Marines’ 2020 Budget Will Prioritize Near-Term Readiness, Upgrades for High-End Fight
By: Megan Eckstein
January 24, 2019 12:33 PM • Updated: January 25, 2019 4:20 PM
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Marine Corps wants to spend nearly a third of its Fiscal Year 2020 money on modernizing its equipment and nearly another third on rebuilding readiness, a top officer said.
Lt. Gen. Brian Beaudreault, deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations, said last week that the service is requesting to spend $14 billion on modernization and $13.8 billion on near-term readiness, or about 30 percent of the total budget each.
He painted a picture of a future high-end fight the Marine Corps had to prepare for, with a slew of near- and long-term priorities for both the Marines and the Navy: the amphibious warships need upgrades to become more lethal and better netted with the rest of the naval force; the amphibious teams need to reduce their own electronic emissions while better sensing the adversary’s; and surface and aerial connectors need to be upgraded to better support maneuver and sustainment. The Navy needed to bolster the prepositioning force to better support logistics and resupply in a contested environment, the expeditionary Navy and Marine Corps needed to fully resource offensive mining and mine countermeasures work, and the Marine Corps needed to continue to invest in tactics and systems to win in an information warfare environment, he added during his speech at the Surface Navy Association’s annual national symposium.
https://news.usni.org/2019/01/24/marines-fy-2020-budget-will-prioritize-near-term-readiness-upgrades-for-high-end-fight
