership over plans for its reinvention.
At issue is a plan to adapt the service for a potential conflict against China - a plan dubbed Force Design 2030. Almost from its inception this plan has been under attack with a cohort of retired generals taking the unusual approach of going to the press to air their frustrations.
Retired senior officers have been meeting regularly; speaking at seminars and think tanks; and devising their own alternative to a plan which they see as a disaster for the Marine Corps' future.
One prominent critic is the former US Navy Secretary and former Senator for Virginia, Jim Webb, who served as a Marine officer in the Vietnam War and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2015.
A bitter family row has erupted in one of the US military's most hallowed institutions, the US Marine Corps.
A host of its former senior commanders are lining up to attack the current leadership over plans for its reinvention.
At issue is a plan to adapt the service for a potential conflict against China - a plan dubbed Force Design 2030. Almost from its inception this plan has been under attack with a cohort of retired generals taking the unusual approach of going to the press to air their frustrations.
Retired senior officers have been meeting regularly; speaking at seminars and think tanks; and devising their own alternative to a plan which they see as a disaster for the Marine Corps' future.
One prominent critic is the former US Navy Secretary and former Senator for Virginia, Jim Webb, who served as a Marine officer in the Vietnam War and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2015.
How US Marines are being reshaped for China threat
Posted from bbc.com
Marines
China
Japan
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Force Design 2030 is very much an evolving programme. There have already been changes and there will be more. And while the direction of travel has been established there are still huge problems to resolve, not least the logistical challenges posed by a force likely to be distributed over a vast area.
Amphibious shipping will play a key role here. And as Nick Childs, the Senior Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security at the IISS in London explains, new kinds of ships are going to be needed.
“Just relying on their traditional large amphibious ships would leave them too vulnerable to the kinds of modern weaponry that they are likely to face”, he says. “So new kinds of smaller ships in greater numbers will be vital, so that the Marine Corps can operate in a more agile and dispersed way.”
But getting more ships is not going to be easy. Smaller ones can be built quickly and in a wide range of shipyards but not necessarily at at the pace needed. The US Navy also needs significant numbers of new warships and it is far from clear that there are the funds or the ship-yard capacity needed.
It’s the age-old problem of matching strategic priorities to resources. And the crisis in Ukraine underlines that old threats can reappear just as a force is trying to focus itself in an entirely new direction."
..."Force Design 2030 is very much an evolving programme. There have already been changes and there will be more. And while the direction of travel has been established there are still huge problems to resolve, not least the logistical challenges posed by a force likely to be distributed over a vast area.
Amphibious shipping will play a key role here. And as Nick Childs, the Senior Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security at the IISS in London explains, new kinds of ships are going to be needed.
“Just relying on their traditional large amphibious ships would leave them too vulnerable to the kinds of modern weaponry that they are likely to face”, he says. “So new kinds of smaller ships in greater numbers will be vital, so that the Marine Corps can operate in a more agile and dispersed way.”
But getting more ships is not going to be easy. Smaller ones can be built quickly and in a wide range of shipyards but not necessarily at at the pace needed. The US Navy also needs significant numbers of new warships and it is far from clear that there are the funds or the ship-yard capacity needed.
It’s the age-old problem of matching strategic priorities to resources. And the crisis in Ukraine underlines that old threats can reappear just as a force is trying to focus itself in an entirely new direction."
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