Marines’ Force Design 2030 May Allow MEUs Tailored for Different Geographies, Adversaries
By: Megan Eckstein
April 2, 2020 8:15 PM
The Marine Corps’ new force design may allow East Coast expeditionary units to look much different than West Coast or Japan-based units, a nod to the complex but different environments they’ll operate in and threats they’ll face in the future.
Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger recently released his Force Design 2030 plan, which calls for the creation of new Marine Littoral Regiments, as well as redesigned Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) that would be optimized for the Expeditionary Advance Base Operations concept that has driven much of the Marines’ planning in recent months.
The overarching idea of the force design is to embrace what is unique about the Marine Corps and divest of capabilities that are already resident in the joint force, Berger told reporters this week. If the service is to act as an expeditionary and amphibious crisis response force, rather than a second land army, then it needs to change how it equips and organizes itself. In the case of heavy tanks, short- and medium-range artillery, bridging companies to support sustained land campaigns and more, Berger wrote in his report that he is confident the Army has the right capabilities and that the Marine Corps does not need to duplicate that.
https://news.usni.org/2020/04/02/marines-force-design-2030-may-allow-meus-tailored-for-different-geographies-adversaries
