via USNI
ARG/MEUs must work in concert with SIF—but they also must be ready to fight as stand-in forces themselves. At the outset of a potential conflict, ARG/MEUs could emplace anywhere from 10 to 30 expeditionary advanced bases (EABs) on key maritime terrain within 96 hours via organic amphibious connectors and assault support aircraft. Air and ground sensors from the MEU could increase the resilience of kill webs by observing and tracking targets using Link 16, and this expeditionary sensing capability could be significantly enhanced by including Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radars.20 SIF and allied and partnered forces could support these EABs with fires and logistics, even in contested environments. Simultaneously, an ARG could deploy hundreds of containerized M18 unmanned surface vessels, each with a 1,000-pound payload, to support the amphibious defense, then maneuver to mitigate the effects of adversary weapons in fewer than four days.21
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With Russia waging war against Ukraine, the specter of wider conflict looming over Europe, and a growing threat in the Indo-Pacific, ARG/MEUs must forge a stronger bond with SIF across the globe. These forces must become more complementary, and the ARG/MEU must modernize its embarked sensing and strike capabilities to better deter and defeat contemporary threats. ARGs must embark and train to employ unmanned and autonomous systems, while MEUs must be modernized with capabilities to fight as SIF.
With all the talk of SIFs in the Pacific, we somehow missed that they were trying to take this world wide to become the primary mission of the Marine Corps.
What has me spinning is that Marine Corps leadership somehow thinks that with SIF they will be able to "command and control" naval campaigns.
They won't.
They will simply be a sideshow at best and at worst will be targeted and destroyed by enemy ground forces, and that's the rub of the entire situation. For all the talk about being a "force in readiness" and America's Crisis Response Force, that is all a lie.
The Marine Corps as its currently envisioned by leadership will be organized to do one thing. Sit and wait for the enemy to attack. The SIF has little to no relevance in the Pacific and will have NONE in the rest of the world.
The Marine Corps is about to "concept" itself out of existence.
The sad reality for the USA? The US Army needs to get back into the business of amphibious assault ASAP!
