“We’re looking at the potential for product improvement on the M16A4, our service rifle, and the M40A5, our primary sniper rifle. We fielded the MK 11 [marksman rifle] during OIF as an urgent requirement for a 7.62 [mm] gas gun; it had very positive feedback, so we transitioned that to an enduring requirement as the Rapid Engagement Precision Rifle [REPR], replacing the MK 11. We also had a 5.56 [mm] gas gun, the MK 12 [rapid engagement precision rifle], as an urgent requirement and that is a potential transition to a program as record, although that could potentially be met by the M27, possibly with a new optic.”

For those and future weapons, the Corps writes requirements for the weapons system, optics, ammunition, and enablers to function across a full spectrum, then tests them for all environmental extremes.

“We can’t afford to fine-tune them for specific environments; they have to function really well across the full spectrum. There are some environments where some systems perform better; for example, in Iraq there is a fair amount of ambient light, while in Afghanistan there is a lot less, making our thermal systems probably more important there than in Iraq. So we may tailor the mix of optics based on a theater, but we don’t tailor optics for specific theaters,” Clark explained.

One focus area for the next 10 years or so is more thermally stable barrels (ending the need with some weapons to carry two barrels into combat to switch out if the first gets overheated) with integrated flash and acoustic suppression and lightweight caseless ammunition.

However, caseless ammo does not function in any current Marine Corps weapons, and a near-term replacement of all small arms is not affordable. Instead, the Corps is planning to integrate that technology with the next generation of small arms it plans to procure during the 2020s. The Joint Small Arms Modernization Plan is addressing emerging requirements and initial capabilities, primarily through improvements in optics.

“For the next 10 years, we essentially will have the same small arms we have now, with some incremental improvements, because what we are fielding now is very capable, so there is no urgent need to invest in a new generation,” Clark said. “Beyond 2020 – and especially beyond 2025 – that will change. Basically, near-term improving what we’ve got, long-term developing new weapons with integrated capabilities.

“For example, at the squad level, you will see the ability to detect, identify and export target locations to assets not organic to the squad or rifle company. There are a lot of critical dependencies to make that happen, such as the communications suites. Even if you have a great fire control system on the weapon, unless you have the bandwidth to export to another location, that target information remains where it is.”

 

Return to the Sea

As the Marine Corps looks to get back to its sea-based roots, it will need to shed weight added to individual warfighters and their equipment during more than a decade of inland combat far from the sea. That will be a process taking much of the rest of this decade, however, as tight budgets force the Corps to continue using some of that equipment until funding is available to replace it.

“We have a lot of new planning considerations to take into account when embarking equipment on ship – size, weight, placement relative to the ship’s center of gravity,” noted Jim Strock, director of Combat Development & Integration’s Seabasing Integration Division, adding some equipment used in Southwest Asia will require new tie-downs and spacing restrictions. “We have learned a lot about MAGTF [Marine Air-Ground Task Force] ship integration requirements for future equipment and ship designs.”

With fewer permanent overseas bases and a “rebalancing” of U.S. forces and focus to the Asia/Pacific region, the Marine Corps and Navy must find ways to deploy and employ naval expeditionary capability from sea-based platforms on an indefinite basis, especially when dealing with area denial.

“So we are very much looking for how to optimize the footprint of our operational forces, retaining as much as possible of our various capabilities on the seabase and projecting those ashore only as required,” he said. “We are enhancing our afloat prepositioning and adding new platforms to those squadrons that will provide for selective sustainment stocks and the ability to support forces ashore by capitalizing on the operational reach of the MV-22.

“In the past, we deployed a lot of equipment ashore and maintained an ‘iron mountain.’ A good case was the Haiti earthquake. After U.S. forces got into the Port au Prince area, there were substantial cantonments established ashore. In the future, we will be better positioned to support directly from the seabase as opposed to large tent camps ashore.”

While the Corps will be adding new ships, recapitalizing others, and leveraging U.S. Navy assets through this decade, all of that already is in the plan and does not include any other major changes.

“In terms of farther-out designs, such as hovercraft, we already are recapping our current air cushion platforms,” Strock said, “but we are not looking at any radical ship designs over the next two decades – at least, not at this point in time.”

But to Strock, one of the most important requirements for enhancing future amphibious missions is not new equipment, but a better understanding of what those missions entail.

“The important thing we stress is amphibs are more than simply transports. Today, and in the future, they must be warships. When you have an embarked MAGTF, the amphibious ship is designed to extend seapower ashore across the full range of operations,” he said. “And it is important for the nation to understand that amphibs are not designed just to deliver Marines to the beach, but for ship-to-objective maneuver, from humanitarian assistance to security cooperation to peacekeeping to major combat operations.”

 

Into the Future

The Marine Corps has fielded Excalibur 155 mm precision-guided shells for its M777A2 howitzers, and has also issued engineering and manufacturing development contracts for 120 mm precision-guided mortar munitions (PGMs). But they also must consider future enemy use of PGMs.

“The proliferation of precision will impact ground forces at the operational and tactical level. [That includes] exploring concepts involving the use of robotics in both waterborne and aviation maneuver. The Marines will need to reassess their ground mobility procurements to ensure that their troops have the force protection and active protective measures that they need,” Hoffman concluded.

“Future threats will present lethal and precise missiles, mines, and munitions, which will mandate new defensive systems that Marines do not currently possess. Nonetheless, recent exercises and war games like Expeditionary Warrior 2012 suggest that innovation remains alive and well in the nation’s smallest but most expeditionary service.”

This article was first published in Marine Corps Outlook: 2012-2013 Edition.