STATEMENT
BY
GENERAL MICHAEL W. HAGEE
COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
BEFORE
THE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
REGARDING
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY'S FISCAL YEAR
2005 DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BUDGET REQUEST
FEBRUARY
12, 2004
Chairman
Hunter, Congressman Skelton, distinguished
Members of the Committee; it is my honor to
report to you on the state of readiness of
your United States Marine Corps.
Your Marines are firmly committed to
warfighting excellence, and the support of
the Congress and the American people has
been indispensable to our success in the
Global War on Terrorism.
Your sustained commitment to
improving our Nation's armed forces to
meet the challenges of today as well as
those of the future is vital to the security
of our Nation.
On behalf of all Marines and their
families, I thank this Committee for your
continued support.
I.
INTRODUCTION
In
the near-term, the Marine Corps' top
priorities are to maintain our high state of
readiness and to provide capable forces that
meet the demanding needs of the Unified Combatant
Commanders in order to prosecute the Global
War On Terrorism in support of the Nation.
For the long-term, the Marine Corps
and Navy are committed to developing a
Seabasing capability that will provide a
critical joint competency for assuring
access and projecting power that will
greatly improve the security of the United
States.
The marked increase in our
warfighting capability will be apparent as
we introduce new systems such as the MV-22
Osprey, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle,
the Joint Strike Fighter, and the Lightweight
155mm howitzer
into our force structure, using them to
enhance the already potent combat power of
our Marine Air-Ground Task Forces as
integral elements of our Nation's joint
force.
The
Navy-Marine Corps team continues to play a
critical role in the Global War On Terrorism
and in the establishment of stability and
security throughout the world.
During this past year, the
Marine Corps, both active and reserve, was
engaged in operations from Afghanistan, to
the Arabian Gulf, the Horn of Africa,
Liberia, the Georgian Republic, Colombia,
Guantanamo Bay, and the Philippines.
Most prominent in highlighting the
value and power of the Nation's naval
expeditionary capability was the Marine
Corps' participation in Operation IRAQI
FREEDOM.
Success in this operation underscored
the unique contributions of our
multi-dimensional naval dominance, our
expeditionary nature, our flexibility to
deal with complex situations and challenges,
and the adaptability of our forces and
individuals in order to defeat the
challenges posed by adaptive, asymmetric
enemies and long-term threats.
Early
last year, the I Marine Expeditionary Force
deployed a combat ready force of almost
70,000 Marines and Sailors in less than 60
days using the full array of our
complementary power projection capabilities.
Forward deployed Marine Expeditionary Units (Special Operations Capable) again demonstrated
their proven value for immediate response.
Eleven strategically located Maritime
Prepositioned Force ships were unloaded in
16 days to provide the equipment and
sustainment for two Marine Expeditionary
Brigades.
A seven ship amphibious force from
each coast embarked a total of 11,500
Marines, Sailors, and their equipment and
within thirty days these fourteen ships
began to arrive and offload in Kuwait.
Strategic sea and air lift was also
vital to our success in this effort.
Exploiting the operational speed,
reach, and inherent flexibility of seapower,
the Navy-Marine Corps team achieved a rapid
buildup of sustained warfighting power that
was combat ready to support U.S. Central
Command on 1 March 2003.
Closely
integrated with our joint and coalition
partners, as well as Special Operations
Forces, the I Marine Expeditionary Force
provided the Combatant Commander with a
potent combined arms force comprising a
balance of ground, aviation, and combat
service support elements all coordinated by
a dynamic command element.
This teamwork - the product of
demanding and realistic Service and joint
training - presented a multi-dimensional
dilemma for the Iraqi regime's forces and
loyalists.
It also greatly increased the range
of options available to our leadership as
they addressed each unique and complex
situation.
The integration of the 1st
United Kingdom Division within the I Marine
Expeditionary Force provides outstanding
lessons for achieving merged coalition
capabilities and consistent goals in the
future.
The
combat power of I Marine Expeditionary Force
generated an operational tempo that our
enemy could not match.
With short notice that operations
would commence early, the Marines and their
joint and coalition partners rapidly secured
key strategic objectives.
The I Marine Expeditionary Force then
engaged in 26 days of sustained combat
operations.
Using the tenets of maneuver warfare,
they executed four major river crossings,
fought ten major engagements, and destroyed
eight Iraqi divisions before stopping in
Tikrit - almost 500 miles inland.
In support of Joint Special
Operations Forces Northern Iraq, the 26th
Marine Expeditionary Unit inserted a
Marine-Air Ground Task Force from the
Eastern Mediterranean into Northern Iraq -
almost 1,200 miles distance.
The sustained resources of the Marine
force, which were derived primarily from our
seaborne logistics, provided us unrivaled
advantages.
While our logistics were stretched by
the operational commanders, our combat
service support units demonstrated
flexibility and resourcefulness.
Highlighting
the expeditionary mindset of Marines, our
combined arms force successfully operated in
desert, urban, swamp, and rural environments
while effectively conducting combat,
peacekeeping, and humanitarian operations
- at times simultaneously.
Marines also demonstrated the ability
to re-task and reorganize to conduct
unanticipated missions like the taking of
the city of Tikrit.
Following major combat operations, I
Marine Expeditionary Force assumed
responsibility for security and stability in
five Central Iraq provinces until they were
relieved of the last province by coalition
forces this past September.
Flexibility and adaptability are key
characteristics of an expeditionary force,
and they are critical advantages that we
must seek to optimize for the future,
particularly in this era of global
uncertainty.
Recent
operations also emphasize the increased
importance of access to key regions for
projecting our Nation's power.
With global interests, the United
States must retain the capability to secure
access as needed.
Power projection from the sea greatly
increases the range of options available to
avert or resolve conflicts.
A credible naval forcible-entry
capability is critical to ensure that we are
never barred from a vital national objective
or limited to suboptimal alternatives.
Since
the end of major combat operations, the
Marine Corps has been setting the force in
order to enhance warfighting readiness for
future contingencies.
We are reloading combat equipment and
materiel on the ships of the Maritime
Prepositioned Squadrons while also ensuring
that the requirements for Operation IRAQI
FREEDOM II are fulfilled.
We are using provided funding to
repair, refurbish, and where necessary,
replace equipment.
During this period, Marines have
continued to forward deploy.
Marine Corps units are supporting
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan,
operations in the Horn of Africa, exercises
critical to supporting the Combatant
Commanders' Theater Security Cooperation
Plans, and counter-drug
operations in support of joint and
joint-interagency task forces.
In addition, we have conducted a
major program to identify and analyze
lessons learned from the Iraqi campaign.
We have also begun to assimilate
these lessons and determine where and how
our force should be rebalanced.
As
the last few years have demonstrated, the
Marine Corps Reserve is a full partner in
our total force.
Reserve units participated in all
aspects of the war in Iraq, providing air,
ground, and combat service support as well
as a large number of individual augmentees
to Marine and joint staffs.
Mobilized Marine reserve infantry
battalions have also served as ready
reaction forces, "on call" to
support the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's role in homeland security.
II.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS FOR IMMEDIATE
OPERATIONS
We
continue to execute global operations and
exercises with our joint and coalition
partners.
The Marine Corps is preparing to
deploy forces to relieve the 3d Armored
Cavalry Regiment and the 82d Airborne
Division in Western Iraq in support of
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II.
These forces will be deployed in two
rotations of seven months each.
This rotation policy will result in
the least disruption for the long-term
health of the Marine Corps, precluding
stop-loss/stop-move and unnecessary
interruptions in recruit training, career
progression and development, professional
military education, and other deployment
requirements.
The first rotation, from March until
September 2004, will include 25,000 Marines
and their equipment and includes almost
3,000 reserve component Marines.
A second rotation - of like size
and composition - will overlap the first
and ensure a smooth and stable transition.
In
preparation for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II,
I Marine Expeditionary Force has analyzed
lessons learned from their experiences in
conducting security and stability operations
from March to September 2003, and recent
Army lessons learned.
As they did last year, I Marine
Expeditionary Force is working closely with
the Army forces in Iraq; they have conducted
a number of liaison visits with the Army
units they will relieve.
They have drawn from procedures used
by the Los Angeles Police Department for
neighborhood patrolling in gang dominated
areas, the tactics of the British in Iraq
which reflect years of experience in low
intensity conflicts and peacekeeping
operations, as well as the Marine Corps'
own extensive "Small Wars" experience.
We have assimilated these lessons
through a comprehensive training package
that includes tactics, techniques,
procedures for stability and
counter-insurgency operations.
We have conducted rigorous urban
operations training and exercises.
Over 400 Marines are receiving Arabic
language immersion training, and all
deploying Marines and Sailors are receiving
extensive cultural education.
Our supporting establishment is
focused on the equipment, logistics, and
training requirements of this force -
paying particular attention to individual
protective equipment, enhanced vehicle and
aircraft hardening, and aviation survival
equipment and procedures.
This training and support are
critically important as we send Marines back
to war in a volatile, dangerous, and
changing situation.
During
this next year Marine Expeditionary Units
will still deploy as part of Naval
Expeditionary Strike Groups in support of
Combatant Commander requirements.
Units will continue to rotate to
Okinawa and Iwakuni Japan, and some of those
forces will further deploy in support of
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II.
While the operational tempo remains
high, recruiting and retention continue to
exceed our goals.
We are monitoring the health of our
Service, and we are focused on ensuring that
the Marine Corps remains ready for all
current and future responsibilities.
III.
TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN
Events
of the past year continue to highlight the
value of the individual Marine over all
other weapon "systems."
While we always strive to provide our
Marines with the best equipment and weapons,
we never forget that people and leadership
are the foundations of the Marine Corps'
readiness and warfighting capabilities.
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM demonstrated
that the Marine Corps' recruiting,
training, and education of the force are
extremely successful in maintaining the high
standards of military readiness our Nation
requires.
The Marine Corps remains committed to
taking care of our Marines, their families,
and our civilian Marines.
Marines
End
Strength.
The
Marine Corps is assimilating the
Congressionally authorized increase in
Marine Corps end-strength to 175,000.
The increase of 2,400 Marines
previously authorized by Congress addressed
an urgent need to train and maintain enough
Marines for the long-term requirements
associated with the Global War on Terrorism.
It has been particularly important in
enabling us to provide the Nation with a
robust, scalable force option specifically
dedicated to anti-terrorism the 4th
Marine Expeditionary Brigade
(Anti-Terrorism).
The
Marine Corps is expeditionary by nature and
therefore accustomed to deploying in support
of contingency and forward presence
missions.
We are structured in such a way as to
satisfy our enduring requirements and meet
operational contingencies as long as the
contingencies are temporary in nature.
While the force is stretched, we are
meeting our current challenging operational
commitments.
Our high operational and personnel
tempos have not negatively impacted
accessions or retention efforts; however, we
continue to monitor both very closely.
Recruiting.
Sustaining our ranks with the highest
quality young men and women is the mission
of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
Recruiting Command has consistently
accomplished this mission for more than
eight years for enlisted recruiting and
thirteen years for officer recruiting.
This past year the Marine Corps
recruited over 100 percent of its goal with
over 97 percent Tier I High School
graduates.
In order to continue attracting
America's finest youth, Recruiting Command
provides its recruiters the best tools
available to accomplish their mission.
The
Marine Corps Reserve achieved its Fiscal
Year 2003 recruiting goals with the
accession of 6,174 Non-Prior Service Marines
and 2,663 Prior Service Marines.
With regard to our reserve
component, officer recruiting and retention
to fill out the requirements of our Selected
Marine Corps Reserve units remains our most
challenging concern.
This is primarily due to the fact
that we recruit Reserve officers almost
exclusively from the ranks of those who have
first served a tour as an active duty Marine
officer and currently the Corps is
experiencing a low attrition rate for
company grade officers in our active force.
We are attempting to alleviate this
challenge.
Two successful methods include
increasing awareness of the benefits of
service in the Reserves to the company grade
officers who are leaving the active ranks
and reserve officer programs for qualified
enlisted Marines.
Retention.
Retaining the best and the brightest
Marines is a constant goal; history has
proven that superb leadership in the staff
noncommissioned officer ranks is a major
contributor to the Corps' combat
effectiveness.
The ranks of this elite group of
leaders can only be filled by retaining our
best enlisted Marines.
The Marine Corps has two retention
measures and both clearly indicate healthy
service continuation rates. Our First Term
Alignment Plan (first tour) has consistently
achieved its reenlistment requirements over
the past nine years.
With just over one-third of the
current Fiscal Year completed, we have
achieved 76 percent of our first-term
retention goal.
Furthermore, our Subsequent Term
Alignment Plan (second tour and beyond)
reveals that we have already retained 47
percent of our goal for this Fiscal Year.
Current
officer retention is at a nineteen year
high, continuing a four-year trend of
increasing retention.
Despite the increased retention
overall, certain Military Occupational
Specialties perennially suffer high
attrition.
We are attempting to overcome
this challenge by offering continuation pay
for those Marines with Military Occupational
Specialties that include special
qualifications and skills.
Military compensation that is
competitive with the private sector provides
the flexibility required to meet the
challenge of maintaining stability in
manpower planning.
Marine
Corps Reserve.
In 2003, the Marine Corps Reserve
rapidly mobilized combat ready Marines to
augment and reinforce the active component.
Marine Corps Reserve activations in
support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM began in
January 2003, and peaked at 21,316 Reserve
Marines on active duty in May 2003.
This represented 52 percent of the
Selected Marine Corps Reserve (SMCR).
Of the approximately 6,000 Reservists
currently on active duty, over 1,300
Individual Mobilization Augmentees,
Individual Ready Reserves, and Retirees fill
critical joint and internal billets.
As of January 2004, the Marine Corps
Reserve began activating approximately 7,000
SMCR Marines in support of Operation IRAQI
FREEDOM II.
Judicious employment of Reserve
Marines remains a top priority of the Marine
Corps to ensure the Marine Corps Reserve
maintains the capability to augment and
reinforce the active component.
Marine Corps Reserve units and
individuals are combat ready and have
rapidly integrated into active forces
commands demonstrating the effectiveness of
the Total Force Marine Corps.
A
strong Inspector-Instructor system and a
demanding Mobilization and Operational
Readiness Deployment Test program ensured
Marine Corps Reserve units achieved a high
level of pre-mobilization readiness.
Marine Reserve Units continuously
train to a C1/C2 readiness standard,
eliminating the need for post-mobilization
certification.
Ninety-eight percent of SMCR Marines called up for duty
reported for mobilization and less than one
percent requested a deferment, delay, or
exemption.
The Marine Corps Reserve
executed a rapid and efficient mobilization
with units averaging six days from
notification to being deployment-ready, and
32 days after receiving a deployment order
they arrived in theater.
Many activated Marine Reserve units
were ready to deploy faster than strategic
lift could be provided.
Building
on the important lessons of the last year,
the Marine Corps is pursuing several
transformational initiatives to enhance the
Reserves' capabilities as a ready and able
partner with our active component.
These pending initiatives include:
increasing the number of Military Police
units in the reserve component; establishing
a Reserve Intelligence Support Battalion to
include placing Reserve Marine Intelligence
Detachments at the Joint Reserve
Intelligence Centers; returning some of our
Civil Affairs structure to the active
component to provide enhanced planning
capabilities to the operational and Service
Headquarters; and, introducing an improved
Individual Augmentee Management Program to
meet the growing joint and internal
requirements.
When
called, the Marine Corps Reserve is ready to
augment and reinforce.
Our Reserve Marines are a vital and
critical element of our Total Force.
The training, leadership, and quality
of life of our reserve component remain
significant Marine Corps priorities.
Marine
For Life.
The commitment to take care of
our own includes a Marine's transition
from active service back to civilian life.
The Marine For Life Program's mission
is to provide sponsorship for our more than
27,000 Marines who honorably leave active
service each year.
The program was created to nurture
and sustain the positive, mutually
beneficial relationships inherent in our
ethos, "Once a Marine, Always a
Marine."
In cities across the United States,
Reserve Marines help transitioning Marines
and their families get settled in their new
communities.
Sponsorship includes assistance with
employment, education, housing, childcare,
veterans' benefits, and other support
services needed to make a smooth transition.
To
provide this support, Marine For Life taps
into the network of former Marines and
Marine-friendly businesses, organizations
and individuals willing to lend a hand to a
Marine who has served honorably.
Initiated
in Fiscal Year 2002, the program will reach
full operational capability in Fiscal Year
2004. In
addition to 110 Reserve Marines serving as
"Hometown Links," an enhanced web-based
electronic network, easily accessed by
Marines worldwide, will support the program.
The end state of the Marine For Life
Program is a nationwide Marine and
Marine-friendly network available to all
Marines honorably leaving active service,
that will improve their transition to
civilian life.
Civilian
Marines
Civilian
Workforce Campaign Plan.
Recognizing
that our Civilian Marines are integral to
the success of military operations, General
James L. Jones, the 32nd Commandant of the
Marine Corps, charged our senior Marine
Corps officials with the development and
implementation of a strategic 5-year plan
for the recruitment, development, and
retention of our Civilian Marines.
The Civilian Workforce Campaign Plan
(CWCP) consists of six strategic goals: 1)
nurture, build, and grow Civilian Marines;
2) provide flexible career opportunities; 3)
create leaders at all levels; 4) improve the
performance evaluation system; 5) strengthen
workforce management expertise; and 6)
establish an integrated Total Force
management approach.
As Commandant, I have provided the
following additional implementing guidance.
Our
vision is to make the Marine Corps the
employer of choice for a select group of
civilians imbued with the Marine Corps
values of honor, courage, and commitment.
Through implementation of the CWCP,
we will not only define what the Marine
Corps will offer its Civilian Marines, but
what the Corps expects from them.
We will attract, nurture, build, and
grow Civilian Marines by providing
innovative recruitment, development,
retention, reward, and acculturation
programs throughout the work-life cycle.
National
Security Personnel System.
We want to take this occasion to thank again the committee and the
Congress for enacting the National Security
Personnel System (NSPS) in the fiscal year
2004 National Defense Authorization Act.
The Act authorized a more flexible
civilian personnel management system for the
Department that allowed the Department to be
a more competitive and progressive employer
at a time when our national security demands
a highly responsive system of civilian
personnel management.
The legislation ensures that merit
system principles govern any changes in
personnel management, whistleblowers are
protected, discrimination remains illegal,
and veterans' preference is protected.
The Department will collaborate with
employee representatives, invest time to try
and work out our differences, and notify
Congress of any differences before
implementation.
In January, Department officials met
with union representatives to begin the
development of a new system of
labor-management relations.
Later this year, following an
intensive training program for supervisors,
managers, human resources specialists,
employees, as well as commanders and senior
management, the Department plans to begin
implementing NSPS.
The Marine Corps, along with the
entire Department of the Navy, expects to be
in the first wave of implementation.
Military-Civilian
Conversions.
The Marine Corps will continue to
actively pursue a review of all functional
areas within the Marine Corps in an effort
to return more Marines to the operating
forces.
Through Fiscal Year 2003, we have
returned over 2,000 manned structure spaces
to the operating forces, and we will return
approximately 650 more Marines in Fiscal
Year 2004.
The Fiscal Year 2005 President's
Budget converts roughly an additional 1,400
more billets from Marines to Civilian
Marines, which will provide us more options
to increase manning in the operating forces.
Education
Amid
today's uncertain, volatile security
environment, our most effective weapon
remains the individual Marine who
out-learns, out-thinks, and out-fights any
adversary.
Such warfighting competence is
secured only through intellectual
development.
Recent events demonstrated how
quality education instills confidence in
Marines.
Our educational standards and
programs produce innovative leaders who take
initiative and excel during challenging
situations involving uncertainty and risk.
These high educational standards are
inculcated by the Marine Corps
University and
are designed to target every rank in both
our active and reserve forces.
Each year the Marine
Corps University student population includes
members of the other armed services, various
government agencies as well as dozens of
international military officers from over thirty different countries.
The
Marine Corps endeavors to provide its
Marines with 'lifelong learning'
opportunities through a variety of
educational programs, college courses, and
library services on our bases and stations.
Furthermore, distance learning
programs through the Marine Corps University
make continuing education available to
Marines regardless of their location.
In addition, the Marine Corps will
continue to fully fund the Tuition
Assistance Program in accordance with the
Department of Defense guideline funding for
100 percent of tuition cost up to $250 per
semester hour with a maximum of $4,500 per
year. In
Fiscal Year 2003, there were 25,662 Marines
enrolled in almost 80,000 courses with the
help of the Tuition Assistance Program.
Joint
Initiatives.
The Marine Corps synchronizes its
educational objectives with those of the
other armed services in order to provide
Regional Combatant Commanders with the most
capable joint force.
We support the proposal for a Joint
Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS) and for
broadening Joint Professional Military
Education (JPME) opportunities for the Total
Force. By
working closely with Joint Forces Staff
College and our sister services, JAWS has
the potential to empower future combatant
commanders with talented officers who are
experienced in campaign planning.
Intent on broadening our joint
experience base, the Marine Corps is
pursuing an accredited advanced joint
curriculum (JPME Phase II) at the Marine
Corps War College and will continue to work
to provide JPME opportunities for both
active and reserve components.
Senior
Leader Development Program.
The Senior Leader
Development Program was developed last year
to address General Officer and Senior
Executive Service career development and to
link education opportunities to career
progression. A
study was commissioned to identify the
competencies required in each of our general
officer billets in an effort to link core
and complimentary curriculum with the
assignment process.
Within the core curriculum, senior
leaders will attend the Joint Warfare series
of courses as prerequisites by rank and
billet while they study innovation, business
transformation, and resource management
through complementary courses.
Quality
of Life/Quality of Service
The
Marine Corps works to improve the quality of
life for Marines and their families in order
to continue the success of the all volunteer
force. We
provide excellent quality of life programs
and services, while also helping new Marines
to better understand what to expect in the
military lifestyle.
We continuously assess, through a
variety of means, the attitudes and concerns
of Marines and their families regarding
their quality of life expectations.
With 67 percent of our Marines
deployed away from their home installations
at the height of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, we
carefully captured lessons learned to ensure
quality of life programs meet the needs of
deployed Marines and families who remain at
home. Community
and Family Assistance Centers were
established at Camp Lejeune, Camp Pendleton,
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and Marine
Corps Base Twentynine Palms to provide
Marine family members and loved ones access
to relevant information and referral
services.
To
further help Marines and their families
before, during, and after deployments, the
Marine Corps implemented Marine Corps
Community Services (MCCS) One Source,
a Marine Corps-conducted, Department
of Defense funded pilot program providing
around-the-clock information and referral
services.
MCCS One Source is especially
useful to our activated Marine Reserves and
their families as they negotiate the
requirements and procedures associated with
utilization of military programs such as
TRICARE and other benefit services.
In recognition of the importance of
the transition home after deployments for
both Marines and their families, the Marine
Corps developed a standardized return and
reunion program consisting of a mandatory
warrior transition brief for returning
Marines, a return and reunion guidebook for
Marines and family members, a caregiver
brief, and briefs designed for spouses.
We
greatly appreciate the supplemental
appropriations bills during 2003, that
contained additional help for deployed
Marines and their families.
In 2004, quality of life efforts will
continue to focus on issues related to
supporting deployed forces and their
families.
Safety
Safety
programs are vital to force protection and
operational readiness.
Marine leaders understand the
importance of leadership, persistence, and
accountability in the effort to reduce
mishaps and accidents.
The Fiscal Year 2003 off duty and
operational mishap rates were driven upward
by the mishaps that occurred during and post
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, while the aviation
mishap rate decreased.
To meet the
Secretary of Defense's challenge to all
Services to reduce mishaps by 50 percent in
two years, the Marine Corps is focusing on
initiatives that deal particularly with the
development of strategies and specific
interventions to reduce all mishaps.
Our leadership at every level
understand the challenge, and we are
actively involved in the effort to safeguard
our most precious assets Marines and
Sailors.
IV.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS FOR THE FUTURE
The
Marine Corps, in partnership with our Navy
brethren, provides our Nation with unrivaled
maritime power to help secure peace and
promote our national interests.
The President's Fiscal Year 2005
budget, together with your support, will
provide a strong foundation for our
continued success.
The Fiscal Year 2005 budget -
predicated on a peacetime operational tempo
- sustains a high level of readiness and
ensures our ability to rapidly respond to
emerging situations.
It also allows us to assimilate new
technologies and explore new concepts that
will help realize the full potential of our
people and their equipment.
We will continue to seek improved
means to increase the efficiency of our
investments and increase the combat
effectiveness of our forces.
Technology
and Experimentation
The
Marine Corps has a long history of
innovation and adaptation.
Experimentation is our principle
means to explore new ideas and technologies
in order to develop new capabilities to
overcome emerging challenges.
The Marine Corps Combat Development
Command has realigned its experimentation
program around the Sea Viking campaign.
This campaign will explore both
concept and prototype technology development
pathways leading to the sea-based
expeditionary capabilities envisioned for
the future, to include forcible entry from
the sea.
The Sea Viking campaign is
complementary to the joint concept
development and experimentation campaign of
Joint Forces Command and the Navy's Sea
Trial experimentation process.
As an integral part of this effort,
the Marine Corps is refining the
expeditionary combat capabilities best
suited to participate in future
Expeditionary Strike Group and Expeditionary
Strike Force operations. It
is also exploring the potential for an
expanded Seabasing capability in support of
future joint operations.
The
Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory has
experimented with several new pieces of
equipment to enhance individual and small
unit effectiveness.
Based on successful experimentation,
limited numbers of the M16A4 Modular Weapons
System, Rifle Combat Optic, and the
Integrated Intra Squad Radio were fielded
for use during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.
The Marine Corps continues to seek
enhanced capabilities for the future as we
continue to improve and transform the force.
In addition, we have procured
sufficient quantities of the Outer Tactical
Vest and its Small Arms Protective Insert
plates to ensure all Marines participating
in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II are equipped
with enhanced ballistic protection.
New
Concepts and Organizations
The
Expeditionary Force Development System
implemented this past year is a
methodological process that is designed to
facilitate the development and realization
of military operational concepts.
It is a streamlined and integrated
system that covers all phases of concept
development to the acquisition of necessary
equipment and weapons systems.
The Expeditionary Force Development
System proved to be of great value to our
forces engaged in combat operations and is
proving to be a helpful means of ensuring
that the Marine Corps quickly profits from
recent operational experiences.
The system is compatible with and
supports naval and joint transformation
efforts as it integrates transformational,
modernization, and legacy capabilities and
processes.
Several emerging concepts and
organizational structures are maturing that
will benefit the Marine Corps and ensure we
can meet the future demanding requirements
of the Combatant Commanders.
The
Seabasing Concept.
Seabasing, envisioned as a National
capability, is our overarching
transformational operating concept for
projecting and sustaining multi-dimensional
naval power and selected joint forces at
sea. As
stated by the Defense Science Board in its
August 2003 Task Force report: "Seabasing
represents a critical future joint
military capability for the United
States."
It assures joint access by leveraging
the operational maneuver of forces globally
from the sea, and reduces joint force
operational dependence upon fixed and
vulnerable land bases.
Seabasing unites our capabilities for
projecting offensive power, defensive power,
command and control, mobility and
sustainment around the world.
This will provide our Regional
Combatant Commanders with unprecedented
versatility to generate operational
maneuver.
Seabasing will allow Marine forces to
strike, commence sustainable operations,
enable the flow of follow-on forces into
theater, and expedite the reconstitution and
redeployment of Marine forces for follow-on
missions.
As the core of Naval Transformation,
Seabasing will provide the operational and
logistical foundation to enable the other
pillars of Naval Transformation (Sea Strike,
Sea Shield, Sea Base, and FORCEnet).
This
year, the Marine Corps has continued to
refine plans for the Marine Expeditionary
Brigade of 2015, in concert with our concept
for sea-based operations.
Similarly, the Analysis of
Alternatives for our Maritime Prepositioning
Force (Future), a critical component of
Seabasing, will provide valid choices for
achieving Seabasing capabilities.
These initiatives will complement,
rather than replace, the amphibious lift and
forcible entry capacity of the LHA(R),
LPD-17, and LHD, and will provide the Nation
a deployment and employment capability
unmatched in the modern world.
Expeditionary
Strike Groups.
The Marine Corps and Navy continue
the series of experiments that will refine
the Expeditionary Strike Group concept.
This concept will combine the
capabilities of surface action groups,
submarines, and maritime patrol aircraft
with those of Amphibious Ready Groups and
enhanced Marine Expeditionary Units (Special
Operations Capable) to provide greater
combat capabilities to Regional Combatant
Commanders.
Navy combatants are incorporated
within the existing training and deployment
cycle of the Amphibious Ready Group.
Further experimentation will also
allow us to test command-and-control
arrangements for the Expeditionary Strike
Group (ESG).
We will soon complete the pilot
deployment in this series, ESG-1, composed
of West Coast Navy and Marine forces.
The ESG-2, composed of East Coast
Navy and Marine forces, will deploy later
this year.
Currently, the Marine Corps Combat
Development Command is working with Navy and
Marine operating forces to capture critical
information from these experimental
deployments to ensure that the ESG
capability thoroughly integrates doctrine,
organization, training, materiel,
leadership, education, personnel, and
facilities.
Also, the Marine Corps Combat
Development Command is working with the Navy
to develop the concept for the employment of
the additional capabilities that the ESG
provides Regional Combatant Commanders.
Finally, the Center for Naval
Analyses is evaluating the series of
experiments through embedded analysts
deployed with both ESGs and will submit
their consolidated reports to the Navy and
Marine Corps in October 2004.
Marine
Corps - U.S.
Special Operations Command Initiatives.
The Marine Corps continues to
aggressively improve interoperability with
Special Operations Forces.
The U.S. Special Operations
Command-Marine Corps Board has developed
over 30 initiatives to support our
interoperability goals.
The Marine Corps and U.S. Special
Operations Command are working to leverage
existing pre-deployment and deployment
training as a means to "operationalize"
our relationship.
Our deploying Marine Expeditionary
Units (Special Operations Capable) exchange
liaison officers with the Theater Special
Operations Commands as the Marine
Expeditionary Units deploy within the
various theaters.
On June 20, 2003, a Marine Corps
"proof of concept" Detachment that is
task organized to complement U.S. Special
Operations Command mission areas in Direct
Action, Special Reconnaissance, Coalition
Support and Foreign Internal Defense
formally stood up at Camp Pendleton,
California.
The Detachment transferred to the
operational control of U.S. Special
Operations Command last December, to
facilitate joint pre-deployment training and
is scheduled to deploy in April 2004, with a
Naval Special Warfare Squadron supporting
U.S. Central Command.
Finally, we are conducting joint
training with U.S. Special Operations
Command in the areas of fixed and rotary
wing air support of special operation
missions.
Reestablishment
of Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies.
During this past summer the Marine
Corps reestablished an Air-Naval Gunfire
Liaison Company in I Marine Expeditionary
Force and another in the II Marine
Expeditionary Force.
These companies provide teams that
specialize in all aspects of fire support
- from terminal control to support of
division fire support coordination centers.
They greatly enhance Marine
Air-Ground Task Force Commanders' liaison
capability - with foreign area expertise
- to plan, coordinate, employ, and conduct
terminal control of fires in support of
joint, allied, and coalition forces.
Each company will be fully stood up
by this summer, and a separate platoon will
be stood up in III Marine Expeditionary
Force in October 2004.
Tactical
Aircraft Integration.
Naval Tactical Aircraft (TacAir)
Integration makes all Naval Strike-Fighter
aircraft available to meet both Services'
warfighting and training requirements.
As part of the TacAir Integration
plan, a Marine Fighter-Attack squadron will
eventually be attached to each of the ten
active Carrier Air Wings and will deploy
aboard aircraft carriers.
In addition, three Navy
Strike-Fighter squadrons will be assigned
into the Marine Corps' Unit Deployment
Program for land-based deployments.
Force structure reductions associated
with this plan should result in a total cost
savings and cost avoidance of over $30
billion.
The integration of the fifth Marine
squadron into a Carrier Air Wing and the
first Navy squadron into the Unit Deployment
Program are scheduled for later this year.
TacAir
Integration retains our warfighting
potential and brings the Naval Services a
step closer to the flexible sea based force
we envision for the future.
A leaner, more efficient naval
strike-fighter force is possible because of
three underlying factors.
The first factor is 'Global
Sourcing' the ability to task any
non-deployed Department of Navy squadron to
either Service's missions, allowing for a
reduction in force structure.
Second, 'Level Readiness'
applying the proper resources to
training, maintenance, and modernization,
will ensure the smaller force is always
capable of responding to the Services' and
Nation's needs.
Third, the development of an
operational concept that will efficiently
manage the employment of this integrated
strike-fighter force within the naval and
joint context.
Support of readiness accounts,
modernization programs, and our replacement
of the F/A-18 and AV-8B with the Short
Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) Joint
Strike Fighter will ensure the potential
promised by this integration.
Better
Business Practices
The
Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the
Navy have emphasized,
and the Marine Corps is committed to,
business transformation in order to optimize
resource allocation.
The Marine Corps is employing a
variety of business transformation
initiatives including: competitive sourcing
of over 3,500 commercial billets to save $57
million annually; outsourcing garrison food
service in our mess halls in the continental
United States in to free up 594 Marines for
other duties; using public-private ventures
to fund new family housing and to increase
the quantity of safe, comfortable, and
affordable homes; consolidation of equipment
maintenance from five to three echelons in
order to improve maintenance effectiveness
and efficiency; and, regionalizing garrison
mobile equipment to realign Marines and
dollars with higher priorities.
The Marine Corps continues to develop
its activity based costing capability in
order to support fact based decision making.
In
March 2003, the Marine Corps began
participation in the Navy Marine Corps
Intranet (NMCI) a network outsourcing
initiative that will provide a common
end-to-end Department of Navy information
system capability for voice, video, and data
communications.
By outsourcing information technology
services not considered to be core
competencies, the Marine Corps has been able
to return 355 supporting establishment
personnel structure spaces to the operating
forces.
As a result of this improved business
practice, the NMCI operating environment
will promote greater naval interoperability.
The
Marine Corps will continue to refine our
business practices and increase the
effectiveness of warfighting potential.
V.
OUR MAIN EFFORT - EXCELLENCE IN
WARFIGHTING
Training
Training
at Eglin Air Force Base.
In anticipation of the cessation of naval
expeditionary forces training in Vieques, Puerto
Rico,
efforts began in September 2002 to
establish a new training capability at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB).
Training at Eglin AFB is envisioned
to provide a near term pre-deployment
training capability for East Coast Navy
Amphibious Ready Groups/Expeditionary Strike
Groups and Marine Expeditionary Units
(Special Operations Capable), with the
potential to be part of the long-term
solution.
The training concept was designed for
up to two 10-day training periods per year.
The long-term objective is that
during each 10-day event, the Expeditionary
Strike Groups will be able to conduct
the full spectrum of training required.
The Marine Corps has invested
approximately $4.2 million in environmental
assessment/mitigation and infrastructure
development required to establish an initial
training capability at Eglin AFB.
In
December 2003, the Marine Corps completed
its first 10-day training period at Eglin
AFB, at an additional cost of approximately
$1 million.
The Marine Corps is assessing the
quality the
training offered at Eglin AFB while
continuing to explore and develop other
options, both within the United States and
abroad.
While Eglin AFB has the
potential for enhanced live fire and
maneuver training, developing this
capability will require a significant
investment by the Department of the Navy and
Department of Defense to upgrade existing
facilities.
Joint
National Training Capability.
As described by the Deputy Secretary
of Defense:
"The
centerpiece of our Training Transformation
effort will be a Joint National Training
Capability."
The Joint National Training Capability is one of the
three pillars of Training Transformation,
and will improve joint interoperability by
adding certified 'joint context' to
existing Service training events.
The Joint National Training
Capability is a cooperative collection of
interoperable training sites, nodes, and
events that synthesizes Combatant Commander
and Service training requirements with the
appropriate level of joint context.
The
first in a series of pre-Initial Operational
Capability Joint
National Training Capability
exercises was held in January 2004, linking
a Marine Corps Combined Arms Exercise with
live Close Air Support sorties, a Navy
Stand-off Land Attack Missile Exercise, an
Army rotation at the National Training
Center, and an Air Force Air Warrior
Exercise.
The Marine Corps will be actively
involved in future Joint
National Training Capability
exercises including Combined Arms Exercises
and Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics
Squadron-1 evolutions scheduled for Fiscal
Year 2005.
The Marine Corps is fully engaged in
the Joint
National Training Capability program
development, and is on track to enhance
Service core-competency training with the
appropriate level of joint context.
In concert with the other Services,
the Marine Corps is working with Joint
Forces Command to refine the phrase "joint
context," certify ranges, and accredit
exercises to ensure the force is training
properly.
Infrastructure
Blount Island
Facility. The
acquisition of the Blount Island facility in
Jacksonville, Florida, is critical to our
Nation and to our Corps' warfighting
capabilities.
Blount Island's peacetime mission is
to support the Maritime Prepositioning
Force. Its
wartime capability and capacity to support
massive logistics sustainment from the
continental United States gives it strategic
significance.
The
Blount
Island facility has a vital role in the National Military Strategy as the site
for maintenance operations of the Maritime
Prepositioning Force.
The Marine Corps thanks Congress for
your role in supporting this acquisition
project. Phase
II, funded by the $115.7 million
appropriated in the Defense Authorization
Act of 2004, gives the Marine Corps
ownership of the leased maintenance area and
supporting dredge disposal site consisting
of 1,089 acres.
Encroachment.
We are grateful to Congress for
providing a tool to facilitate the
management of incompatible developments
adjacent to or in close proximity to
military lands.
We are working with state and local
governments and with non-governmental
organizations such as the Trust for Public
Lands, The Nature Conservancy, the Sierra
Club, and the Endangered Species Coalition
to acquire lands buffering or near our bases
including Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air
Station Beaufort, and Camp Pendleton.
In return for our investment, the
Marine Corps is receiving restrictive
easements that ensure lands acquired remain
undeveloped and serve as buffer zones
against future encroachment on our bases.
We
are also grateful to Congress for codifying
legislation that gives us the opportunity to
partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and State fish and game agencies in
order to manage endangered species present
on military lands.
Management via our Integrated Natural
Resources Management Plans, which we prepare
in partnerships with these agencies, allows
us to protect and enhance populations of
these species on our lands while allowing
Marines to train.
Finally, we support the Secretary of
Defense's efforts to provide flexibility
under the Clean Air Act and to clarify the
governing authorities under which DoD would
manage operational ranges.
The
Marine Corps strives to be a good environmental
steward and the growing number of endangered
species on our lands and their increasing
populations are examples of our successes.
We remain committed to protecting the
resources entrusted to us by the American
people.
Base
Realignment and Closures.
A successful Base Realignment and
Closure process, resulting in
recommendations in 2005, is critically
important to the Nation, the Department of
Defense, and the Department of Navy.
By eliminating excesses and improving
efficiencies, the armed services will
achieve a transformation of our
infrastructure in the same way we are
achieving a transformation of our forces.
Recommendations will be developed
only after a thorough and in-depth review.
Command
and Control
Naval
expeditionary warfare will depend heavily on
the ability of the forces to share linked
and fused information from a common source
which will, in turn, ensure command and
control of widely dispersed forces.
Exploiting the use of space, ground
and aerial platforms requires a networked,
protected, and assured global grid of
information.
Leveraging command and control
technology to improve our interoperability
continues to be our focus of effort.
Advances
in technology and a need to leverage
existing infrastructure requires us to
establish a new Information Technology (IT)
framework one that is more reliable,
efficient, secure, and responsive.
This new IT framework must provide
enhanced information access and improved
information services to the operating
forces.
By streamlining the deployment of IT
tools and realigning our IT resources, the
Marine Corps Enterprise IT Services will
shift the burden away from the operating
forces by establishing a new IT environment.
This IT environment will fuse and
integrate Department wide, net-centric
enterprise services to provide a common set
of sharable IT services to the entire Marine
Corps. By
eliminating individual organizations
providing duplicative and redundant
services, we will reduce the IT burden on
the operating forces through enterprise
provided IT services, and improve our
ability to process information and enhance
the speed of decision-making.
Intelligence
Our
Fiscal Year 1996 through Fiscal Year 2004
enhancements to Marine intelligence improved
the intelligence capability within Marine
units and established a "reach-back"
intelligence production capability between
forward deployed units and our Marine Corps
Intelligence Activity in Quantico,
Virginia. These improvements are
proving to be remarkably beneficial to our
efforts in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.
Marine intelligence is concurrently
supporting ongoing operations, preparing for
near term operations, and transforming our
intelligence systems to meet future
warfighting requirements.
Marine Intelligence Specialists have
provided significant contributions to
ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Djibouti
and will play a crucial intelligence role as
Marine Forces return to Iraq
in larger numbers this year.
Before again deploying to Iraq,
we will train over 400 Marines in basic
Arabic to aid in our efforts to work with
the Iraqis at the patrol level, and we will
provide enhanced language training for some
of our Arabic heritage speakers and others
trained linguists to increase our
operational influence and effectiveness.
Meanwhile, we prepare for future
conflicts by ensuring that our intelligence
training and systems funded in the Fiscal
Year 2005-2009 program incorporate the
latest technological advances and become
more capable of seamless interoperability
with the systems used by other armed
services and national agencies.
Mobility
As
preliminary assessments of operations in
Iraq highlight, operational and tactical
mobility are essential to overcome the
current range of threats.
The ability to rapidly respond and
then flexibly adapt to a changing situation
is critical to address future challenges.
Increasing the speed, range, and
flexibility of maneuver units that are
enhanced by logistical power generated from
the sea, will increase naval power
projection.
The following initiatives are vital
to achieve greater operational mobility:
MV-22
Osprey.
The MV-22
remains the Marine Corps' number one
aviation acquisition priority.
While fulfilling the critical Marine
Corps medium lift requirement, the MV-22's
increased range, speed, payload, and
survivability will generate truly
transformational tactical and operational
capabilities. With the Osprey, Marine forces
operating from a sea base will be able to
take the best of long-range maneuver and
strategic surprise, and join it with the
best of the sustainable forcible-entry
capability. Ospreys will replace our aging
fleets of CH-46E Sea Knight and CH-53D Sea
Stallion helicopters.
KC-130J.
Continued
replacement of our aging KC-130 fleet with
KC-130J aircraft is necessary to ensure the
viability and deployability of Marine Corps
Tactical Air and Assault Support well into
the 21st Century.
Acquisition of the KC-130J represents
a significant increase in operational
efficiency and enhanced refueling and
assault support capabilities for the Marine
Corps.
The KC-130J provides the
aerial refueling and assault support airlift
resources needed to support the Osprey, the
Joint Strike Fighter, and the Marine
Air-Ground Task Force and Joint Force
Commanders.
Expeditionary
Fighting Vehicle (EFV).
The
EFV, formerly known as the Advanced
Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV), will
provide Marine surface assault elements the
requisite operational and tactical mobility
to exploit fleeting opportunities in the
fluid operational environment of the future.
Designed to be launched from Naval
amphibious shipping from over the horizon,
the EFV will be capable of carrying a
reinforced Marine rifle squad at speeds in
excess of 20 nautical miles per hour in sea
state three.
This capability will reduce the
vulnerability of our naval forces to enemy
threats by keeping them well out to sea
while providing our surface assault forces
mounted in EFVs the mobility to react to and
exploit gaps in enemy defenses ashore.
Once ashore, EFV will provide Marine
maneuver units with an armored personnel
carrier designed to meet the threats of the
future.
EFV will replace the aging Assault
Amphibious Vehicle (AAV).
With its high speed land and water
maneuverability, highly lethal day/night
fighting ability, and advanced armor and
Nuclear Biological and Chemical protection,
the EFV will significantly enhance the
lethality and survivability of Marine
maneuver units and provide the Marine Air
Ground Task Force and Expeditionary Strike
Group with increased operational tempo
across the spectrum of operations.
Power
Projection Platforms.
Combined with embarked Marines,
amphibious warships provide our Nation with
both a forward presence and a flexible
crisis response force.
These power projection platforms give
decision-makers immediately responsive
combat options.
As the Seabasing concept matures,
enhanced naval expeditionary forces will be
optimized to provide a full spectrum of
capabilities.
Inherent
in the Sea Strike pillar of the Seabasing
concept is the ability to both strike with
fires from the sea base and from units
maneuvering within the littoral region.
The dilemma that these two offensive
capabilities impose on an enemy and the
multitude of options they create for our
leadership increase our ability to achieve
success effectively and efficiently.
The built-in flexibility and
survivability of amphibious ships coupled
with their combat sustainment capability
ensure the rapid achievement of a full range
of offensive operations that either allow us
to accomplish operational objectives
directly or enable us to set the conditions
for major joint operations.
The ability to defeat an anti-access
strategy - before it is completed or even
once it is developed - is vital to our
national security objectives.
The
LPD 17 class amphibious ships, currently
planned or under construction, represent the
Department of the Navy's commitment to a
modern expeditionary power projection fleet.
These ships will assist our naval
forces in meeting the fiscally-constrained
programming goal of lifting 2.5 Marine
Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) Assault Echelons
(AEs). The
lead ship detail design has been completed
and the construction process is over 80
percent, complete with a successful launch
in July 2003.
Production effort is focused on
meeting test milestones for a November 2004
delivery.
Construction of LPD 23 has been
accelerated from Fiscal Year 2006 to Fiscal
Year 2005, leveraging Fiscal Year 2004
Advance Procurement resources provided by
Congress.
LPD 17 replaces four classes of older
ships-the LKA, LST, LSD, and the LPD-and is
being built with a 40-year expected service
life.
LHAs 1-5 reach their 35-year service life at a rate
of one per year in 2011-15.
LHD-8 will replace one LHA when it
delivers in Fiscal Year 2007.
In order to meet future warfighting
requirements, the Navy and Marine
Corps leadership is evaluating LHA
(Replacement) - LHA(R) - requirements in
the larger context of Joint Seabasing, power
projection, the Global War On Terrorism, and
lessons learned from Operations ENDURING
FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM.
The resulting platform will provide a
transformational capability that is
interoperable with future amphibious and
Maritime Preposition Force ships, high-speed
connectors, advanced rotorcraft like the
MV-22, Joint Strike Fighter, and
Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles.
Maritime
Pre-positioning Force.
The leases on the current Maritime
Prepositioning Ships begin to expire in
2009. The
Maritime Prepositioning Force (Future) -
MPF(F) - will be a key enabler to
sea-based operations.
It will allow us to better exploit
the maneuver space provided by the sea to
conduct joint operations at a time and place
of our choosing.
When the MPF(F) becomes operational,
the maritime prepositioning role will expand
far beyond its current capability to provide
the combat equipment for a fly-in force.
MPF(F) will serve four functions that
the current MPF cannot: (1) at-sea arrival
and assembly of units; (2) direct support of
the assault echelon of the Amphibious Task
Force; (3) long-term, sea-based sustainment
of the landing force; and (4) at-sea
reconstitution and redeployment of the
force. The
enhanced capabilities of these ships will
significantly increase the capability of the
Sea Base - in the Seabasing concept - to
provide unimpeded
mobility and persistent sustainment.
This enhanced sea base will minimize
limitations imposed by reliance on overseas
shore-based support, maximize the ability of
the naval elements of the joint force to
conduct combat operations from the maritime
domain, and enable the transformed joint
force to exploit our Nation's asymmetric
advantage of our seapower dominance.
The ability to rapidly generate
maneuver forces from this sea base will augment
our forward presence and forcible entry
forces, increasing the overall power and
effect of the joint campaign.
Acceleration of the
lead MPF (F) from Fiscal Year 2008 to Fiscal
Year 2007 in the Fiscal Year 2005 budget
reflects an emphasis on Seabasing
capabilities.
The Fiscal
Years 2005-2009 plan procures three
MPF (F) ships and advanced construction for
an MPF (F) Aviation variant.
High
Speed Connectors. High
Speed Connectors (HSC) possess
characteristics that make them uniquely
suited to support the Sea Base and sea-based
operations.
HSCs are unique in combining shallow
draft, high speed and large lift capacity
into a single platform.
HSCs will help create an enhanced
operational capability by providing
commanders with a flexible platform to
deliver tailored, scalable forces in
response to a wide range of mission
requirements.
The range and payload capacity of
HSCs, combined with their ability to
interface with current and future MPF
shipping and access austere ports greatly
enhances the operational reach, tactical
mobility, and flexibility of sea-based
forces.
Mine
Countermeasure Capabilities.
There
is a great need to continue the development
of our mine countermeasure capabilities.
A major challenge for the Navy-Marine
Corps Team is ensuring the effective
delivery of ground forces ashore when mines
and other anti-access measures are employed
in the surf zone or ashore beyond the high
water mark.
We are currently exploring with the
Navy how the technology of Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAM) promises a
short-term solution and may lead to a better
long-term solution to the challenge of mines
in the surf zone.
Using unitary bombs, fuses, and JDAM
tail kits, we have designed a mine
countermeasure known as the JDAM Assault
Breaching System, (JABS).
Preliminary test results are showing
promise as an interim solution for breaching
surface laid minefields and light obstacles
in the beach zones.
Further testing and characterization
of the JABS system is proceeding throughout
Fiscal Year 2004 with tests against Surf
Zone Mines and obstacles.
Some
aspects of JABS development may lead to a
long-term solution to the mine threat.
One possible solution that is
envisioned includes developing
bomb-delivered darts that physically destroy
buried mines in the Beach Zone and Surf Zone
region.
In addition, the Navy has adopted the
Marine Corp Coastal Battlefield
Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) mine
sensor system for the beach zone with a
planned product improvement enhancement for
COBRA called the Rapid Overt Airborne
Reconnaissance (ROAR) that extends detection
to the very shallow water and the surf zone
regions by 2015.
In addition, the Marine Corps seeks
to improve breaching capability beyond the
high water mark by developing both
deliberate and in-stride breaching systems.
These include the Advanced Mine
Detector program and the Assault Breacher
Vehicle program.
Fires
and Effects
As
events over the past year have demonstrated
- and suggest for the future - the
increased range and speed of expeditionary
forces and the depth of their influence
landward has and will continue to increase.
To fully realize these capabilities
the Nation requires a range of
complementary, expeditionary lethal and
non-lethal fire support capabilities.
During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, sixty
AV-8B Harrier aircraft were based at-sea
aboard amphibious shipping - minimizing
the challenge of airfield shortages ashore.
This prelude to future sea-based
operations was extremely successful with
over 2,200 sorties generated - mostly in
support of I Marine Expeditionary Force
ground units.
A key factor to this success was the
employment of forward operating bases close
to the ground forces which allowed the AV-8B
to refuel and rearm multiple times before
returning to their ships.
In addition, the complementary
capabilities of surface and air delivered
fires were highlighted in this campaign.
Further, the importance of both
precision and volume fires was critical to
success.
Precision fires assisted in reducing
both collateral damage and the demands on
tactical logistics.
I Marine Expeditionary Force also
validated the requirement for volume fires
in support of maneuver warfare tactics.
These fires allow maneuver forces to
take advantage of maneuver warfare
opportunities before precision intelligence
can be developed and precision fires can be
employed against fleeting targets or rapidly
developing enemy defensive postures.
Short
Take Off Vertical Landing Joint Strike
Fighter (STOVL JSF).
The STOVL JSF will be a single
engine, stealth, supersonic, strike-fighter
capable of short take-offs and vertical
landings.
The aircraft is designed to replace
the AV-8B and FA-18 aircraft in the Marine
Corps inventory.
The operational reliability, stealth,
and payload capability designed into the
STOVL JSF represents a great improvement in
combat capability over existing legacy
platforms.
The aircraft is in the second year of
a 10-12 year development program.
The STOVL JSF force is integral to
our future warfighting capabilities.
Its
design and capabilities will fulfill
all Marine Corps strike-fighter requirements
and better support the combined arms
requirements in expeditionary operations.
Continued support of the STOVL JSF is
vital to the Marine Corps.
Indirect
Fires Support.
In response to identified gaps in
our indirect fires capability, the Marine
Corps undertook an effort to replace the
aging M198 155mm towed howitzers and provide
a full spectrum all-weather system of
systems fires capability.
Operations in Iraq confirmed this
requirement and the direction that the
Marine Corps has undertaken.
This system of systems will be
capable of employing both precision and
volume munitions.
The
Lightweight 155mm howitzer (LW 155) is
optimized for versatility, pro-active
counter fire and offensive operations in
support of light and medium forces.
It supports Operational Maneuver from
the Sea and replaces all M198's in the
Marine Corps, as well as the M198's in
Army Airborne, Light Units and Stryker
Brigade Combat Teams.
Compared to the current system, the
LW 155 is more mobile, capable of more rapid
deployment, more survivable, and more
accurate.
Initial operational capability is
expected during Fiscal Year 2005, and a full
operational capability will be reached three
years later.
The
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)
fulfills a critical range and volume gap in
Marine Corps fire support assets by
providing twenty-four hour, all weather,
ground-based, responsive, General Support,
General Support-Reinforcing, and Reinforcing
indirect fires throughout all phases of
combat operations ashore.
HIMARS will be fielded in one
artillery battalion of the active component
and one battalion of the reserve component.
An initial operational capability is
planned for Fiscal Year 2007 with a full
capability expected during Fiscal Year 2008.
An
interim capability of one battery during
Fiscal Years 2005-2006 is also currently
planned.
The
Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) is
the third element of the triad of ground
firing systems, and it will be the principal
indirect fire support system for the
vertical assault element.
EFSS-equipped units will be
especially well suited for missions
requiring speed, tactical agility, and
vertical transportability.
The estimated Approved Acquisition
Objective is eighty-eight systems.
Initially, this provides eleven
batteries to support our Marine
Expeditionary Units (Special Operations
Capable).
Initial operational capability is
planned for Fiscal Year 2006 and full
operational capability is planned for Fiscal
Year 2008.
Naval
Surface Fire Support. An
important element of our fires and effects
capability will continue to be surface ships
that provide direct delivery of fires from
the sea base.
Critical deficiencies currently exist
in the capability of the Navy to provide
all-weather, accurate, lethal and responsive
fire support throughout the depth of the
littoral in support of expeditionary
operations.
In the critical period of the early
phases of the forcible entry operations when
organic Marine Corps ground indirect fires
are not yet or just beginning to be
established, the landing force will be even
more dependent on the complementary
capability required of naval surface fire
support assets.
To date, no systems have been
introduced or are being developed which meet
near or mid-term Naval Surface Fire Support
requirements.
The DD(X) destroyer - armed with
two 155mm Advanced Gun Systems - continues
to be the best long-term solution to satisfy
the Marine Corps' Naval Surface Fire
Support requirements.
Our Nation's forcible entry,
expeditionary forces will remain at
considerable risk for want of suitable
sea-based fire support until DD(X) joins the
fleet in considerable numbers in 2020.
Currently, the lead ship of this
class will not be operational until Fiscal
Year 2013.
In addition, the Marine Corps is
closely monitoring research into the
development of electro-magnetic gun
technology to support future range and
velocity requirements.
Electro-magnetic guns could
potentially provide Naval Surface Fire
Support at ranges on the order of 220
nautical miles, and could eventually be
incorporated into ground mobile weapon
systems like the future Expeditionary
Fighting Vehicles as size, weight, and power
technology hurdles are overcome.
H-1
(UH-1Y/AH-1Z).
The current fleet of UH-1N utility
helicopters and AH-1W attack helicopters is
reaching the end of their planned service
life and face a number of deficiencies in
crew and passenger survivability, payload,
power availability, endurance, range,
airspeed, maneuverability, and
supportability.
The Department of the Navy has
determined that the H-1 Upgrade Program is
the most cost effective alternative that
meets the Marine Corps' attack and utility
helicopter requirements until the
introduction of a new technology advanced
rotorcraft aircraft.
The H-1 Upgrade Program is a key
modernization effort designed to resolve
existing safety deficiencies, enhance
operational effectiveness of both the UH-1N
and the AH-1W, and extend the service life
of both aircraft.
Additionally, the commonality gained
between the UH-1Y and AH-1Z (projected to be
84 percent) will significantly reduce
life-cycle costs and logistical footprint,
while increasing the maintainability and
deployability of both aircraft.
On 22 October 2003, the program to
enter Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP),
and on 29 December 2003 the LRIP Lot 1
aircraft contract was awarded to Bell
Helicopter.
Information
Operations.
The Marine Corps is exploring ways to
ensure Marines will be capable of conducting
full spectrum information operations,
pursuing the development of information
capabilities through initiatives in policy
and doctrine, career force, structure,
training and education, and programs and
resources.
Marine forces will use information
operations to deny, degrade, disrupt,
destroy or influence an adversary
commander's methods, means or ability to
command and control his forces.
New
Weapons Technologies.
The Marine Corps is particularly
interested in adapting truly
transformational weapon technologies.
We have forged partnerships
throughout the Department of Defense, other
Agencies, and with industry over the past
several years in an effort to develop and
adapt the most hopeful areas of science and
technology. Several
notable programs with promising technologies
include: (1) Advanced Tactical Lasers to
potentially support a tactical gunship high
energy laser weapon, (2) Active Denial System - a high-power millimeter-wave, non-lethal
weapon, (3) Free Electron Lasers for
multi-mission shipboard weapons application,
and (4) various promising Counter Improvised
Explosive Device technologies.
Logistics
and Combat Service Support
Logistics
Modernization.
Since 1999, the Marine Corps has
undertaken several logistics modernization
efforts to improve the overall effectiveness
of our Marine Air-Ground Task Forces as
agile, expeditionary forces in readiness.
Some of these initiatives have
reached full operational capability or are
on track for complete implementation.
Applying the lessons learned from
Operation IRAQI FREEDOM resulted in new
initiatives concerning naval logistics
integration, naval distribution, and the
integration of the Combat Service Support
Element with Marine Corps Bases.
The
Marine Corps' number one logistics
priority is the re-engineering of logistics
information technology and the retirement of
our legacy systems, which is described in
the next section.
The Marine Corps is working to
enhance the integration of its distribution
processes across the tactical through
strategic levels of warfare, providing the
warfighter a "snap shot" view of his
needed supplies in the distribution chain to
instantly locate specific items that are en
route. This
capability, described in the following
section, will result in increased confidence
in the distribution chain and will reduce
both the quantity of reorders and the amount
of inventory carried to support the war
fighter.
Logistics
Command and Control.
The Global Combat Support
System-Marine Corps is the Marine Corps'
portion of the overarching Global Combat
Support System Family of Systems as
designated by the Joint Requirements
Oversight Council and the Global Combat
Support System General Officer Steering
Committee.
It is a Marine Corps acquisition
program with the responsibility to acquire
and integrate commercial off the shelf
software in order to satisfy the information
requirements of commanders, as well as
support the Marine Corps Logistics
Operational Architecture.
The Global Combat Support
System-Marine Corps program will provide
modern, deployable information technology
tools for all elements of the Marine
Air-Ground Task Force.
Existing Logistics Information
Systems used today in direct support of our
Marine Air Ground Task Forces are either not
deployable (mainframe based) or are
deployable with such limited capability
(tethered client server) that our commanders
lack in-transit and asset visibility.
Global Combat Support System-Marine
Corps requirements include a single point of
entry, web based portal capability to
generate simple requests for products and
services, logistics command and control
capability to support the Marine Air Ground
Task Force, and back office tools to assist
in the management of the logistics chain.
These capabilities will improve
warfighting excellence by providing
commanders with the logistics information
they need to make timely command and control
decisions.
The key to improving the accuracy and
visibility of materiel in the logistics
chain is to establish a shared data
environment.
End-to-End
Distribution.
The Marine Corps is aggressively
pursuing standardization of the materiel
distribution within the Marine Corps to
include interfacing with commercial and
operational-level Department of Defense
distribution organizations.
Furthermore, distribution processes
and resources used in a deployed theater of
operations need to be the same as those used
in garrison.
We strongly support United States
Transportation Command's designation as
the Department of Defense's Distribution
Process Owner.
In this capacity, United States
Transportation Command can more easily
integrate distribution processes and systems
at the strategic and operational levels and
provide the Department of Defense a
standard, joint solution for distribution
management.
Materiel End-To-End Distribution
provides Marine commanders the means to
seamlessly execute inbound and outbound
movements for all classes of supply while
maintaining Total Asset and In-transit
Visibility throughout the distribution
pipeline.
VI.
CONCLUSION
The
Marine Corps remains focused on organizing,
training, and equipping our forces to best
support combatant commanders throughout the
spectrum of combat.
Incorporating recent experiences,
increasing our forces' integration with
joint capabilities, exploiting the
flexibility and rapid response capabilities
of our units, and preserving the
adaptability of our Marines, will
collectively lead to more options for the
combatant commanders.
The Marine Corps' commitment to
warfighting excellence and the steadfast
support we receive from this Committee will
lead to success in the Global War On
Terrorism while helping to ensure America
's security and prosperity.
