When I read about Force Design, I envision a Marine hiding behind a bush, on a lonely island somewhere in the Pacific, with controller in hand, attempting to destroy an enemy ship with guided munitions. Is that an incorrect vision? If not, then we can delete aircraft, artillery, tanks, bridging, and even some infantry from the Marines and save a ton of money. Wait, no savings here; we’ll need extra funds to buy more guided munitions.
I hope General Zinni, Chowder II, and Compass Points can infuse clear thinking in the current leadership so there is hope for a future Marine Corps as I remember it.
General Zinni is absolutely correct. Today’s announcement that the 26 MEU (SOC) in the Mediterranean aboard the USS Bataan ARG is being extended on station “again” is proof. We are literally a “One Ride Pony w a side show called Force Design”. I took the time to send US Senator Sullivan an X on this topic. He knows the strategic disaster FD2030 was, I understand the new CMC has shortened it to Force Design, whatever the hell that may be. In my X I ask the Senator /Col. USMCR to ck out Marine Corps Compass Points. God Bless General Zinni and his many powerful cohorts who, out of Love of Country and Corps are making a difference in saving what was once and will be again America’s 911 Force.
Maj. Gen. David B. Womack, Commanding General, U.S. Army Japan, shakes hands to congratulate Capt. Miata Schenaker, 5th TC Commander, during the unit’s official activation ceremony held Feb. 8 at Yokohama North Dock. US Army Photo
In the service’s latest move to bolster its presence in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army activated the 5th Composite Watercraft Company at North Dock, Yokohama, in Japan on Monday.
Also known as the 5th Transportation Company, the unit was active between 1917 and 1997, with its last assignment involving operating the service’s logistical support vessels in Hawaii. Twenty-six years later, the unit is now at the forefront of the Army’s maritime transportation efforts in the region as a composite watercraft company. The 5th Composite Watercraft Company is the second formation of its kind and the first to be forward-deployed outside the United States.
First deployed by the Army in 2021, the composite watercraft company is composed o
General Zinni's article is spot on. Former Commandant Berger has not only done a disservice to the Marine Corps, he has done a disservice to this Nation. By neutering the Marine Corps he has taken away, capability-wise, the one thing that no other US military service can provide: a credible combined arms naval expeditionary capability. He lowered the number of amphibious ships needed for an effective ARG status, and taken away the means needed to be a strong expeditionary force.
I say, let the Army have this mission. They are a large enough force and they have different divisions for different missions. They are already stepping up units for something similar to Marine Littoral units.
Remember MAD Magazine? In each issue there was a SPY vs SPY section. The comic strip would depict a White Spy vs a Black Spy. One Spy would develop a plan to take out his opposite color adversary. The plan would usually fail because the target had already developed, plan and executed a counter to his adversary’s attack.
Military technology is much the same, new technology breeds a counter technology. The counter to A2/AD missiles is an anti-missile defense. Based on what we are seeing in the Red Sea and the Israel/Gaza War, the US Navy and Israel (Iron Dome) foresaw the need for anti-missile and drone defense.
A couple things the above article brings out. The anti-drone requirements are coming from CENTCOM, a Combatant Commander and not a Military Service Chief. “Downing a drone or other aerial threat requires spotting, classifying, tracking and targeting it in a process that is increasingly digital.” The US Department of Defense “spent a week chipping away (with coders) at data and software challenges associated with swatting down drones in the Greater Middle East.” Note the direct chain of command from CENTCOM (requirements) and US Department of Defense, SECDEF (development). I assume that development is quickly passed to CENTCOM for operational testing. (Assuming they coordinating with the CENTCOM’s Navy Component Command, via Arliegh-Burke Destroyer?).
Service Chiefs need to collect requirements from the Combatant Commanders and not their future design visions. They then need to work with the Joint Military Community to see what is available and under developed. Design 2030 is now four years old and we still do not have a land based anti-ship missile. In addition, the US Marine Corps does not have an anti-missile weapon system. Yet, the Iron Dome and the Arliegh-Burke Destroyers are knocking down both missiles and drones with great success. Last I looked at Amphibious Doctrine each Color Beach requires a Navy destroyer in direct support.
Looking at the Ukraine war and the drone lessons learned “where there is no longer a place to hide”, the US Marine Corps is going to need an anti-drone system that selectively “blacks out” an area. In other words, if a “swarm” of drones is flooding a MEB or MEF AOR, the Commander needs a system that instantly blinds, jams or destroys the drone swarm. While they are working on the drone issue, let’s pass that requirement to the Department of Defense and see what is coming down the development pipeline. Semper Fi
Today I read that a Marine AV8B. Flying off the Bataan shot down 8 Houthi Drones …Hand Salute SF! Marines Adapt, Overcome! Culture Phrase Motto
By
Ken J.
Last Update
04/20/2021
105 Comments
Guest Article by Bogan
The Marine Corps phrase ” Improvise, Adapt, Overcome ” can readily be applied to preparedness. When things don’t go as planned you can either shut down, or….
Improvise
Improvise: It has been said by many commentators on military strategy ranging from Sun Tzu to Colin Powell, that the best laid plans last only until initial contact with the enemy.
(Or “…the first shot is fired”, the quotes vary, but the idea is the same.)
By analogy to the contingencies you may be planning for, things can quickly go bad fast: EMP, pandemic, weather, exploding caldera, political situations. Even bad luck can quickly destroy your carefully thought out strategy.
Have a plan (or a series of contingency plans) but leave room for flexibility.
Shift your plans to take advantage of situations as they arise!
• Items can be repurposed or put to dual use. Many of us already do this without giving it a second thought. Once again MAGTF Marines demonstrate that “We get shit done” even w ancient Lawn Dart! Semper Fidelis and Happy Valentines Marines!
One can find this in Tablet Magazine…..The IDF is winning w few casualties using manny of the weapon systems FD tossed by the way side. CMC Smith should be learning a great deal from this war. “Why Israel Is Winning in Gaza”
The tactical victory that Hamas achieved on October 7, with all its scenes of unimaginable horror, has become a leading driver of its strategic defeat for Hamas and its benefactors.
BY
EDWARD N. LUTTWAK
FEBRUARY 08, 2024
Soldiers exit a tunnel that Hamas reportedly used on Oct. 7 to attack Israel through the Erez border crossing in northern Gaza, on Jan. 07, 2024
NOAM GALAI/GETTY IMAGES
COLLECTION
This article is part of Hamas’ War on Israel.
See the full collection →︎
Anyone who has ever been in combat knows that the enemy is almost always invisible, because to remain alive one must remain behind good cover: The one and only time I saw live enemies walking toward me, I was so astonished that I hesitated before opening fire (ill-trained, they were walking into a blinding sun).
It is the same in urban combat, but much worse because the invisible enemy can be a sniper behind a window—and any one of the countless apartment houses in Gaza has dozens of windows—or he can wait with an RPG at ground level to pop out and launch his rocket, whose short range makes it of little use in open country but is amply sufficient across the width of a street. Mortars, which launch their bombs parabolically in an inverted U, are exceptionally valuable in urban combat because they can attack forces moving up one street from three streets away, beyond the reach of immediate counterfire.
Finally, there are mega-mines: not the standard land mines with five to 10 kilos of explosives placed on the ground or just under, but wired demolition charges with 10 times as much explosive covered over with asphalt, to be exploded when a tank, troop carrier, or truckload of soldiers is above them.
That is why, from the start of Israel’s counteroffensive into Gaza, almost all the media military experts, including colonels and generals festooned with campaign ribbons (though few if any had ever seen actual combat) immediately warned that Israel’s invasion of Gaza could not possibly defeat Hamas, but would certainly result in a horrifying number of Israeli casualties, before resulting in a bloody and strategically pointless stalemate.
Israel has effected massive cost savings while reducing its reliance on U.S. resupply—and taking the steam out of propaganda claims about bombing and artillery massacres.
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And that was before it was realized that there were hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath Gaza, from which fighters could emerge from invisibility to attack advancing soldiers from the rear, or to set up instant ambushes in apparently cleared terrain, and through which encircled fighters under attack could safely escape. In the special case of Gaza, moreover, the crowded urban battlefield offers endless opportunities for the easiest of tactics, because contrary to accusations that only expensively educated U.S. college students could possibly believe, Israeli soldiers do not deliberately kill innocent civilians going about their business. Therefore Hamas fighters can be perfect civilians walking alongside women and children right up until the moment they duck into the right doorway to take up prepared weapons and come out shooting
Yet as of now, after 124 days of fighting in both Gaza and in the north against Hezbollah, a total of 562 Israeli soldiers have died—a total that includes 373 soldiers and local security officers, who died on Oct. 7 itself, when any and all immediately available soldiers—only some of them as organized units—rushed in to fight Hamas infiltrators wherever they could find them. Even a single death is immensely tragic for an entire family, and quite a few are entrepreneurs with employees who depend on them, so that every single death gravely affects many in many ways.
That must be said and emphasized before adding that the actual number of Israeli soldiers killed in the counteroffensive until now is not in the thousands suggested by the beribboned skeptics who were gleefully echoed by the malevolent, but under 300 as of this writing. In other words, only a very, very small number, given the magnitude of the forces involved on both sides, and the exceptional complexity of the battlefield. By way of comparison, 95 U.S. Marines and four British soldiers were killed in the six-week-long, 2004 battle of Fallujah, the famous Pumbedita of the Talmudists but a small town, fighting some 4,000 Sunni fighters. In Gaza, estimates are that Israel faced approximately 30,000 trained Hamas fighters at the start of the war.
Regardless of what happens from now on, the Gaza fighting to date has been an exceptional feat of arms. A conservative estimate—the lowest I have seen—is that approximately 10,000 Hamas fighters have been killed or terminally disabled, along with an equal number of wounded who may or may not fight again in the future.
The sensational 1 to 50, or near enough, kill ratio achieved by the IDF in fighting Hamas in Gaza is all the more exceptional for reasons that neither official Americans nor official Israelis care to mention, albeit for different reasons.
The first is tactical and technical. Without saying more, it is fair to conclude from news accounts that Israel’s very innovative methods to surveil, penetrate, and destroy Hamas tunnels have been markedly and unexpectedly successful.
But the constraints placed on Israel’s combat operations have been very severe, and a major impediment to its fight.
Israel has a fair amount of field artillery in the form of the
Yep, lots and lots of anti-Drone experimentation and development … as it should be, but I have to ask the question: is this effort focused correctly? Experimentation should not be an excuse to cut force structure (ie 2030 Design). As new battlefield innovations develop they will get the necessary attention and funds to experiment and develop. Experimentation is great but it should not be done to reinforce bad strategy or concepts like the MLR.
The key phase in the below article is “to Army” vs “to Army and Marine Corps.” Not surprising since the US Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space is leading the contracting effort. It seems we are duplicating an expensive effort.
The RIF calls for 252 FIXED SITE Coyote Launcher Systems and 25 mobile launchers. It sounds a bit defensive to me.
On the Marine side of this issue, anti-air battalions are a Marine Air Wing asset with the mission to protect those assets. In any conflict (regional or peer on peer), this battalion will be hard pressed to protect the Air Wing’s, airfields, FARPs, radar units, fuel storage, and Command and Control sights. IMO we are still thinking defensively. Isn’t the other part of the drone question: how do me protect Marine Ground units as they maneuver offensively?
MCCP is outstanding, especially where it talks about future threats. The opening sections of “Chaos in the Littorals”, “Breakdown of Order” and “Regional Powers” is right on and BTW isn’t that what we are seeing now with the Israel/Hamas conflict and in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden? The US Marine Corps needs to be focused on the “Great Power Competition” and the potential “Peer-to-Peer” War with the CCP. The MLR is a response to a bad strategy. It is also an excuse for the Navy to sail away like they did at Guadalcanal and cancel the relief effort to Wake Island at the start of WW2
Faculty Explore Defensive ‘Swarming’ Strategies to Counter UAVs
Amanda D. Stein | January 17, 2012
NPS students and faculty – from right, Marine Corps Maj. Thomas Dono, research associate Michael Day, Turkish Navy Lt. Umit Soylu, Assistant Professor Tim Chung and Tunisian Air Force Capt. Riadh Hajri – hold five of NPS’ 30 Unicorn unmanned aerial vehicles being used to test ‘swarming’ and other counter UAV tactics.
Unmanned systems have proven valuable and are well integrated into offensive mission sets – from gathering ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to delivering payload. While researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School are examining a wide variety of these and other uses of unmanned systems, NPS faculty have also began looking into expanding the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in defensive missions as well.
“Research into concepts and tactics to counter unmanned systems is as important to military operations as research into our use of these systems,” explained retired Navy Capt. Jeff Kline, Senior Lecturer in NPS’ Operations Research department and Director for the Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER). “Many of our potential adversaries have advanced unmanned capabilities that present real challenges to our operating forces.”
NPS Assistant Professor and Director of Research and Education for CRUSER, Dr. Timothy Chung, is working on developing a way to test swarm versus swarm tactics to counter an adversary’s UAVs. He is the Principal Investigator on a project titled, “A System-of-Systems Testbed for Counter Unmanned Systems Tactics Development and Research,” which looks at creating a competitive environment for swarm UAV testing.
The US Army has opened a new academy to train soldiers on how to effectively defend against the rapidly-evolving threat of drones.
Located at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the facility will be used to develop and teach countermeasures to address the increasing presence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on today’s battlefield.
With the help of state-of-the-art systems, trainees will be taught to determine the best sensors to detect even fast-moving enemy drones in the sky.
The facility will also utilize both modern and conventional weapons, including modified rifles and directed energy lasers, to take down hostile UAVs.
“We don’t have five years to wait for the perfect system. We have to rapidly innovate with what’s possible now and keep getting better, because even when we figure it out, they’re going to make a countermove,” Army Futures Command official General James Rainey said.
DEFENSE Post Oct 2023..The service plans to train around 1,000 soldiers every year starting this month.
Three Main Types of Instruction
According to military officials, the Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircrafts University will offer three main types of instruction tailored for specific needs of the army, air force, navy, and marines.
The first will be for troops tasked with operating counter-UAV systems.
The facility will also have courses for combat pla
The Marine Corps is one step closer to defeating unmanned aircraft systems.
In December, Program Executive Officer Land Systems successfully tested the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, low-rate initial production model, hitting several launched drones during a live-fire test at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
The live-fire test subjected MADIS to actual battlefield scenarios, where it detected, tracked, identified, and defeated unmanned aerial threats.
“MADIS can complete the entire kill chain, and we witness that during this event,” said Col. Andrew Konicki, program manager for Ground Based Air Defense. “It is a linchpin for mission success and our ability to neutralize airborne threats…which in turn, increases our lethality.”
MADIS is a short-range, surface-to-air system that enables Low Altitude Air Defense Battalions to deter and neutralize unmanned aircraft systems and fixed wing/rotary wing aircraft. Mounted aboard two Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, the system is a complementary pair. MADIS includes multiple disparate systems, including radar systems, surface-to-air missiles, and command and control elements. In layman’s terms, one detects, and the other attacks. This is one system….there are smaller hand held devices and a Joint Service School at Ft Sill, Ok. I will see if I can find the article I recently read on this topic.
When I read about Force Design, I envision a Marine hiding behind a bush, on a lonely island somewhere in the Pacific, with controller in hand, attempting to destroy an enemy ship with guided munitions. Is that an incorrect vision? If not, then we can delete aircraft, artillery, tanks, bridging, and even some infantry from the Marines and save a ton of money. Wait, no savings here; we’ll need extra funds to buy more guided munitions.
I hope General Zinni, Chowder II, and Compass Points can infuse clear thinking in the current leadership so there is hope for a future Marine Corps as I remember it.
General Zinni is absolutely correct. Today’s announcement that the 26 MEU (SOC) in the Mediterranean aboard the USS Bataan ARG is being extended on station “again” is proof. We are literally a “One Ride Pony w a side show called Force Design”. I took the time to send US Senator Sullivan an X on this topic. He knows the strategic disaster FD2030 was, I understand the new CMC has shortened it to Force Design, whatever the hell that may be. In my X I ask the Senator /Col. USMCR to ck out Marine Corps Compass Points. God Bless General Zinni and his many powerful cohorts who, out of Love of Country and Corps are making a difference in saving what was once and will be again America’s 911 Force.
Army Activates New Watercraft Formation in Japan
AARON-MATTHEW LARIOSA
FEBRUARY 9, 2024 4:55 PM
Maj. Gen. David B. Womack, Commanding General, U.S. Army Japan, shakes hands to congratulate Capt. Miata Schenaker, 5th TC Commander, during the unit’s official activation ceremony held Feb. 8 at Yokohama North Dock. US Army Photo
In the service’s latest move to bolster its presence in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army activated the 5th Composite Watercraft Company at North Dock, Yokohama, in Japan on Monday.
Also known as the 5th Transportation Company, the unit was active between 1917 and 1997, with its last assignment involving operating the service’s logistical support vessels in Hawaii. Twenty-six years later, the unit is now at the forefront of the Army’s maritime transportation efforts in the region as a composite watercraft company. The 5th Composite Watercraft Company is the second formation of its kind and the first to be forward-deployed outside the United States.
First deployed by the Army in 2021, the composite watercraft company is composed o
General Zinni's article is spot on. Former Commandant Berger has not only done a disservice to the Marine Corps, he has done a disservice to this Nation. By neutering the Marine Corps he has taken away, capability-wise, the one thing that no other US military service can provide: a credible combined arms naval expeditionary capability. He lowered the number of amphibious ships needed for an effective ARG status, and taken away the means needed to be a strong expeditionary force.
I say, let the Army have this mission. They are a large enough force and they have different divisions for different missions. They are already stepping up units for something similar to Marine Littoral units.
Spy vs Spy
Remember MAD Magazine? In each issue there was a SPY vs SPY section. The comic strip would depict a White Spy vs a Black Spy. One Spy would develop a plan to take out his opposite color adversary. The plan would usually fail because the target had already developed, plan and executed a counter to his adversary’s attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nqyz0a6e7s
Military technology is much the same, new technology breeds a counter technology. The counter to A2/AD missiles is an anti-missile defense. Based on what we are seeing in the Red Sea and the Israel/Gaza War, the US Navy and Israel (Iron Dome) foresaw the need for anti-missile and drone defense.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2024/02/09/centcoms-sandtrap-hackathon-targets-drones-amid-middle-east-barrage/
A couple things the above article brings out. The anti-drone requirements are coming from CENTCOM, a Combatant Commander and not a Military Service Chief. “Downing a drone or other aerial threat requires spotting, classifying, tracking and targeting it in a process that is increasingly digital.” The US Department of Defense “spent a week chipping away (with coders) at data and software challenges associated with swatting down drones in the Greater Middle East.” Note the direct chain of command from CENTCOM (requirements) and US Department of Defense, SECDEF (development). I assume that development is quickly passed to CENTCOM for operational testing. (Assuming they coordinating with the CENTCOM’s Navy Component Command, via Arliegh-Burke Destroyer?).
Service Chiefs need to collect requirements from the Combatant Commanders and not their future design visions. They then need to work with the Joint Military Community to see what is available and under developed. Design 2030 is now four years old and we still do not have a land based anti-ship missile. In addition, the US Marine Corps does not have an anti-missile weapon system. Yet, the Iron Dome and the Arliegh-Burke Destroyers are knocking down both missiles and drones with great success. Last I looked at Amphibious Doctrine each Color Beach requires a Navy destroyer in direct support.
Looking at the Ukraine war and the drone lessons learned “where there is no longer a place to hide”, the US Marine Corps is going to need an anti-drone system that selectively “blacks out” an area. In other words, if a “swarm” of drones is flooding a MEB or MEF AOR, the Commander needs a system that instantly blinds, jams or destroys the drone swarm. While they are working on the drone issue, let’s pass that requirement to the Department of Defense and see what is coming down the development pipeline. Semper Fi
Today I read that a Marine AV8B. Flying off the Bataan shot down 8 Houthi Drones …Hand Salute SF! Marines Adapt, Overcome! Culture Phrase Motto
By
Ken J.
Last Update
04/20/2021
105 Comments
Guest Article by Bogan
The Marine Corps phrase ” Improvise, Adapt, Overcome ” can readily be applied to preparedness. When things don’t go as planned you can either shut down, or….
Improvise
Improvise: It has been said by many commentators on military strategy ranging from Sun Tzu to Colin Powell, that the best laid plans last only until initial contact with the enemy.
(Or “…the first shot is fired”, the quotes vary, but the idea is the same.)
By analogy to the contingencies you may be planning for, things can quickly go bad fast: EMP, pandemic, weather, exploding caldera, political situations. Even bad luck can quickly destroy your carefully thought out strategy.
Have a plan (or a series of contingency plans) but leave room for flexibility.
Shift your plans to take advantage of situations as they arise!
• Items can be repurposed or put to dual use. Many of us already do this without giving it a second thought. Once again MAGTF Marines demonstrate that “We get shit done” even w ancient Lawn Dart! Semper Fidelis and Happy Valentines Marines!
@Paul Van Riper sir is there a good email I could contact you on?
Semper Fi
One can find this in Tablet Magazine…..The IDF is winning w few casualties using manny of the weapon systems FD tossed by the way side. CMC Smith should be learning a great deal from this war. “Why Israel Is Winning in Gaza”
The tactical victory that Hamas achieved on October 7, with all its scenes of unimaginable horror, has become a leading driver of its strategic defeat for Hamas and its benefactors.
BY
EDWARD N. LUTTWAK
FEBRUARY 08, 2024
Soldiers exit a tunnel that Hamas reportedly used on Oct. 7 to attack Israel through the Erez border crossing in northern Gaza, on Jan. 07, 2024
NOAM GALAI/GETTY IMAGES
COLLECTION
This article is part of Hamas’ War on Israel.
See the full collection →︎
Anyone who has ever been in combat knows that the enemy is almost always invisible, because to remain alive one must remain behind good cover: The one and only time I saw live enemies walking toward me, I was so astonished that I hesitated before opening fire (ill-trained, they were walking into a blinding sun).
It is the same in urban combat, but much worse because the invisible enemy can be a sniper behind a window—and any one of the countless apartment houses in Gaza has dozens of windows—or he can wait with an RPG at ground level to pop out and launch his rocket, whose short range makes it of little use in open country but is amply sufficient across the width of a street. Mortars, which launch their bombs parabolically in an inverted U, are exceptionally valuable in urban combat because they can attack forces moving up one street from three streets away, beyond the reach of immediate counterfire.
Finally, there are mega-mines: not the standard land mines with five to 10 kilos of explosives placed on the ground or just under, but wired demolition charges with 10 times as much explosive covered over with asphalt, to be exploded when a tank, troop carrier, or truckload of soldiers is above them.
That is why, from the start of Israel’s counteroffensive into Gaza, almost all the media military experts, including colonels and generals festooned with campaign ribbons (though few if any had ever seen actual combat) immediately warned that Israel’s invasion of Gaza could not possibly defeat Hamas, but would certainly result in a horrifying number of Israeli casualties, before resulting in a bloody and strategically pointless stalemate.
Israel has effected massive cost savings while reducing its reliance on U.S. resupply—and taking the steam out of propaganda claims about bombing and artillery massacres.
Share
→︎
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Print
Link
Copied link
And that was before it was realized that there were hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath Gaza, from which fighters could emerge from invisibility to attack advancing soldiers from the rear, or to set up instant ambushes in apparently cleared terrain, and through which encircled fighters under attack could safely escape. In the special case of Gaza, moreover, the crowded urban battlefield offers endless opportunities for the easiest of tactics, because contrary to accusations that only expensively educated U.S. college students could possibly believe, Israeli soldiers do not deliberately kill innocent civilians going about their business. Therefore Hamas fighters can be perfect civilians walking alongside women and children right up until the moment they duck into the right doorway to take up prepared weapons and come out shooting
Yet as of now, after 124 days of fighting in both Gaza and in the north against Hezbollah, a total of 562 Israeli soldiers have died—a total that includes 373 soldiers and local security officers, who died on Oct. 7 itself, when any and all immediately available soldiers—only some of them as organized units—rushed in to fight Hamas infiltrators wherever they could find them. Even a single death is immensely tragic for an entire family, and quite a few are entrepreneurs with employees who depend on them, so that every single death gravely affects many in many ways.
That must be said and emphasized before adding that the actual number of Israeli soldiers killed in the counteroffensive until now is not in the thousands suggested by the beribboned skeptics who were gleefully echoed by the malevolent, but under 300 as of this writing. In other words, only a very, very small number, given the magnitude of the forces involved on both sides, and the exceptional complexity of the battlefield. By way of comparison, 95 U.S. Marines and four British soldiers were killed in the six-week-long, 2004 battle of Fallujah, the famous Pumbedita of the Talmudists but a small town, fighting some 4,000 Sunni fighters. In Gaza, estimates are that Israel faced approximately 30,000 trained Hamas fighters at the start of the war.
Regardless of what happens from now on, the Gaza fighting to date has been an exceptional feat of arms. A conservative estimate—the lowest I have seen—is that approximately 10,000 Hamas fighters have been killed or terminally disabled, along with an equal number of wounded who may or may not fight again in the future.
The sensational 1 to 50, or near enough, kill ratio achieved by the IDF in fighting Hamas in Gaza is all the more exceptional for reasons that neither official Americans nor official Israelis care to mention, albeit for different reasons.
The first is tactical and technical. Without saying more, it is fair to conclude from news accounts that Israel’s very innovative methods to surveil, penetrate, and destroy Hamas tunnels have been markedly and unexpectedly successful.
But the constraints placed on Israel’s combat operations have been very severe, and a major impediment to its fight.
Israel has a fair amount of field artillery in the form of the
Respectfully, Lots of drone anti drone etc..systems….I believe MCCP focus is on the macro level MCDP 1. Semper Fidelis
Yep, lots and lots of anti-Drone experimentation and development … as it should be, but I have to ask the question: is this effort focused correctly? Experimentation should not be an excuse to cut force structure (ie 2030 Design). As new battlefield innovations develop they will get the necessary attention and funds to experiment and develop. Experimentation is great but it should not be done to reinforce bad strategy or concepts like the MLR.
https://soldiersystems.net/2022/02/24/usmc-activates-new-littoral-anti-air-battalion/
The key phase in the below article is “to Army” vs “to Army and Marine Corps.” Not surprising since the US Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space is leading the contracting effort. It seems we are duplicating an expensive effort.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/uas/2024/02/12/rtx-to-supply-600-coyote-drone-interceptors-to-army/#:~:text=The%20service%20agreed%20to%20pay,directed%2Denergy%20lasers%20and%20more.
Here is an RFI for “Sole Source Coyote/KurFS Counter Unmanned Ariel Systems”: https://sam.gov/opp/5351d8066f2449d587a61dfeb8ec644e/view
The RIF calls for 252 FIXED SITE Coyote Launcher Systems and 25 mobile launchers. It sounds a bit defensive to me.
On the Marine side of this issue, anti-air battalions are a Marine Air Wing asset with the mission to protect those assets. In any conflict (regional or peer on peer), this battalion will be hard pressed to protect the Air Wing’s, airfields, FARPs, radar units, fuel storage, and Command and Control sights. IMO we are still thinking defensively. Isn’t the other part of the drone question: how do me protect Marine Ground units as they maneuver offensively?
MCCP is outstanding, especially where it talks about future threats. The opening sections of “Chaos in the Littorals”, “Breakdown of Order” and “Regional Powers” is right on and BTW isn’t that what we are seeing now with the Israel/Hamas conflict and in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden? The US Marine Corps needs to be focused on the “Great Power Competition” and the potential “Peer-to-Peer” War with the CCP. The MLR is a response to a bad strategy. It is also an excuse for the Navy to sail away like they did at Guadalcanal and cancel the relief effort to Wake Island at the start of WW2
Faculty Explore Defensive ‘Swarming’ Strategies to Counter UAVs
Amanda D. Stein | January 17, 2012
NPS students and faculty – from right, Marine Corps Maj. Thomas Dono, research associate Michael Day, Turkish Navy Lt. Umit Soylu, Assistant Professor Tim Chung and Tunisian Air Force Capt. Riadh Hajri – hold five of NPS’ 30 Unicorn unmanned aerial vehicles being used to test ‘swarming’ and other counter UAV tactics.
Unmanned systems have proven valuable and are well integrated into offensive mission sets – from gathering ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to delivering payload. While researchers at the Naval Postgraduate School are examining a wide variety of these and other uses of unmanned systems, NPS faculty have also began looking into expanding the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in defensive missions as well.
“Research into concepts and tactics to counter unmanned systems is as important to military operations as research into our use of these systems,” explained retired Navy Capt. Jeff Kline, Senior Lecturer in NPS’ Operations Research department and Director for the Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER). “Many of our potential adversaries have advanced unmanned capabilities that present real challenges to our operating forces.”
NPS Assistant Professor and Director of Research and Education for CRUSER, Dr. Timothy Chung, is working on developing a way to test swarm versus swarm tactics to counter an adversary’s UAVs. He is the Principal Investigator on a project titled, “A System-of-Systems Testbed for Counter Unmanned Systems Tactics Development and Research,” which looks at creating a competitive environment for swarm UAV testing.
The US Army has opened a new academy to train soldiers on how to effectively defend against the rapidly-evolving threat of drones.
Located at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the facility will be used to develop and teach countermeasures to address the increasing presence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on today’s battlefield.
With the help of state-of-the-art systems, trainees will be taught to determine the best sensors to detect even fast-moving enemy drones in the sky.
The facility will also utilize both modern and conventional weapons, including modified rifles and directed energy lasers, to take down hostile UAVs.
“We don’t have five years to wait for the perfect system. We have to rapidly innovate with what’s possible now and keep getting better, because even when we figure it out, they’re going to make a countermove,” Army Futures Command official General James Rainey said.
DEFENSE Post Oct 2023..The service plans to train around 1,000 soldiers every year starting this month.
Three Main Types of Instruction
According to military officials, the Joint Counter Small Unmanned Aircrafts University will offer three main types of instruction tailored for specific needs of the army, air force, navy, and marines.
The first will be for troops tasked with operating counter-UAV systems.
The facility will also have courses for combat pla
USMC PEO Land System. Yuma Proving Ground, Az. --
The Marine Corps is one step closer to defeating unmanned aircraft systems.
In December, Program Executive Officer Land Systems successfully tested the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, low-rate initial production model, hitting several launched drones during a live-fire test at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
The live-fire test subjected MADIS to actual battlefield scenarios, where it detected, tracked, identified, and defeated unmanned aerial threats.
“MADIS can complete the entire kill chain, and we witness that during this event,” said Col. Andrew Konicki, program manager for Ground Based Air Defense. “It is a linchpin for mission success and our ability to neutralize airborne threats…which in turn, increases our lethality.”
MADIS is a short-range, surface-to-air system that enables Low Altitude Air Defense Battalions to deter and neutralize unmanned aircraft systems and fixed wing/rotary wing aircraft. Mounted aboard two Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, the system is a complementary pair. MADIS includes multiple disparate systems, including radar systems, surface-to-air missiles, and command and control elements. In layman’s terms, one detects, and the other attacks. This is one system….there are smaller hand held devices and a Joint Service School at Ft Sill, Ok. I will see if I can find the article I recently read on this topic.