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You might be surprised to learn the US Marines believe their M1A1 main battle tanks would only hold them back. They’ve officially decided to ditch their tanks, dissolving all 7 of their long storied tank companies as part of their bold but risky new Force Design 2030 plan. This controversial decision will call for the corps to get rid of most of their gun based artillery and a whole host of other vehicles and aircraft in exchange for new capabilities. On face value this might sound crazy but if you dig deeper it’s crazy like a fox. What are the pros and cons of this new plan?
Written by: Chris Cappy & Diego Aceituno
Edited by: Savvy Studios
In theory the Force Design 2030 transformation would allow a small company of about 100 Marines to be positioned on islands in order to pose an outsized threat to nearby enemy naval forces. The plan seeks to force the enemy to divert their troops and resources to counter this small element of US Marines. For an attacking military like China they would want to create an economy of effort. What that means is they would aim to avoid dispersing their forces and resources across a wide area. In military theory there is a concept called “massing forces” to bring overwhelming force to bear on a specific target and that’s what China would seek to do.
But Force Design 2030 aims to make the PLA spread out and unfocused. The Marines want to become experts at sea denial. Instead of being a multitool jack of all trades they want to be the go to Anti-access/area denial forces in the south china sea. Every marine would still be a rifleman as we all know, but under this new plan they would also be a kind of island survivalist. US Leadership believes having a credible fast reaction amphibious force is a top priority. According to this new school of thought, main battle tanks just don’t fit into this picture at least not like how you might expect.
The Marines had about 451 tanks in their inventory which were the old M1A1 variant that lacked a lot of the more modern survivability capabilities that tanks require against a near peer today. They would have been pretty much forced into an expensive and time consuming upgrade process. To get a picture of just how expensive this process would be, when the Army upgraded 174 M1A1s to the M1A2 SEPv3 it cost them $714 million dollars, and another upgrade program for 786 tanks cost a whopping $2.6 billion dollars. Projecting those numbers out, it would have cost the Corps between $1.5 and $1.85 billion dollars to upgrade their entire inventory just to the M1A2 SEPv3 standard, while future versions would be even more expensive. That’s just some average infantryman back of the napkin math though. So lets see what the Marines will get in return.
Good luck getting this DoD contract spare parts army!
https://sam.gov/opp/b223117108a641f39104969489ff7741/view
https://news.usni.org/2021/02/10/early-experiments-are-proving-out-tank-free-marine-corps-concept&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1706658308792305&usg=AOvVaw236s7Hi5TWvO-FyRGQhsL5
https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/142/Docs/CMC38%20Force%20Design%202030%20Report%20Phase%20I%20and%20II.pdf
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Oorahh!!
Small axe cuts down big 3😮
Wow slow down marines, the Army is the main force, the marines would provide security for Big Army to drop in
WW3 is INEVITABLE……and China will most be the sparking point, but obviously will be one of the major fronts….HOWEVER, There will be MANY other fronts with drastically different terrains and requirements for the marines…..so, I'm kind of on the fence about this…..but we shall see…..probably much much sooner than most people think.
Long short, the USMC are taking the Houthi battle strategy.
Lol the marines are known for "blasting their enemy to dust" you mean getting blasted to dust? You realize the marines havent faught for a winning side since ww2 right? Even then they barely did anything. Certainly didnt "blowntheir enemy to dust" That would be the now air force. But instead of enemy, it was civilians.
revamping tactics from scripts taken from lessons learned in Ukraine… lol
2:28 Are these German soldiers firing a B.A.R?
they havent had tanks in awhile now the mos has been gone for what over a year now maybe 2 this isnt new news.
How many drones can you stack on a boat for 1 tank XD
My take is that the Marine Corp should not be looking at downsizing, but rather expanding and this "New 2030 Vision" should just be enhanced by creating the new units and see how they preform before tearing down all of the old structure.
The U.S. Marines are going to be facing huge & better defenses on Islands in the South China Sea than they did at Tarawa in 1943.
The U.S. Navy is way behind the pendulum by decreasing their 5" guns on ships and relying on more missiles and that's not good for the guys hitting the beach.
Experiment with it first, then implement it would be the logical way to go. And also increase the drone capability 5-10 fold.
This is a great idea for 3rdMARDIV, but not the 1st or 2nd, or even the 4th.
Tanks – Better to have and not need, then need and not have!!!!
Smart. Drones are the future of warfare. And drones have shown in Ukraine that tanks stand no chance against them. Tanks are about to be obsolete
Live got a change
Live got a change
That will be a perfect movie “force design 2030”
18:03 – Every rat tank in WarThunder RB/SB.
they are marines they dont need tanks thier job is to get on to a beach and and takei it and make a foot hold then send in the army 🙂
Tanks are slow, extremely heavy, and require loads of logistics.
Didn't realize we were at war with China…
I think the entire US military is in shambles and unable to fight anymore. We think we can send in the Marines to defeat China when we can't even win vs the yemenese houthis and all of our equipment in Ukraine has failed. The actual personal of the US military most don't have any combat experience anymore . The United States leadership is more concerned about diversity and being inclusive then producing a functional fighting military that is good at killing people .
You send a small 100 man team of Marines to an Island and the Chinese will send 20,000 soldiers just to prove a point. Don't be stupid. Get better equipment but keep the USMC a large fighting force.
West Philippine Sea*
So like… an extremely professional and disciplined Guerilla fighting force, with all the best American toys, and backed by U.S. Naval Power. As long as "Army II" remains nonviable my little couch commander butt thinks this move makes good sense.
If bigger stuff is needed, send in the army.
Heck. Marines don't need tanks. They are tough enough to chew through enemy armor with their teeth.
The Marines are not going to defeat China and no one else is either. They have 1.8 billion people. Think about that number.
China is willing and able to field and sacrifice a 100,000,000 man army and it won't bother them one bit because that's 100,000,000 mouth's they don't have to feed anymore. Think about it real hard.
That's why they made COVID. To intentionally kill their own people.
We discovered that back in the 1980s. How do I know that?
I held the intelligence report in my hands when I was in the Marines. My platoon sergeant told me that I was the only one paying attention to it and we never heard anything about it again.
I think in Taiwan and in the surrounding areas ships and airforce are the most important thing.
LOL! Situations and landscape are never the same. You need the flexibility. There will be situations when you may need a tank.
Sounds like downsizing is going on maybe because we can’t afford this stuff since we as a country are broke with no way of paying our debt.
Great breakdown. You're pretty good it this, you may consider this as a line of work 🙂
I think this littoral platoon division highlighted with hi tech, low footprint, hi mobility is positive.
How are they going to defend against swarms of 100,000 infantry landing on the beech in communist attack waves?
Rah rah
US Navy is capable of defeating China in under 7 days. Their J20 fighter jet is just a cheap upgrade of their old J10 fighter jet.