Marine Corps is changing. This will allow it to compete with major powers and land conflicts. It will become smaller and more agile, as well as able to move among domains. It will also be able to use unmanned platforms to improve its firepower. There are many challenges ahead.
The Marine Corps will undergo the most dramatic overhaul in its history. To do so, the Corps is trading in its tanks for unmanned boats and planes. A new Marine type will emerge. One that has a higher talent pool and can help the United States outperform its nearest-peer counterparts.
Currently, the Marines are engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan as a land force, but the Corps is shifting to a more agile and less volatile model. To accomplish this, the Corps will reduce its infantry battalions from 24 to 21. Also, there will be fewer tilt-rotor and helicopter squadrons. Instead, Marines will be organized into three littoral regiments, each of which will be armed with long-range precision fires. The Marines will also have drones to increase their firepower as well as reach.
The new kind of Marine will be spread out on the battlefield, and will be able to operate along the coastlines and in chokepoints. This is a far cry from the Corps of 2010. It is also a far cry for the Corps in 2010.
However, this new approach to amphibious warfare may not be sufficient for defeating heavily mechanized foes. For example, it would be difficult for the Russian Ground Forces and North Korean People's Army to fight with heavy-gunned Marines.
The Corps will have to invest in long-range precision weapons, drones, and ships to counter this. New capabilities will become available in the next few year. Some of these capabilities exist, but the Corps does not yet have the infrastructure to support a primetime 5-G network.
Marines are currently participating in a training exercise known as Tartan Eagle 20,22. Four Marines died when their plane crashed into a Norwegian village during the exercise. After the crash, seven people stopped to render aid. Emergency services eventually arrived.
These are good steps, but the Marine Corps has many acquisition problems. The Corps will lose its tank battalions and buy fewer F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, and will decrease its helicopter squadrons. However, the Corps continues to implement its Force Design 2030 strategy.
The Marine Corps makeover will ultimately position it to seize China's South China Sea bases. The Marines will have to reduce their size and reorient their mission towards the Pacific. In case of conflict, the Marines need to buy more small-sized amphibious ships as well as a fleet of ground vehicles capable in threatening Chinese maritime systems.