MDM News: Littoral Mobility, Pre-Positioned Stocks Key to Future Fight, Marine Corps Commandant Says
4/30/2026
By Josh Luckenbaugh
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Potential adversaries are increasing the range at which they can hold U.S. forces at risk, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith said better mobility and pre-positioned stocks are critical to combating this challenge.
With peer competitors such as China expanding the range of their weapons, Marines are under threat “from the time we deploy from Camp Pendleton or Camp Lejeune to the time we get to the objective area,” Smith said during a keynote speech at the Modern Day Marine conference April 30.
To operate in this ever-growing weapons engagement zone, the Marine Corps is investing in littoral mobility and re- and pre-positioning supplies and equipment, he said.
“Stand-in forces need the ability to conduct intra-theater movement — that is where littoral mobility comes in,” he said. “It extends the reach of amphibious shipping and provides stand-in forces with the ability to persist inside an adversary's weapons engagement zone.”
To provide this littoral mobility, the Navy in December selected Dutch shipbuilder Damen Naval’s LST-100 as the design for the Marine Corps’ Landing Ship Medium. Construction of the vessels is expected to begin later this year, with the first boat delivered by 2029, according to a January Congressional Research Service report on the program.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2026/4/30/littoral-mobility-prepositioned-stocks-key-to-future-fight-marine-corps-commandant-says
