STATEMENT
BY
LIEUTENANT GENERAL EDWARD HANLON JR.
DEPUTY COMMANDANT COMBAT DEVELOPMENT
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, UNCONVENTIONAL THREATS AND CAPABILITIES
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
REGARDING
TRANSFORMATION
26
FEBRUARY 2004
Introduction
Chairman Saxton,
distinguished members of the Committee, it is my
honor to report on the transformation efforts of
your Marine Corps. The Marine Corps remains
committed to warfighting excellence, both today
and in the future, and the support of the Congress
and the American people has been indispensable
to our success on the battlefields of the world
and in the Global War on Terrorism. This
Subcommittee's interest in the future concepts
and capabilities of your Corps and your support
of our endeavors is vital to the security of our
Nation. I thank you for your continued support
and commitment to the development of your Marine
Corps.
Our
Mission and History of Innovation
Marines
are both expeditionary and innovative by nature,
with a centuries-old tradition of anticipating,
adapting, and preparing for new circumstances. We
are transformational by design. Our heritage
of doctrinal and system development in close air
support, amphibious warfare, vertical envelopment,
and maritime prepositioning has contributed much
to joint warfighting over the past century. The
overall mission of the Marine Corps has similarly
evolved throughout the years, from a naval constabulary
to an amphibious force, to today's expeditionary
force-in-readiness. Sea-based, combat-ready Marine
and Navy combined arms forces have played a vital
role in shaping global and regional security environments,
assuring access to overseas regions, and facilitating
timely crisis response - anytime, anywhere, from
the sea.
Our
successes over the past few years has both reaffirmed
our tradition of flexibility and innovation and
provided valuable lessons for our future force
development. In Operation Enduring Freedom,
sea-based Marines projected power hundreds of miles
inland to establish a stronghold deep in enemy
territory. During Operation Iraqi Freedom,
more than 66,000 Marines (including Reservists),
their equipment, and supplies deployed to the Iraqi
theater using a combination of expeditionary amphibious
warships comprising two Amphibious Task Forces,
two Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons (MPS), and
strategic military and chartered commercial airlift.
Once combat commenced, a Marine Corps combined-arms
team advanced more than 450 miles from the sea
to Baghdad and beyond. Your Marine Corps went farther,
faster than in any time in its history, and achieved
successes in every battle. The lessons from
those continuing endeavors are still being collected,
analyzed, and incorporated into our future concepts
and capabilities. As one example, we are
bringing our Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies
(ANGLICO) back to the active Marine Corps from
the Reserve component in order to further integrate
with joint fires capabilities.
Marine
Corps Transformation
Our
force development begins with and is guided by
concepts that describe our future naval force. Enhanced
naval capabilities are based on naval concepts
that describe how the Navy - Marine Corps Team
will operate as an integrated naval force from
now through 2020 in a joint and multinational environment. Transformation
is not simply the military application of technology. Transformation
is instead a continuous process built around
new operational concepts, organizational agility,
revolutionary technologies, and wide-ranging business
and acquisition reform.
Transformation
must then produce either the ability to do something
previously unachievable or the ability to perform
a function exponentially better than before. Each
product of the Marine Corps' continued transformation
will result from a synthesis of activities across
concepts, organizations, technology, and business
reform to achieve one or the other of these objectives. We
finally achieve the capabilities that support our
concepts through investment, Science & Technology,
Research & Development, experimentation and
wargames, and training and education.
The
Marine Corps' transformation is inherently linked
with that of our sister Service, the United States
Navy. Indeed, the integration of Navy and
Marine Corps concepts, organizations, and technologies
is a prime example of our continuing transformation,
and serves as a model for future joint force development. The
Navy - Marine Corps Team's transformation encompasses
and integrates powerful extensions to current joint
capabilities, as well as a range of innovative
new capabilities.
Operational
Concepts
Seabasing,
Operational Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS), and
Ship-To-Objective-Maneuver (STOM) are the central
concepts in our transformational efforts.
Seabasing is
the overarching expression of our Navy-Marine Corps
vision, incorporating the initiatives that will
allow the joint force to fully exploit one of this
nation's asymmetric advantages - maritime dominance
of the sea.
Seabasing, a national capability, is our overarching transformational
operating concept for projecting and sustaining naval power
and joint forces which assures joint access by leveraging
the operational maneuver of sovereign, distributed, and
networked forces operating globally from the sea. Seabasing
unites our capabilities for projecting offensive power,
defensive power, command and control, mobility and sustainment
around the world. It will enable commanders to generate
high tempo operational maneuver by making use of the sea
as maneuver space in order to gain advantage over our adversaries.
The Operational
Maneuver From The Sea (OMFTS) concept seeks
to fully exploit the naval character of Marine
Corps forces-their ability to move by sea, deploy
at sea near the scene of a crisis, project power
ashore and sustain themselves from the sea, and
redeploy to the sea. What distinguishes operational
maneuver from the sea is the use of the sea as
a means of gaining operational advantage, as
an avenue for friendly movement that is simultaneously
a barrier to the enemy, and as a means of avoiding
disadvantageous engagements.
The Ship-to-Objective
Maneuver (STOM) concept is a transformational
tactical application of enduring naval capabilities
for Operational Maneuver from the Sea (OMFTS)
and exploits each of the enhanced capabilities
described by Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare (EMW). Enabled
by persistent, responsive, and dynamic sea bases
forward deployed in international waters, naval
forces executing STOM will be able to project
Marine Air-Ground Task Forces (MAGTFs) directly
to critical operational objectives located deep
inland, dislocating our adversaries both in space
and in time. STOM includes combined arms
penetration and exploitation operations from
over the horizon by both air and surface means,
with forces moving rapidly to operational objectives
without stopping to seize, defend, and build
up beachheads or landing zones. STOM provides
the Navy - Marine Corps Team with an enhanced,
sea-based forcible entry capability optimized
for the introduction of follow-on Air Force,
Army and multinational forces.
Operational
Concepts - Seabasing
The
inherent mobility, security, and flexibility of
naval forces provide an effective counter to emerging
military and political limitations to overseas
access. Seabasing provides the dynamic access,
speed of response, flexibility, and persistent
sustainment capabilities necessary to execute combat
operations ashore, allowing us to initiate maneuver
in the seaspace to enable and conduct joint operations
ashore at a time and place of our choosing.
Seabasing
is not new to the Navy - Marine Corps Team; we
have projected power from the sea for many decades. However,
the new transformational capabilities that we seek
in Seabasing will allow us to conduct the initial
Reception, Staging, Onward movement, and Integration
of our combat forces at sea, rather than in a permissive
shore location. Critical to our Seabasing
concept is the Maritime Prepositioning Force of
the Future which will provide the capabilities
of At Sea Arrival and Assembly, Selective Offload,
and Reconstitution at Sea. But, we must also
continue to retain the advantage in joint forcible
entry operations provided by our amphibious assault
ships, such as will be provided by the LPD-17 and
LHA(R).
As
we face an uncertain future characterized by unreliable
access to host nation or allied support and increasingly
sophisticated anti-access and area denial technologies,
we believe that Seabasing will exist not only as
another operational capability, but as the preferred
means of deploying, employing, and sustaining
joint forces in distant anti-access environments
throughout the globe.
Operational
Concepts - Ship-To-Objective Maneuver
Marine
forces, operating from the sea base, would conduct
Ship-To-Objective Maneuver (STOM) directly against
objectives ashore while leaving the majority of
logistics, command and control, and much of the
fires at the sea base in international waters. STOM
is one of the fundamental requirements for naval
forces. Everything we do in the Navy and
Marine Corps is intended to have an effect on the
enemy, whether it is deterring him or defeating
him. Naval forces of the future will use
the sea as a maneuver space in order to project
Marine Air Ground Task Forces deep inland, attacking
key operational objectives without stopping to
establish command, logistics, or fires support
bases first.
Ship-To-Objective
Maneuver is a concept for integrated naval forcible
entry, combining both air and surface assaults
directly against operational objectives deep inland. The
most significant change is that we will no longer
establish fixed and vulnerable command, logistics,
and fire support bases ashore before attacking
key objectives. Instead, we will move seamlessly
ashore, moving faster than the enemy can react. Key
components of this concept include the ability
to move assault echelons of credible size and combat
power across a distance of over a hundred miles
inland from a sea base. We will need capable
high-speed connectors such as a heavy-lift Landing
Craft Air Cushion, vertical lift assets like the
MV-22 Osprey and CH-53X heavy lift helicopter,
and the amphibious assault capabilities provided
by our Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV).
Seabasing
Capabilities
Seabasing
is not a single thing, unit, or platform. It
is the flexible integration of a wide range of
capabilities that provides freedom of movement
by using the sea as maneuver space; freedom of
action in anti-access environments; reduced vulnerability
to attack; and increased operational agility and
speed. A series of Navy - Marine Corps capabilities
to operationalize Seabasing are being developed
through four interdependent and synergistic Naval
Capability Pillars (NCPs):
- Sea
Shield describes the
precise and persistent naval defensive capabilities
that extend not only throughout large maritime
areas, but also deep overland to protect joint
forces and allies ashore in anti-access environments. Sea
Shield Mission Capability Areas include Personnel
Protection, Critical Asset Protection, Air and
Missile Defense, and Combating Weapons of Mass
Destruction. We are pursuing such programs
as the Complementary Low Altitude Weapon System
and the Multi-Role Radar System. Another
key element of Sea Shield is Force Protection,
and the Marine Corps, as the lead agent for Joint
Non-Lethal Weapons, is actively seeking new and
innovative ways to expand the ground commanders
force protection capabilities. We must
capitalize on Seabasing as a means of protecting
joint forces across the range of military operations
(ROMO). This can be viewed as a protection "network" addressing
the Force Protection functions of detect, assess,
warn, prevent/deter, defend, and recover.
- Sea
Strike describes the
naval capabilities to project dominant and decisive
offensive power from the sea in support of joint
objectives. These capabilities include
and integrate long-range, precise aircraft and
missile fires; large-volume covert strike capability;
high-tempo decisive maneuver by Marine Air Ground
Task Forces; Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS);
maritime special operations; and information
operations to capitalize on the strategic agility,
operational maneuverability, precise weapons
employment, battlespace influence capabilities
and persistent sustainment of naval forces. Transformational
Sea Strike capabilities are Deliberate and Time
Sensitive Strike, and Marine Air Ground Task
Force Ship-To-Objective Maneuver. The
Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing Joint Strike
Fighter, as well as the afore-mentioned EFV,
MV-22, and CH-53X, all play a significant role
in achieving these capabilities. Our triad
of fire support systems - the Expeditionary Fire
Support System, the Lightweight 155, and the
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) - also
are key to our Sea Strike success.
- Sea
Base describes the
capabilities that allow naval forces to exploit
the maneuver space provided by U.S. control of
the sea. It includes those capabilities
that provide unimpeded mobility and persistent
sustainment. Incorporating the complementary
characteristics of amphibious, maritime prepositioning,
and critical connecting platforms, Sea Base capabilities
provide movement without the need for permission
or infrastructure, and logistics without fixed
and vulnerable stockpiles ashore. The Maritime
Prepositioning Force (Future) platform ranks
highest in our requirements for achieving these
capabilities. Along with the LPD-17 and
LHA(R) amphibious assault ships, advanced fast
sealift ships such as the T-AKE Auxiliary Cargo
and Ammunition ships, and high speed connectors,
the MPF(F) provides the needed basis for our
future Sea Base capabilities.
- FORCEnet,
as the integral naval component of the DoD-wide
Internet Protocol-based advanced network, will
provide the open architecture and building blocks
that integrate sensors, networks, decision aids,
weapons, warriors, and supporting systems into
a highly adaptive, human-centric, comprehensive
system that operates from seabed to space and from
sea to land. FORCEnet is the enabler for
functional capabilities across each of the other
three pillars. Our future command and control
systems, such as the Common Aviation Command and
Control System and the Unit Operations Center,
along with advanced communications systems such
as the Joint Tactical Radio System, will move us
toward a truly integrated C2 architecture.
Organizational
Concepts
The Marine Corps
is also actively pursuing Transformation in our
warfighting organizations. New organizational
concepts, such as the Global Concept of Operations
and the Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESGs), will
positively change the nature of forward deployed
operations. These new operational configurations
greatly strengthen the naval power provided to
the regional commanders and increase the presence
of U.S. forces throughout the globe.
Tactical Air
Integration of our strike-fighter aircraft assets
with those of the Navy will fundamentally change
Naval Aviation and provide a more potent, cohesive,
and affordable fighting force for both the Navy
and Marine Corps.
And, recent operations
including Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation
Iraqi Freedom reaffirmed the scalability and tailorability
of our Marine Air Ground Task Forces. The
ability to rapidly combine Marine forces from around
the world under a single commander provides joint
warfighters with a powerful operational advantage,
one that enables the potential of other joint capabilities. As
the Navy - Marine Corps Team pursues innovative
methods such as Seabasing to support the Joint
Operating Concepts, we are also working to speed
the seamless blending of Marine Corps units from
around the globe as crises demand. The ability
to more rapidly fuse MAGTFs from in and out of
theater, along with integrated naval tactical aviation
and other elements of the flow-in echelon to support
our single battle concept, will require careful
consideration of our MAGTF training and readiness
cycles. Along with the Navy's transformation
in the operational availability of our Expeditionary
Strike Groups and Carrier Strike Groups, streamlined
scalability of our MAGTFs will provide Joint Force
Commanders with superior strategic agility by more
rapidly and effectively integrating forward-deployed,
prepositioned, and surge forces.
New Technologies
Future concept
development relies on Science and Technology (S&T). In
close coordination with the Navy, our S&T efforts
are focused on achieving the capabilities necessary
to realize Seabasing and Ship-To-Objective Maneuver,
primarily through the Future Naval Capability program
at the Office of Naval Research. Covering
such areas as Littoral Combat & Power Projection,
Time Critical Strike, and Autonomous Operations,
these Future Naval Capabilities directly support
our Transformational plans. Other areas,
such as ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore connectors,
advanced seaborne materials handling, and vertical
heavy lift are being aggressively pursued through
establishment of solution teams and joint requirements
boards.
Experimentation
goes hand in hand with both concept development
and Science & Technology. Our Sea Viking
04 series of experiments, being conducted by the
Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in conjunction
with Navy and Joint experimenters, seeks to challenge
the assumptions and identify the successes of our
Seabasing and Ship-To-Objective Maneuver concepts. And,
continuing testing of transformational technologies,
such as the High Speed Vessel (HSV) SWIFT and Non-Lethal
Weapons, will further enhance our operational capabilities. We
are also experimenting with Over-The-Horizon/On-The-Move
(OTH/OTM) communications that will allow us to
influence a much larger, extended battlespace.
However, the
majority of our transformational new technologies
that support Seabasing have already been planned
and programmed within the Department of the Navy. Amphibious
assault platforms, such as the LPD-17 and LHA(R),
will help ensure that we maintain a forcible entry
capability from the sea. The Maritime Prepositioning
Force (Future) (MPF(F)) will greatly enhance the
operational maneuver and sustainability capabilities
of a sea-based MAGTF and represents a critical
component of Seabasing. Unlike any other
prepositioning ship, the MPF(F) will not be reliant
on a port facility, thereby greatly reducing our
dependence on international support as well as
mitigating area denial capabilities of future adversaries. And,
advanced tools for the Marine on the ground, such
as the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), the
Lightweight 155, and the Expeditionary Fire Support
System (EFSS), will all support sea-based operations. Moving
towards an all-vertical air capability, future
MAGTFs will employ the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor
aircraft, the Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing
(STOVL) Joint Strike Fighter, and the upgraded
AH-1Z Cobra/UH-1Y Huey helicopters in future Seabasing
operations. Command and control improvements,
such as the Common Aviation Command and Control
System (CAC2S) and the Unit Operations Center (UOC),
will enhance our capability for truly integrated
joint command and control under the FORCEnet concept. Finally,
our renewed focus on logistics modernization will
improve the overall effectiveness of our Marine
Air Ground Task Forces as agile, expeditionary
forces in readiness. At the heart of this
effort is the Global Combat Support System - Marine
Corps which supports the Marine Corps Logistics
Operational Architecture and will include a single
point of entry, web based Portal capabilities,
back office tools to assist in the management of
the logistics chain and logistics command and control
capability to support the operational commanders.
Business
and Acquisition Reform
The Marine Corps
Business Enterprise Office coordinates implementation
of better business practices across all three strategic
business processes: providing installation
support, acquisition, and logistic/combat service
support. The USMC Business Plan implements
the Commandant's direction to manage the Business
Enterprise of the Marine Corps through application
of better business practices and reflects our commitment
to exercise resource stewardship by aggressively
seeking to maximize our effectiveness and efficiency.
Conclusion
In conclusion,
I would like to again thank the members of the
Committee for their outstanding, continuing support
for the Marine Corps and for the opportunity to
address our Transformation initiatives. Our
Transformation is focused on new capabilities,
based on the overarching concept for Seabasing. Your
Marine Corps remains a truly expeditionary force
in readiness, and our recent successes were in
large part due to your continued support and commitment
to maintaining our nation's expeditionary warfighting
capability. Your Marine Corps will continue
to innovate in order to assure success in the future
and be good stewards of the trust and commitment
that this Nation has bestowed upon us.
