ARE THE MARINES INVENTING THE EDSEL OR THE MUSTANG?

[rebewranger]

ARE THE MARINES INVENTING THE EDSEL OR THE MUSTANG?
OWEN WESTMAY 27, 2022

COMMENTARYmarines
Ford Motor Company’s development of the Edsel 60 years ago still stands as a classic corporate case study of transformative product failure. The Marine Corps, a $50 billion dollar enterprise, has introduced its own futuristic product — an explicitly defensive island-hopping “Stand-In Force” capable of reconnoitering and sinking warships in order to support naval campaigns. To pay for it, the Marine Corps intends to cut its main product line — infantry supported by artillery, armor, and air — by about 25 percent.

More than 70 percent of corporate transformations fail. The Marine Corps is not a corporation, but critical principles of change management still apply. In 1954, Ford devised the futuristic Edsel to enter the mid-range car market. Four years and $250 million later, Ford ended its disastrous experiment. But Ford had not cut production of its popular cars. The Marine Corps is in a far more precarious position. It could have used incremental dollars to test its promising fusion of targeting technologies and  distributed maritime operations with a minimum viable product. Instead, the commandant, Gen. David Berger, divested current crisis response and land battle capabilities in order to fund a large-scale, hyper-optimized capability that will take eight years to build. Before the new force was designed or prototyped, Berger wrote, “We will not seek to hedge or balance our investments to account for [other] contingencies.”

 https://warontherocks.com/2022/05/are-the-marines-inventing-the-edsel-or-the-mustang/

[DefiantMassRINO]

Isn't reconnoitering usually accomplished with satellites, drones, spies, and intelligence information gathering?

Isn't sinking warships usually accomplished by missiles and special forces sabotage operations?

It sounds like the Marines are trying to pivot to play a more significant role strategic planning to counter China.

Island hopping has very limited potential in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  It's greatest value would be in the major shipping lanes of the eastern and soutern Pacific Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Are the Marine trying to develop strategic land-based commerce-raiding units?

[Kamaji]

Isn't reconnoitering usually accomplished with satellites, drones, spies, and intelligence information gathering?

Isn't sinking warships usually accomplished by missiles and special forces sabotage operations?

It sounds like the Marines are trying to pivot to play a more significant role strategic planning to counter China.

Island hopping has very limited potential in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  It's greatest value would be in the major shipping lanes of the eastern and soutern Pacific Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Are the Marine trying to develop strategic land-based commerce-raiding units?

I would hope that the Marines are preparing to counter the Chinese.

[rebewranger]

I would hope that the Marines are preparing to counter the Chinese.

Maybe they will become the Stasi of the military.