Few specifics for Corps in QDR draft - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Few specifics for Corps in QDR draft

The Pentagon’s latest defense review has few surprises for the Marine Corps, which is tweaking its force to meet its 202,000-person end strength.

In a draft of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review report, Defense Department officials outlined the national defense strategy and the department’s priorities for near- and long-term goals, with specific focus on threats in areas of homeland defense, cyberspace, anti-access, weapons of mass destruction and counterinsurgency, counter-terrorist and other irregular operations.

Defense officials want to reshape and rebalance the military to field faster, more flexible and more capable forces to deal with threats beyond ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a stronger partnership with Pakistan to fight extremists. “The United States remains a nation at war. The outcome of today’s conflict will directly shape the global security environment for decades to come, and prevailing in current operations constitutes the Department’s top priority,” officials wrote in the draft report.

The report highlights some specific actions for the military services — the Army will transform one of its combat brigades into a Stryker brigade and the Navy will dedicate two of its helicopter squadrons to support SEALs and naval special warfare units, for example. It also calls for an increase of about 500 “train-the-trainer” personnel, who would include Marines as well as Army and Navy personnel, to train general purpose forces who, in turn, will train and advise security forces of partner nations.

But the 2010 draft report is short on specifics to the Marine Corps. Some notable omissions include the Corps’ two biggest-ticket items — the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle to replace aging amphibious assault vehicles and the F-35 multi-mission Joint Strike Fighter jet.

The Corps’ leadership has been counting on the $14 billion EFV program to modernize its amphibious assault force and reinforce its capability to move combat Marines between ship and shore. But concerns about reliability and cost along with construction delays threaten the program’s future. It’s not clear what role Marines would have in the expanded civil affairs forces the report notes, which includes an ongoing move to increase the Army’s civil affairs mission within U.S. Special Operations Command.

The draft report doesn’t mention the Corps’ planned shift of 8,000 Marines to Guam, a move scheduled to begin in 2014 and predicated on Japan’s construction of a new airfield to replace the planned shuttering of the contentious Futenma Marine Corps Air Station on the island of Okinawa. But opposition from Japan’s new ruling party to a new airfield has been holding up plans even as U.S. defense and diplomatic officials insist the Japanese government should abide by its existing treaty and agreement with the United States.

The shift of Marines to Guam, where the Navy, Air Force and Army are increasing forces, would also shift the headquarters of III Marine Expeditionary Force, currently based in Okinawa, and is intended to put more combat forces stationed and deployed in the Pacific region and strengthen ties and partnerships with nations in the region.

“The United States has been a Pacific power for over a century, defense officials wrote, in the draft report. “The vast distances of the Pacific and the low density of U.S. basing and infrastructure there place a premium on forward-stationed and forward-deployed U.S. forces.”

The defense review supports more partnership among the services. “Military forces must be capable of working in seamless integration with a range of civilian and military partners,” the draft report states. It plans for more unmanned systems, expanded intelligence, reconnaissance and targeting systems, more support for special operations forces, and additional rotary-wing aircraft to provide vertical lift in places including Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Pentagon’s previous defense review, conducted in 2006 under then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, came as the Marine Corps was growing its fledgling Marine Corps Special Operations Command and expanding language and cultural training capabilities.

The 2010 report maintains the Corps’ general force structure of four Marine divisions, four Marine aircraft wings and four Marine logistics groups (each with a reserve component), and a naval fleet of amphibious warfare ships ranging from 29 to 33 ships and three maritime prepositioning squadrons, which are stocked with vehicles, weapons and equipment to support Marine contingency forces. While Navy officials have sought to cut its Gator fleet, Corps officials have insisted a minimum of 33 amphibious ships to support Marine units.

For in-depth QDR coverage, visit DefenseNews.com