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author: todd south, contributing editor of the marine corps times and iraq war veteran

translation: tang xiaofu, observer.com

it all started in 2016, when then-u.s. marine corps lieutenant general david berger (the 38th commandant of the u.s. marine corps from 2019 to 2023) said during his inspection of the u.s. marine corps in the pacific that if radical reforms were not carried out, the marine corps might be marginalized in the next war or even worse.

soldiers of the 3rd littoral regiment fire the m3e1 gustav recoilless rifle. u.s. marine corps

as commander of the u.s. marine corps in the pacific, he watched the marines play war games with their biggest potential adversary, the people’s liberation army of china. prior to that, the marine corps was built to project two brigades of personnel and equipment into a land war similar to the korean war, rather than a 21st-century high-tech, long-range strike operation as experts had hoped.

can the marine corps keep up with the times?

the concept of the littoral combat group was born in the "force design 2030" transformation plan of the later marine corps commandant. he mentioned that in order to win the war with china, marine corps units need to be equipped with various weapons and trained at different levels. they need to be able to conduct long-range operations while focusing on performing tasks in coastal areas where various sea routes intersect.

in recent years, the marine corps has publicly followed the transformation outlined in "force design," and officers have reorganized infantry battalions, discarded legacy equipment such as tanks, and reduced the number of artillery pieces.

they have also bought more drones, air defense equipment and are developing an anti-ship missile. all of these changes are aimed at meeting what top leaders see as the most pressing challenge of the future: supporting naval and joint forces to counter china in the pacific.

the newest marine corps regiment, the marine littoral regiment, integrates new drone and sensor technology, air defense equipment, and anti-ship missile units into a regiment designed to maneuver over land and sea while remaining concealed so that it can strike when needed. this will ensure that u.s. navy ships can navigate freely while denying chinese forces access to key terrain and maritime choke points.

since the announcement of the new littoral regiment in 2020, two regiments have been formed - the 3rd marine littoral regiment (formerly the 3rd marine regiment infantry) stationed in hawaii and the 12th marine littoral regiment (formerly the 12th marine regiment artillery) stationed in okinawa, japan by the end of 2023.

the third and final marine littoral regiment is scheduled to be established in 2027 and will be stationed in guam. according to the plan, the personnel of the regiment will not be fixed but will be rotated.

the regiments are roughly the same size as a marine expeditionary unit, which has about 2,100 marines and sailors in a littoral regiment — smaller than a standard infantry regiment, which has more than 3,000 marines.

marine corps commandant general eric smith stressed that the marine littoral regiment remains an organizational form of the current marine air-ground task force. the littoral regiment's organizational structure has been used to form almost all marine corps formations, from the marine expeditionary unit to the marine expeditionary brigade.

“the littoral regiment is designed from the ground up to be mission-oriented in terms of size and purpose: light, lethal, and austere, and able to move into a theater of operations when other units are forced to leave because of a threat,” he told war dilemma magazine in 2023.

"they are exactly what we need in the pacific," smith said. "it is the best solution for the mission we are assigned to fight." the marine corps is assigned the mission of ensuring that the navy can fight at sea.

for the 3rd marine littoral regiment, the 12th marine littoral regiment, and the regiments that will be formed in guam later, this means that as their manpower and capability building progresses, the number of marines under their command will decrease, their equipment will be updated, and the methods of improving combat effectiveness and sustained operations based on the new organization will also change. in particular, the focus of the littoral regiment's combat capability building will shift from infantry combat to perception and targeting.

key differences

lieutenant colonel brandon ward is responsible for the combat development and integration of the marine littoral regiment. before the advent of the littoral regiment, the marine corps infantry and artillery units focused more on how to organize two brigades of marines to be deployed to the korean peninsula or other large-scale conflicts in wartime.

but he said: as china's air defense system and naval fleet continue to grow, marine corps forces will be oriented to achieve combat objectives and create "windows of opportunity" for other forces in anti-access areas created by opponents so that the navy and joint forces can maneuver their weapons or forces in these areas.

this requires the marine corps to move from an infantry-based, short-range conventional artillery-based organizational structure to one centered around long-range strike systems, such as the nmesis anti-ship missile system. the nmesis anti-ship missile system combines a joint light tactical vehicle with a remote control device and mounts the naval strike missile (nsm) on the vehicle frame to provide users with a mobile missile system that can be used independently.

nmesis missile system us navy news

members of the littoral combat team of the 3rd marine littoral regiment are training on the use of the new equipment, the nmesis anti-ship missile system, which is expected to be deployed in fiscal year 2025. colonel john lehane, commander of the 3rd marine littoral regiment, said the regiment's perception capabilities are as important as its missiles, or even more important. senior marine corps leaders also emphasized that reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance capabilities are a priority for the marine corps.

"we provide (combat) commanders with a low-signature combat team to maintain a presence in the combat zone. this means that the marine corps will assume the associated risks and provide the rest of the u.s. military with a way to provide information to the rear without endangering the safety of early warning aircraft, $1.6 billion destroyers or any high-value assets," lehane said.

in order to create a structure that can carry out missions from a few individuals to an entire regiment, the u.s. marine corps needs to make some structural adjustments.

a standard infantry regiment has more than 3,000 marines, including a headquarters company, a combat assault company and three infantry battalions. these battalions also have their own headquarters, weapons and subordinate rifle companies. in addition, the infantry regiment is also strengthened with artillery units and is sometimes organized according to specific tasks.

the marine corps littoral regiment has three main components - the littoral combat team, the littoral logistics battalion and the littoral air defense battalion - all of which are managed by the regiment headquarters, which includes a command and service company, a communications company and a long-range unmanned surface ship company. the regiment has about 2,100 personnel.

lehane said that to reflect changes in demand, the littoral regiment's headquarters communications company is three times the size of a standard marine and infantry regiment, and also uses more equipment based on commercial communications technology.

this means that the marines of the littoral regiment are likely to be awarded higher ranks and more frequently perform missions with marines in other positions. when the regiment and battalion headquarters perform missions, they will strengthen these combat teams with experts in various fields. since the littoral regiment has infantry, communications, artillery and logistics personnel at a lower level, it can perform missions far away from the senior headquarters.

a littoral combat team has three infantry companies, a fire command center, an engineer platoon and a medium-range missile company.

the littoral air defense battalion will focus on air defense. it has an air control company, a ground-based air defense sensor platoon (radar platoon) and several marine air defense system platoons to counter enemy reconnaissance, missile and drone attacks. lehane said the littoral regiment has airspace awareness, air defense and advanced awareness, which are elements that the marine corps air-ground task force did not have before.

the littoral logistics battalion has various engineering, communications, supply, fuel and ordnance teams, squads and platoons.

as with the recent changes made to the infantry battalion experiment, the littoral regiment is also moving up one or two ranks within the ranks, with staff sergeant becoming the standard rank for squad-level officers, lehane noted, noting that the marines at the regiment headquarters will also be several ranks higher because of their greater experience and knowledge.

the combined changes in structure, equipment and personnel give commanders more options. "it gives us a lot of flexibility in how we use this force," lehane said.

the road to the end

before the 3rd marine regiment became the 3rd marine littoral regiment, the marine corps began some early experiments, including the "island marauder" military exercise held in hawaii in august 2021. during the exercise, members of the littoral combat team who conducted early explorations demonstrated the ability to connect to satellites using tactical tablets, "target handover systems" and "very small aperture terminals."

by march 2022, the regiment was renamed the 3rd marine littoral regiment and went to the philippines to participate in the balikatan military exercise, participating in littoral maneuvers and communications exercises during the exercise.

but the unit’s first high-level achievement came during the july-august 2022 rim of the pacific exercise in hawaii and southern california, when it simulated the new mission, as the regiment dispersed ashore in small numbers with nmesis anti-ship missile systems, sensors, fire control and air traffic control units.

in february 2023, the regiment was integrated into a larger marine air-ground task force and conducted its first training exercise in southern california. the marines were in position when a navy carrier strike group approached the strait and asked the regiment to destroy enemy ships blocking their way.

the troops were dispersed during the exercise, acting as specified in "expeditionary forward base operations," a key concept for future u.s. littoral operations.

us marines release drones us marines

the 3rd littoral regiment has set up a perception node at camp pendleton, california, for airspace monitoring, and another firepower node at camp pendleton and marine corps logistics base barstow, california. the regiment's signal intelligence and electronic warfare department is located on san clemente island, and its core is to use electromagnetic spectrum equipment to cover friendly electromagnetic signals from the enemy.

elements of the 3rd marine division, including the 3rd marine littoral regiment, served as an interior force, defending the area around marine corps air ground combat center twentynine palms, california, from assault forces from the 7th marine regiment.

during the exercise, the regiment used long-range precision firepower, drone surveillance and short-range air defenses to thwart the assault force, preventing it from achieving all three of its objectives.

in november 2023, the regiment once again served as an inner-line force with the 4th marine brigade and coastal defense regiment of the philippine marine corps and the japan self-defense forces in the kamandag 7 exercise in the philippines.

from late april to early may, the 3rd marine littoral regiment trained in another exercise, balikatan, which included three major joint operations: capturing an island, conducting a live-fire exercise in the littoral area, and finally conducting a counter-landing exercise using live ammunition against a simulated enemy landing.

over the past three years, the regiment has completed its new organization, focusing on wedging small marine combat teams into key areas to coordinate air defense and missile attacks. they use long-range communications and synchronization tools such as electromagnetic warfare, sensing, masking, and detection in each exercise, allowing the team to strike enemy ships and other targets.

criticisms and risks

retired navy captain mark cancian, a senior adviser at the center for strategic and international studies (csis), is cautiously optimistic about the marine corps' new littoral regiment, but he said the concept still has a lot to prove as the force develops.

“it’s arguably well designed, but there are still a lot of questions about how to ensure it’s in place before a conflict starts and how to keep it supplied after a conflict starts,” cancian said.

in 2023, cancian held a day-long series of war games at the center for strategic and international studies that simulated china's recapture of taiwan. the games showed that supplying troops within range of chinese weapons was "a huge problem."

"when you're in a (combat zone) and operating with small units, that's a huge risk," cancian said. in addition, the retired colonel said marine corps officials' comments that troops would be "fed by the enemy" were unreasonable.

"you can buy food, you can even buy fuel, trucks, but you can't buy what you really need, which is missiles," cancian said. "you can't go to a local store in the philippines and buy a harpoon missile."

lehane acknowledged the challenges of maintaining forward-deployed forces in wartime, but said the regiment was built to be lighter and stronger than traditional formations, in part to meet those challenges, and that the marine corps is experimenting with long-range autonomous submersibles to provide at-sea resupply.

additionally, cancian said he appreciated the progress on anti-ship missiles, “which i think is critical to the naval campaign in the western pacific.”

like other force design changes, the creation of the marine littoral regiment has sparked controversy and opposition, especially from a group of retired marine officers, generals and key senior leaders. one outspoken critic, retired lt. gen. paul van riper, former commander of the marine corps combat development command, believes the move to the littoral regiment requires too many trade-offs and sacrifices the mobility of the combined arms.

van riper also questioned whether the marine littoral regiment forces would be able to be in position before a conflict began, and if they did, whether they would be able to evade detection by their adversaries: “the (inside force) concept assumes that the chinese would not know where they are before a war begins, which is unrealistic because of the electronic and physical signatures these forces would be giving off.”

in this regard, colonel peter eltringham, commander of the 12th marine littoral regiment, told the marine corps times that the unit is stationed in okinawa, japan, which allows the unit to regularly train with the japan self-defense forces, and these trainings are all within the first island chain near china. stationing the troops there will enable them to be in place before the conflict. lehane, commander of the 3rd marine littoral regiment, emphasized that cooperation with partners and allies such as the philippines is also crucial to entering the region before the conflict.

van riper also doubted that once the marines launched their missiles, they would be able to move quickly enough to avoid a counterattack, which could begin within minutes.

the marine corps is experimenting with a medium landing ship program to quickly transport and transfer marines, which would provide a low-profile shore-to-shore connector for the marines. the landing ship would be 200 to 400 feet long (about 60-120 meters) and have at least 8,000 square feet (about 740 square meters) of cargo space.

conceptual image of the new medium landing ship of the united states marine corps times

the marine corps is currently testing the concept using a 254-foot-long (about 77 meters) stern landing ship (a converted commercial offshore supply ship).

since its reorganization, the 3rd marine littoral regiment has been practicing moving marines and equipment from the third island chain to the first island chain “at a moment’s notice,” lehane said. while waiting for the commissioning of the medium landing ship, the unit will rely on the projection capabilities of the marine corps and other joint forces, such as c-17, osprey, c-130, ch-47 aircraft and black-bottom ships (i.e., merchant ships), the army’s logistics support ships and the navy’s expeditionary fast transport ships.

but considering that the chinese military has established a regional defense network consisting of ships, submarines, long-range aircraft and missile systems. this strike network can cover japan, the entire philippines and most of indonesia about 1,000 nautical miles from the chinese mainland, and strike targets in the first and second island chains. in contrast, the nsm missiles carried by the littoral group have a range of only 120 nautical miles.

that has van riper concerned that the regiment is underpowered compared with its adversaries. he said existing u.s. platforms, such as navy submarines, destroyers and air force aircraft, have longer-range munitions and the ability to carry more ammunition than the regiment.

lehane said the regiment and the army's multi-domain task force have complementary capabilities and can coordinate closely. the regiment's littoral air defense battalion has a complete air defense capability, and the littoral combat team has the ability to seize and defend sea areas. the army's multi-domain task force uses prsm with a range of nearly 250 miles and plans to deploy hypersonic missiles.

bringing it all together

the regiment's major components - the littoral combat team, the littoral air defense battalion and the littoral logistics battalion - are led by three lieutenant colonels who served in various traditional marine corps units before joining the regiment.

lt. col. mark renzi commands the littoral combat team, a converted infantry battalion with three infantry companies and a medium-range missile battery.

the unit began the reform before the rest of the regiment, as one of the units selected for the first phase of the marine corps' restructuring experiment was the 1st battalion, 3rd marine regiment. these experiments adjusted the size, ranks, and setup of the battalion. major changes to the restructuring included reducing the number of marines and sailors from 965 to 880, eliminating snipers and creating a reconnaissance platoon for them, and adding signal intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities at the company level.

the biggest difference between a traditional marine battalion and a littoral combat team is the missile battery, which is an integral part of the unit. in a typical rotation, once the marine battalion’s landing party begins to deploy on land, artillery (including missiles) is added to the battalion. the roles of both the infantry and the missile company have changed.

renzi said that in traditional situations, the missile battery would prioritize firing in support of the infantry's mission. but in the ltf, the missile battery will prioritize firing at targets assigned by the regiment or higher headquarters. the infantry's role is to help deploy and protect the missile battery.

lt. col. osman sesay commands the littoral logistics battalion, which is nested within the littoral regiment, rather than being organized into logistics groups to support division-level forces as is conventionally done. sesay said having senior logistics personnel in the organization and logistics marines embedded in each mission action group unit can speed up the acquisition and delivery of supplies.

lt. col. james arnold, who commands the littoral air defense battalion, which includes the air control company and the ground-based air defense company, said that like missiles and logistics, air control and defense capabilities might typically be found in more senior units rather than within a regiment or battalion.

“having these personnel within the regiment provides a significant advantage in battlefield awareness and coordination of organic and non-organic fires, which in other units would require coordination at a higher level (the marine expeditionary force level),” arnold said.

all three commanders noted that the organizational structure changes allow marines with different skill sets to work more closely with each other. this helps with understanding processes, communication and rapid processing of missions.

while the unit is now established, the marines are still tinkering with concepts and work. renzi said the lcf is trying to equip scouts with small drones (group 2 drones, with a maximum takeoff weight of 21-55 pounds, a normal operating altitude of <3,500 feet, and an airspeed of <250 knots), which could provide them with a different approach to reconnaissance than traditional infantry battalions.

u.s. military drone classification data map

the logistics team is developing autonomous supply delivery systems and acquiring resources in the austere local environment. the littoral air defense battalion has completed an experiment to rapidly deploy its equipment via a c-17 and provide airspace surveillance capabilities during an aviation-centric exercise with the philippine marines in 2023.

the marine corps has high hopes for the littoral regiment, which will eventually reorganize three full regiments in the pacific to enable the navy to reach its position in a shoot-to-shoot war with china.

as the marine corps builds new units and conducts joint training with foreign forces, each new exercise will test the core concepts of the marine corps' multi-year transformation. the performance of these regiments will show the effectiveness of the reform of force organization planning.