Analyzing the biggest changes in the Marine Corps Force Design 2030 update. (Breaking Defense)
Structural changes
- Plans to cut the number of infantry battalions from 24 to 21 continue, but while the original plan called for cutting the size of each infantry battalion from 896 personnel to 735, the update sees a final size of 800-835 personnel.
- All Marine Corps tanks are gone, and the update contains no plan to replace that capability.
- The update adds back two cannon batteries, with a final artillery structure of seven cannon batteries and seven MLRS rocket batteries for sustained operations ashore by the 21 infantry battalions. In addition, there will be an unspecified number of missile batteries, likely about 14.
Force Structure Cuts
- The Marine Corp will divest the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force.
- The update reiterates the Marine Corps’ intention to cut personnel in service headquarters and the supporting establishment by 15 percent.
- Similarly, the Marine Corps will examine its 13,000 external billets. These support a wide variety of organizations, from joint and agency staffs to White House liaison and overseas embassies.
Acquisition
- The V-22 fleet will still be cut, but instead of having 14 squadrons of 12 aircraft, the update specifies 16 squadrons of 10 aircraft each.
- The Marine Corps still plans to increase UAV capabilities “dramatically,” but only 18 MQ-9s are currently programmed.
- Elsewhere, the Marine Corps restates the need for 31 amphibious ships. (Traditionally, this has been a resource-constrained level to the full requirement of 38 large amphibious ships.)
Cascading issues keeping Air Force, Navy planes grounded, watchdog says. (The Warzone) “Compounding the problem, GAO also found that the Air Force airframes studied are not just increasingly unable to fly, but that they are unable to fly for longer periods of time. It is unknown, however, how the Navy aircraft examined fared in that regard. That’s because the Navy does not systematically track long-term grounded aircraft, said GAO, “so they were unable to provide us complete historical data.”… “Nine out of the 15 maintenance units we met with stated that they experienced maintainer staffing and experience challenges,” GAO found… “Unit maintenance personnel from all 15 maintenance units we interviewed told us they have experienced challenges in acquiring parts in a timely manner, which can lead to maintenance delays,” the report found… maintainers from an F-22 unit said they had to wait 239 days in 2020 for a landing gear component to be built and delivered to the unit.”
House Armed Services Democrats to propose $802 billion defense policy bill. (The Hill) “The top line… includes a $772.5 billion discretionary top line for the Department of Defense, a figure largely in line with what President Biden requested for defense spending. It also includes $29.5 billion for the Department of Energy and another $400 million for other defense-related activities outside of the Department of Defense. The committee is scheduled to mark up both bills next Wednesday.”
Space Systems Command using a ‘buy first’ attitude with procurement. (Federal News Network) “SSC is not only interested in how commercial companies can help, however. White said U.S. allies have been an integral part of building the space infrastructure… The U.S. is putting a payload on a satellite that Norway is launching as well. White said DoD expects to save $900 million by putting the payload on Norway’s satellite instead of doing a launch of its own. SSC is working with allies on electromagnetic spectrum, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance and other areas as well. Currently the U.S. has 58 partnerships with about $3 billion in allied investments…SCC is not following traditional defense acquisition rules, though. The technologies for space move on a much faster timeline. White said SSC has been utilizing mid-tier acquisition and a consortium to connect with industry quickly and get contracts moving. “The mid-tier acquisition has really helped us to streamline how we do our satellite builds,” White said. “I’m in the command where we’re doing the acquisition. I’m very familiar with what contracting activity is doing and what acquisitions are going on. It’s much easier for me to then approve things that come through because I already know about what’s going on. There’s not a teaching timeframe to explain why I need to approve something as a head of contracting activity.””
The US has a national strategy to put factories in space. (Quartz) “Satellite servicing is the first step for these technologies because it’s something that obviously adds value now, and people are willing to pay for it… The same technologies would also lower the cost of manufacturing goods in space. Relying on astronauts and expensive facilities makes such goods cost-prohibitive. Cheaper autonomous infrastructure could change the game for companies that believe unique goods can be manufactured in microgravity, like ultra-efficient fiber optics or novel drugs… “How do we use government buying power to facilitate industry growth?” she asks, rattling off some potential ideas, from creating a public index of all the ways the government might use space services in the next decade, to pooling funding and technology around specific goals, or selecting specific satellites as targets for life extension.”
US Navy’s giant underwater “Orca” drone is running years late. (Bloomberg) “Boeing Co.is expected to deliver Orca –an underwater drone the size of a subway car that’s envisioned to lay mines and perform other missions for the US Navy — as much as three years later than planned. As the Navy works to incorporate pilotless ships in its future fleet, budget documents show the first of five operational Orca drones may be delivered in September 2023, rather than December 2020, “due to contractor challenges and supplier issues.” Boeing beat out aerospace rival Lockheed Martin Corp. for the project in February 2019.”
Bradley replacement could be the US Army’s first hybrid combat vehicle. (Defense News) “All five [companies competing for the OMFV program] developed initial designs that are hybrid, Dean said, a capability the Army considers evermore important as it seeks a smaller, tactical logistics footprint… The service has no requirements for a hybrid electric capability when it comes to OMFV, but it does have the need for a reduced logistics footprint… “It’s about size and weight,” Dean told Defense News a year ago. “If you took the amount of batteries with current technology that you would need to move an Abrams tank purely electrically, it’s bigger than the tank, so we have a packaging and storage problem when it comes to pure electric.”… The Army is expected to release two requests for proposals to industry by the end of the month, asking for detailed designs (the third phase of the competition) and prototypes (the fourth phase).”
New Israeli combat vehicle is part Dakar Buggy, part McLaren F1. (The Warzone) “The Israeli defense company doesn’t exactly want to turn back the evolutionary clock, but it wants to try and create an armored fighting vehicle that’s closer in spirit to the light and simple Jeep than it is to the heavy and ponderous JLTV or Humvee… It also has a few tricks up its sleeves, such as the ability to be fully remote-controlled… How much for all of this? Plasan isn’t saying just now, but Kahn alludes to a price tag for the Wilder coming in at around $200,000-$250,000 apiece.”
Israel unveils armed robotic vehicle for forward reconnaissance missions. (The Times of Israel) “The Medium Robotic Combat Vehicle (M-RCV) — unveiled for the first time at the Eurosatory defense expo being held in Paris — integrates several “cutting-edge technologies,” according to the ministry, including an anti-tank missile launcher, a system for transporting and receiving drones, the ability to carry heavy loads and advanced maneuvering capabilities. The robotics platform was developed by BL Advanced Ground Support Systems; a 30-millimeter machine gun turret was developed by the ministry’s Tank and APC Directorate; an active defense system was developed by Elbit Systems; and the missile launcher was developed by the Israel Aerospace Industries, capable of launching Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ “Spike” anti-tank missiles… The ministry said testing in “representative scenarios” was expected to begin next year, with no estimated date for the vehicle being ready for deployment. The Israel Defense Forces has already deployed autonomous combat vehicles to assist in patrolling Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.”
A huge lag time: DoD struggles to rush cutting-edge tech to Ukraine. (Politico) “The Pentagon canvassed industry on how quickly companies could send a product to Ukraine — 30 days or less; under 90 days; less than 180 days; or more than 180 days. Companies were also asked to describe in fewer than 100 words their product and why it would be effective in Ukraine. The Pentagon received over 1,300 responses, ranging from drones to air defenses and communications systems, Maxwell said. Yet, a month after the request, DoD sent a missive saying that they might require more detail, and if so would get back to companies over the summer as the Pentagon further develops its strategy as appropriations flow in… “Successes occur by exception, not by rule.”
HII develops unmanned launch and recovery system for amphib ships. (Defense News) “HII builds amphibious vessels at its Ingalls Shipyard and makes unmanned vessels through its newly renamed Mission Technologies division. And now the American shipbuilder has a prototype system that will pair the two, thanks to an internal research and development project that was successfully demonstrated on a surrogate boat… The system is essentially a smart cradle: Sailors and Marines can load a large unmanned underwater vehicle into the cradle from inside the well deck, deploy it out the back of the flooded well deck, release the UUV for its mission, and then coordinate with the drone for its recapture at the end of the mission.
Air Force scientist takes over as director of Space Force rapid procurement agency. (Space News) “Kelly Hammett, former head of the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate, is now director of the Space Rapid Capabilities Office…During more than two decades at AFRL, Hammett worked on programs like high-power lasers and high power microwave developments, and oversaw the the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing site known as AMOS. AFRL’s directed energy division has 1,200 employees and an annual budget of $355 million.”
DoD space agency to acquire 10 satellites for experiments in low Earth orbit. (Space News) “This new procurement of satellites – known as the NExT experimental testbed – was previously part of an SDA program called T1DES but is now an independent program. The T1DES procurement was for 18 satellites hosting industry-developed experimental payloads. The plan was to integrate them with the agency’s 126-satellite broadband constellation known as the Transport Layer Tranche 1 projected to launch in 2024… SDA will hold an industry day briefing June 22 to discuss the NExT procurement with potential contractors. “
They’re jamming everything: How secretive electronic warfare shapes war in Ukraine. (Times of Israel) “On Ukraine’s battlefields, the simple act of powering up a cellphone can beckon a rain of deathly fire. Artillery radar and remote controls for unmanned aerial vehicles may also invite showers of shrapnel… A Ukrainian intelligence official called the Russian threat “pretty severe” when it comes to disrupting reconnaissance efforts and commanders’ communications with troops. Russian jamming of GPS receivers on drones that Ukraine uses to locate the enemy and direct artillery fire is particularly intense “on the line of contact,” he said… “It is an incredibly classified field because it is highly dependent on evolving, bleeding-edge technologies where gains can be copied and erased very quickly.””
The Defense Production Act is helping rebuild the US industrial base. Let’s keep it that way. (Defense News) “Both the Trump administration, through executive order 13806, and the Biden administration, through executive order 14017, have directed an all-of-government approach to assessing vulnerabilities in — and strengthening the resilience of — critical supply chains. The reports resulting from these executive orders recognize the broad and dangerous reliance on China that is a fundamental characteristic across several industries critical to national defense, including microelectronics, batteries, and castings and forgings, among others.”
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