U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Has A Plan For Aviation ‘Force Design 2030’

In a 200+ page document, the USMC’s Deputy Commandant for Aviation, Lt Gen Mark R. Wise outlined what they deemed an aggressive plan to evolve the USMC’s aviation division to play a key role in the force’s future. The ‘Force Design 2030’ is a roadmap they hope will help them transition the USMC into “a more agile expeditionary force.” The doctrine serves as a foundation to describe the forward-looking desired capabilities and concepts that will continue to provide a “warfighting advantage.”

‘Force Design 2030’ not only addresses its land, sea, and airborne assets, but also the human side, restructuring the organizational hierarchy from a linear to functional capabilities-based divisions, while moving away from a hierarchical system to a dynamic one in an effort to achieve greater agility, essentially decentralized units with decision-making authority at the lowest levels. The Force Design 2030 promises operation from austere distributed locations…across extended distances…minimally sustained…fully networked…and interoperable with the Join Force, America’s allies and partners.”

The plan uses the Cunningham Group Organizational structure, a 3-division unit that supports the assessment and planning for the USMC Aviation: 1) Future Capabilities, 2) Strategy & Wargaming, and 3) Operational Readiness, and it appears that the functional capabilities are aligned according to these three areas. In an interesting twist, their construction plan represents a philosophical shift from purpose-built to standard-built, which facilitates agility in unit laydown and deployments while also reducing dependency on specific home-basing locations, but more importantly, improve cost and resiliency.

FMI: https://marines.mil