Compass Points - Loitering Munitions
Creative thoughts about US Marines
Compass Points - Loitering Munitions
Creative thoughts about US Marines
August 6, 2024
.
All loitering munitions are powerful. Some loitering munitions are new, but some loitering munitions have been around for many decades.
The most futuristic battles being fought today are being fought in Ukraine. In that fighting there has been much new technology used, including a enormous variety of loitering munitions. But despite the usefulness of new loitering munitions, the bulk of the fighting is very traditional ground combat. Reuters is reporting,
.
============
.
MOSCOW, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukraine on Tuesday of mounting an attack on its southern border and said it had moved in reserves to help repel hundreds of fighters backed by tanks.
Hours after a Russian regional governor said the attackers had been pushed back, the defence ministry issued a statement saying that fighting was still going on.
"Troops covering the state border, together with units of the border troops of the FSB (security service) of Russia, are repelling attacks and inflicting fire on the enemy in the area of the state border and on (Ukrainian) reserves in the Sumy region," the statement said.
It said Russia was using warplanes to strike Ukrainian armoured vehicles, and had moved its own reserves into the area of the fighting.
-- Reuters
.
============
.
A wartime report about moving up reserves to counter a ground assault? A similar report could have come from World Wars I or II. A not much different report could have come from the American Civil War. Infantry forces at critical moments, moving to contact, each attempting to impose their will on the other. As important as technology is, nothing can replace the importance of troops on the ground capturing key terrain and forcing the enemy to surrender. Infantry troops need tremendous amounts of help. They need fire support, maneuver support, intel and comm support, logistical support, and much more.
The Marine Corps has always focused on being a uniquely flexible, global, combined arms force that could arrive quickly at the scene of crisis to deter, assist, and fight. Above all, the Marine Corps has always been an offensive force, going to the sound of the guns, arriving at the scene of a crisis, and rapidly attacking the problem, whether it is earthquake relief or combined arms, ground combat. The Marine Corps has always been light enough to get there and heavy enough to stay.
In recent years, the Marine Corps has seemed to lose its focus on offensive operations and instead withdrawn to an island strategy that fragments Marine Corps traditional warfighting units and instead leaves small Marine missile teams on isolated Pacific islands. Is a defensive, island bound Marine Corps what the Nation needs?
Writing in Joint Forces Quarterly, author Adam Clemens takes a fresh and imaginative look at the Marine Corps, "The Marine Corps the United States Needs."
.
============
.
The Marine Corps needs a mission or set of missions to ensure its relevance in a 21st-century world in which denied environments will become increasingly common. More important, the Marine Corps cannot simply choose the missions it would like to do and hope that the other Services and Congress accept those choices and that our partners and competitors respond to them in a way that improves the competitive position of the United States. The Marine Corps must instead optimize itself to suit the Nation’s needs given the choices made by other actors.
-- Adam Clemens, JFQ
.
============
.
The author proceeds to postulate a series of offensive missions that could be added as part of Marine Corps crisis response,
.
============
.
Fortunately, the Marine Corps is uniquely suited for three mission areas relevant to Great Power competition.
It can:
• contribute to the developing power balance in the Western Pacific with a small footprint, supporting the capabilities of local partners
• offer an expeditionary force to counter Chinese or Russian expeditionary forces in other theaters, such as the Indian Ocean and Africa
• field a force organized and trained to seize ships—simultaneously imposing strategic costs on China and providing the United States with more platforms to complicate targeting efforts—in the event of war.
-- Adam Clemens, JFQ
.
============
.
It is notable that author Adam Clemens published his creative and insightful article about the Marine Corps in the Joint Forces Quarterly (JFQ), a publication of the National Defense University.
.
============
.
NDU Press produces Joint Force Quarterly in concert with ongoing education and research at National Defense University in support of the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. JFQ is the Chairman's joint military and security studies journal designed to inform and educate national security professionals on joint and integrated operations; whole of government contributions to national security policy and strategy; homeland security; and developments in training and joint military education to better equip America's military and security apparatus to meet tomorrow's challenges while protecting freedom today.
-- NDU Press
.
============
.
The JFQ is an insider's publication, read by senior civilian and military leaders. There is no need for the JFQ to publish an article that questions what the Marine Corps is doing and what it should be doing. That is to say, there is no reason for JFQ to publish an article about what the Marine Corps is doing, unless there are growing questions being asked at the highest levels. Author Adam Clemens is not the only one asking questions about "The Marine Corps the United States Needs."
One way to think of the forward deployed Marine MAGTF is that it is a type of loitering munition. Embarked on amphibious ships, the Marines loiter and persist across the oceans of the globe. When a crisis erupts, Marines arrive quickly. Then, depending on the situation, they can go ashore rapidly, or they can loiter offshore. The Marines bring an extraordinarily flexible, combined arms force, trained and equipped to deter, assist, and fight.
Perhaps, in another way, the article by Mark Clemens is a type of loitering munition. His article will loiter in the minds of civilian and military leaders. His imaginative ideas will persist. He is helping to build a new discussion about Marine Corps missions and capabilities.
Compass Points salutes Mark Clemens for his creative and perceptive article in the JFQ.
.
- - - - -
.
Reuters - 08/06/2024
Russia says it moves troop reserves to border after Ukrainian attack
By Reuters
.
- - - - -
.
JFQ 114, 3rd Quarter 2024
The Marine Corps the United States Needs
By Adam Clemens
Adam Clemens is a Principal Research Scientist at CNA
https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=joint-force-quarterly
