New Marine Corps A High-Tech Forlorn Hope? .

via Real Clear Defense.

Instead of a viable Marine Corps for a future great power conflict, Force Design 2030 may be a recipe for the creation of a forlorn hope. For the non-military historian, these were small formations of select troops or volunteers assigned particularly hazardous missions. Because their chance of survival was so slim, they were called a forlorn hope or, in the earliest Dutch version of the term, “lost troops.” Operating in China’s backyard, the new Marine Corps could be facing a bleak future.

This must read is here. 

Goure is really defending the F-35 and CH-53K but his points are solid and in my opinion spot on.

This is a must read and I hope that either this concept is defended in depth to allay our fears or he reverses himself.

Either way this rollout is bumpy as hell and luckily for Berger the coronavirus crisis is focusing attention...otherwise he'd be crucified for this monstrosity of a concept that seems to do nothing but yank the Marine Corps in yet ANOTHER fucked up direction.

Note.  If I was a Chinese Marine Corps general I'd be licking my lips in anticipation for war with the USMC.  A difficult task becomes simple with this concept.  It will only require patience and the willingness to conduct widespread ISR missions with thousands of expendable UAVs along with deliberate attacks of piecemeal units scattered throughout the theater of operations.  Find a unit, then bombard it into oblivion.  Search for the next.  Rinse and repeat.  Dispersed fleet?  Do the same with individual ships.  Rinse and repeat.  My biggest fear is realized.  Scattered units are vulnerable units.  Below is the part of the article that should make every proponent of this concept blink...

How realistic is the vision of the future Marine Corps suggested by Force Design 2030, and how effective would it be? There are numerous obstacles to deploying and operating a stand-in force that can survive in a future high-intensity conflict. Today there are few places in the Western Pacific that such a force can be deployed in peacetime. Even if it were possible to get our Asian allies to allow the Marine Corps to sprinkle units armed with long-range weapons across the Western Pacific, those units would be early targets of China’s first wave of precision weapons during a crisis. Also, there would be the problem of resupplying those units, which are likely to run out of munitions, fuel and supplies quickly once a conflict starts.

HQMC labored long and hard and in my view produced NOTHING!