Compass Points - Budget Chop

Marines say goodbye to the Tomahawk

Compass Points - Budget Chop

Marines say goodbye to the Tomahawk

June 28, 2025

.

Thanks are due all around.

Thanks to Congress.

Thanks to the Secretary of Defense.

Thanks to the Secretary of the Navy.

Thanks to the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

And in particular, thanks to what might be called the Global Crisis Response Coalition - GCRC. The GCRC is a broad community of Marines of every rank and MOS, along with friends of the Corps, who have been working for several years to get the Marine Corps to wake up from its misguided island missile detour: Force Design. The GCRC is led by some very senior retired Marines, Chowder II, who largely built the modern crisis response Marine Corps and spent decades keeping the Marine Corps focused on global crisis response.

Nearly six years ago, the Marine Corps abruptly changed its focus from global crisis response to a plan to create a string of Marine sensor and missile units on islands off the coast of China. It was never wise for Marine Corps senior leadership to devalue and de-emphasize the flexible and powerful Marine MAGTF, forward deployed around the world on Navy amphibious ships, always ready to arrive at the scene of a crisis to deter, assist, and fight.

While drones and missiles of all types are useful weapons, there are so many global crisis response missions that drones and missiles simply cannot accomplish, but MAGTF Marines can.

Six years ago when some Marine senior leaders fell in love with missiles, it did not seem to matter much the size or cost or usefulness of the missile. The idea was that the Marines needed more and more of every type of missile. That theory was not accurate and did not make the Marine Corps stronger. Now, at long last, the Marine Corps is waking up from its missile romance.

A recent article in the Naval News reports that "U.S. Marine Corps Abandons Tomahawk Missiles . . . ."

.

--------------------------

--------------------------

.

The U.S. Marine Corps’ Long Range Fires (LRF) launcher, built around a single-cell Mark 41 VLS cell for Tomahawk missiles on a ROGUE-Fires carrier vehicle, has been cancelled due to concerns over maneuverability in littoral and austere environments.

The decision was unveiled in the Corps’ FY2026 budgets unveiled this week.

LRF was first introduced to the USMC in 2023 when the first battery was stood up at Camp Pendleton, California. With it came four LRF weapon systems delivered to Long Range Missile Battery A, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, offering the force an additional, longer ranged arm to strike ships from shore and inland.

-- Naval News

.

--------------------------

--------------------------

.

When the Marine Corps first stood up Long Range Missile Battery A, 11th Marines, at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, July 21, 2023 there was a celebration of the arrival of the Tomahawk. Pictures were taken. One Marine officer said, "This is a historic chapter in the Marine Corps." The Tomahawk in the Marine Corps might be a chapter in Marine Corps history, but it is a short chapter. The massive and expensive Tomahawk is a very useful weapon on a Navy vessel but is difficult for Marines to move or to pay for. The Tomahawk is not suitable for the Marine Corps. It never was and it never will be. As reported in the pages of Compass Points two years ago:

.

--------------------------

--------------------------

.

Is the Tomahawk what is meant by getting lighter and closer to our Naval roots? The Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile. While it is a Navy missile, it is not part of the Marine Corps' Naval roots. The Marine Corps is a combined arms, offense focused, expeditionary force. A Tomahawk missile weighs around 3,000 pounds and is nearly 20 feet in length. A single Tomahawk costs about $1 million. The missile is a great weapon for Navy submarines but not well suited for the global, expeditionary force of Marines.

-- Compass Points "Tomahawk Chop - Global response requires a global force" June 16, 2023

.

--------------------------

--------------------------

.

How could the Marine Corps have made such an unwise decision to acquire the Tomahawk in the first place? Marine Corps decision makers, years ago, failed to use the Marine Corps own combat development process. BGen Jerry McAbee describes the importance of combat development.

.

--------------------------

--------------------------

.

At one time, the Marines pursued an integrated and disciplined approach to requirements determination. This approach began with a relevant and supportable concept - - a concept-based approach to determining capabilities and requirements (doctrine, organization, training and education, equipment, and facilities and support). The Marine Corps Combat Development Process worked, if followed.

But even if followed, the capabilities and requirements would be wrong if the overarching concept was irrelevant and/or unsupportable. Unfortunately, the path charted by the 38th Commandant and pursued by the 39th Commandant is the worst of both worlds. The concept is wrong, and it was never thoroughly vetted through an integrated and disciplined combat development process.

Many will disagree. They have that right. But facts are not on their side. After 6+ years, the divestments have not been offset by the new capabilities envisioned. Many of the new capabilities will still be missing in 2030, which is arguably why Force Design 2030 was recently redesignated Force Design. The problems associated with EABO, FD, SIF are too numerous to mention in a short comment but consider just three: (1) the minimum requirement for 31 amphibious ships is insufficient; (2) the NMESIS/Naval Strike Missile is a poor choice; and (3) isolated and widely dispersed SIFs are neither supportable nor survivable inside contested areas during hostilities.

The 39th Commandant would be wise to objectively reevaluate the Corps’ capstone operating concept, revise it to reflect the tenets of Vision 2035, and vet the new concept through a fully integrated and disciplined combat development process. Only then will the Marine Corps truly know the capabilities and requirements needed to restore the Corps as the Nation’s global expeditionary force-in-readiness across the range of military operations.

-- BGen Jerry McAbee, USMC (ret)

.

--------------------------

--------------------------

.

Compass Points salutes BGen McAbee for his insights on the importance of the Combat Development process and also salutes the GCRC working to get the Marine Corps refocused on worldwide crisis response.

Missiles are a useful tool but not every missile is useful for every mission. And not every branch of the US military needs every missile. Why was the decision to chop the Tomahawk silently slipped deep in the pages of the Corps’ FY2026 budget? There should be an even bigger celebration today than there was back in 2023 when the Tomahawk arrived for its brief stay with Marines. When the Tomahawk arrived back in 2023, it was a sign that the Corps was moving away from its primary role in National defense, global crisis response.

Now, there should be congratulations all around, because chopping the Marine Tomahawk is a sign that the Marine Corps at last is changing its focus away from island missile units and back to the global, enhanced, combined arms MAGTF. Chopping the Tomahawk is a sign that everyone from Congress all the way down is beginning to understand that the role of the Marine Corps is not primarily as an island missile force, but is instead as a global 9-1-1 force, always on the world's oceans, ready to arrive at any foreign crisis to give US policy makers nearly unlimited options. The Tomahawk is a great weapon, but it cannot, fight, strike, deter, evacuate, rescue, restore order, and more -- but the Marines can!

.

- - - - -

.

Naval News - 06/27/2025

U.S. Marine Corps Abandons Tomahawk Missiles, Doubles Down on Extended Range NMESIS in FY2026 Budget

By Carter Johnston

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2025/06/u-s-marine-corps-abandons-tomahawk-missiles-doubles-down-on-extended-range-nmesis-in-fy2026-budget/

.

- - - - -

.

USNI News - 07/25/2023

Marines Activate First Tomahawk Battery

By Aaron-Matthew Lariosa

https://news.usni.org/2023/07/25/marines-activate-first-tomahawk-battery

.

- - - - -

.

Compass Points – Tomahawk Chop

Global response requires a global force

June 16, 2023

marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com/p/compass-points-tomahawk-chop