Latest news with #ModernDayMarineexpo
Business Insider
10-05-2025
- Business Insider
I spent 3 days at the Marines' big modern warfare expo. Here's what the service was buzzing about.
I spent three days at the Marines' big annual modern warfare expo in Washington, DC. Drone tech stole the show. Marines, Pentagon officials, and defense industry executives spoke extensively on panels and in private discussions about the uphill battle of preparing for future warfare, and drones were a hot topic. Marine leaders discussed the difficulties of getting many more drones into the hands of troops and the challenges of adapting to war with these systems. The Modern Day Marine expo is focused on the innovations Marines need to fight future wars, so it's no surprise that everyone was buzzing about drones this year. These highly versatile machines which can surveil enemies, carry out precision strikes, and more have been redefining contemporary warfare. Their uses were on display at the "Drone Zone," a section of the expo featuring demos from the Marines' Attack Drone Team. There was also a section devoted to wargaming, another focused on warfighting, and countless booths where companies pitched ideas on what tech Marines might need for future fights. Game-changing warfare technology In what was basically a UAS mini-symposium, held in a cluster of quiet rooms in the convention center, about two dozen Marines — from generals to senior enlisted —hashed out what's working and what's not when it comes to drones. Some expressed concerns about fielding and implementing uncrewed aerial systems within the Corps. Leaders cited the difficulty of getting drones into the hands of troops due to the slow and complex military acquisition process, as well as tricky procedural and regulatory issues, like deconflicting flight space with the FAA, negotiating on-base training flights for logistics drones, and mitigating risks for civilians on the ground. I was a little surprised by just how open to reporters like me these intimate panels were and was struck by just how frank Marines were in speaking with me and helping me better understand their challenges. "We've got to field drones at scale in order to be able to pressurize our training really, to work through some of the real hard problems," said Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, who oversees the service's Training and Education Command, during a media event. He added that he expects the service to receive more drones and loitering munitions, or one-way attack drones,over the next year. The newly established Attack Drone Team is an important part of the Corps' drive to learn from the war in Ukraine and bring small uncrewed systems into missions. The team demonstrated drone capabilities every few hours at MDM; it will serve as a foundation for competitive teams across bases. Monday, I observed our Marine Corps Attack Drone Team experimenting with FPV drones. These Marines continue working with industry to deliver an affordable, attritable solution that provides the Fleet the precise mass they need. My goal: get it into the hands of Marines fast. — Commandant of the @USMC (@CMC_MarineCorps) May 7, 2025 Other technology attendees buzzed about at the expo were electronic warfare, virtual training simulators, and the need for quantum communications. Getting Marines into the fight Drones are invaluable tools, but they won't be much help if the service can't physically get to conflict zones. That's why an initiative called "3.0 MEU," another timely topic at MDM, is a consistent strategic concern for the Marines' top general. A MEU, or Marine Expeditionary Unit, is a response force of around 2,200 Marines and sailors who carry out combat missions like amphibious assaults or respond to crises like embassy evacuations. The Marine Corps term "3.0 MEU" refers to having three groups deployed simultaneously, one from the East Coast, one from the West Coast, and one from a US base in Japan, plus enough ships to have some preparing for deployments, with plans for others to be undergoing intense maintenance cycles. Long-standing concerns about Navy ship readiness mean that having three groups of three ships deployed with embarked MEUs, with others in training pipelines and maintenance, is really still just a goal for now. "This is about more than ships, it's about deterrence and denial," Marine Corps Commandant Eric Smith said. "That is why the 3.0 ARG MEU matters; it gives our leaders options." (ARG refers to the naval warship groups known as Amphibious Ready Groups). The Navy operates and maintains the ships that Marines deploy on. But its fleet has been forced to contend with overwhelming maintenance and repair backlogs. The bedrock of American naval power, the US shipbuilding industry, has been plagued with troubles, too. With the state of the fleet, there are concerns that it isn't sufficiently prepared for emergencies. "There's a saying that wars are a come-as-you-are game," said Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, the commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, told last year on the impact of dismal ship readiness for Marines. "Well, this is where we are. And there is simply no immediate fix." Taking care of Marines by fixing their housing Maintaining a mission-ready force requires upkeep of the facilities that troops live in to ensure a certain quality of life. Renovating barracks, the military equivalent of dormitories, was another important topic at the MDM expo. Barracks across the DoD have deteriorated due to insufficient maintenance, sometimes resulting in mold, water issues, and poor ventilation. The issue has been exacerbated by decades of war in the Middle East and is one that the lowest, unmarried enlisted ranks deal with regularly. Now, Marine leaders are trying to boost barracks renovations, which they also hope can help increase force retention. "Barracks 2030" is the Corps' refurbishment answer. But it comes with a steep price tag, nearly $11 billion through 2037. "The idea is not to fix it and forget it," Lt. Gen. James Adams, Deputy Commandant for Programs and Resources, said of the initiative during a panel on the topic. He added that the service "got ourselves into the position we're in now" by neglecting maintenance. But funding for Barracks 2030 hinges on Congress, and if lawmakers don't elect to fund the overhaul, it's likely to face painful delays. So it is getting more attention.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
The US Marine Corps is trying to figure out how to sort out friendly and enemy drones in battle
The Marine Corps is developing drone policies to distinguish between friendly and enemy drones. Efforts include creating an Attack Drone Team and UAS advisory councils for feedback. UAS identification challenges are highlighted by experiences in Ukraine's cluttered battlespace. The Marine Corps is learning to fight with uncrewed aerial systems, and there's a lot to figure out. One Marine Corps leader said the potential for confusion on cluttered future battlefields "haunts" his dreams. "Knowing what's good guys versus bad guys, knowing what to kill and not to kill," that sort of thing "haunts my dreams," Col. Sean Hoewing, the director of the Marine Corps' Capabilities Development Directorate's Aviation Combat Element, said last week at the big annual Modern Day Marine expo in Washington, DC. The push to develop counter-UAS capabilities coincides with the service's efforts to develop its offensive capabilities. The service has established a new Attack Drone Team and aims to replicate it across the Corps, using competition to mimic the stressors of combat. It's also set up UAS advisory councils to accelerate feedback from troops on the ground to senior leaders in the Pentagon who can field requests to industry partners. Drones are quickly becoming a top priority, especially as the world watches what how drone warfare unfolds in Ukraine. In future fights, Marines will need to be able to identify not only friendly or enemy UAS systems with lethal payloads but also systems like logistics resupply drones and maybe even casualty evacuation drones, which could create new concerns around the identification of medical UAS systems for wounded enemy combatants, which are protected by the Geneva Conventions. US Marines with 3rd Marine Division, operate an R80D Sky Raider drone during a training event on Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Cpl. Eric Huynh/US Marine Corps Friendly and enemy identification of drones has become increasingly important in Ukraine, where one Ukrainian drone operator previously told Business Insider that it is not uncommon for troops to end up jamming everything nearby in a "cluttered battlespace." Combat footage from the front lines in Ukraine has highlighted the confusion that can quickly arise from drones. In the chaos of battle, it can be difficult to figure out which quadcopter is friendly and which may soon be dropping grenades overhead. Col. Scott Cuomo, the commander of the service's Weapons Training Battalion and the new Attack Drone Team, envisions a not-so-distant future for Marines in which UAS identification demands will force troops to drill down on strict airspace deconfliction procedures. "Someone's going to do the fires coordination, just like we've always done," Cuomo said, referring to the practices of ensuring strikes from aircraft, artillery, or other weapons can occur without harming friendly forces. "So there's a lot of just building on what we've done in the past," he said. What might that approach include in practice? When a Marine sends out a UAS with a payload on it, "you're going to tell someone that you're going to do that," Cuomo said, referring to detailed fires coordination between infantry units and their command centers. Friend-or-foe identification is far from the only challenge of battlefield drone operations. Both Ukraine and Russia have been forced to grapple with tremendous drone losses, not only to one-way attacks but also to electronic warfare. A reluctance to squander too many UAS systems may add more complexity to UAS identification concerns. "We can't necessarily take the approach that it's okay if we lose 40% of our stuff," Hoewing added. "That's not going to work for the Marine Corps." Loss of equipment is anathema to Marines, who treat equipment accountability as an immovable tenet. That may contradict the lessons from Ukraine though, where cheap drones are considered expendable and used as individual rounds of ammunition. There is a lot to sort out, but the only way Marines will be able to iron out the pains of such complicated UAS oversight will be more sets and reps, Cuomo said. "Just give it to the Marines, and then figure out the training." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
06-05-2025
- Business Insider
The US Marine Corps is trying to figure out how to sort out friendly and enemy drones in battle
The Marine Corps is learning to fight with uncrewed aerial systems, and there's a lot to figure out. One Marine Corps leader said the potential for confusion on cluttered future battlefields "haunts" his dreams. "Knowing what's good guys versus bad guys, knowing what to kill and not to kill," that sort of thing "haunts my dreams," Col. Sean Hoewing, the director of the Marine Corps' Capabilities Development Directorate's Aviation Combat Element, said last week at the big annual Modern Day Marine expo in Washington, DC. The push to develop counter-UAS capabilities coincides with the service's efforts to develop its offensive capabilities. The service has established a new Attack Drone Team and aims to replicate it across the Corps, using competition to mimic the stressors of combat. It's also set up UAS advisory councils to accelerate feedback from troops on the ground to senior leaders in the Pentagon who can field requests to industry partners. Drones are quickly becoming a top priority, especially as the world watches what how drone warfare unfolds in Ukraine. In future fights, Marines will need to be able to identify not only friendly or enemy UAS systems with lethal payloads but also systems like logistics resupply drones and maybe even casualty evacuation drones, which could create new concerns around the identification of medical UAS systems for wounded enemy combatants, which are protected by the Geneva Conventions. Friendly and enemy identification of drones has become increasingly important in Ukraine, where one Ukrainian drone operator previously told Business Insider that it is not uncommon for troops to end up jamming everything nearby in a "cluttered battlespace." Combat footage from the front lines in Ukraine has highlighted the confusion that can quickly arise from drones. In the chaos of battle, it can be difficult to figure out which quadcopter is friendly and which may soon be dropping grenades overhead. Col. Scott Cuomo, the commander of the service's Weapons Training Battalion and the new Attack Drone Team, envisions a not-so-distant future for Marines in which UAS identification demands will force troops to drill down on strict airspace deconfliction procedures. "Someone's going to do the fires coordination, just like we've always done," Cuomo said, referring to the practices of ensuring strikes from aircraft, artillery, or other weapons can occur without harming friendly forces. "So there's a lot of just building on what we've done in the past," he said. What might that approach include in practice? When a Marine sends out a UAS with a payload on it, "you're going to tell someone that you're going to do that," Cuomo said, referring to detailed fires coordination between infantry units and their command centers. Friend-or-foe identification is far from the only challenge of battlefield drone operations. Both Ukraine and Russia have been forced to grapple with tremendous drone losses, not only to one-way attacks but also to electronic warfare. A reluctance to squander too many UAS systems may add more complexity to UAS identification concerns. "We can't necessarily take the approach that it's okay if we lose 40% of our stuff," Hoewing added. "That's not going to work for the Marine Corps." Loss of equipment is anathema to Marines, who treat equipment accountability as an immovable tenet. That may contradict the lessons from Ukraine though, where cheap drones are considered expendable and used as individual rounds of ammunition. There is a lot to sort out, but the only way Marines will be able to iron out the pains of such complicated UAS oversight will be more sets and reps, Cuomo said. "Just give it to the Marines, and then figure out the training."
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marine Corps Drone Team Competitions Are Coming to a Unit Near You Soon
The Marine Corps is expanding its unmanned aerial vehicle portfolio by fielding competitive drone teams across the fleet over the coming year, one of the service's top officers said Wednesday. The teams will mirror the newly unveiled Marine Corps Attack Drone Team, or MCADT, a specialized unit based out of Quantico, Virginia, that is serving as the ground-level epicenter of the service's urgent UAV needs. In early January, the Marine Corps stood up the all-volunteer MCADT as an answer to the world's rapid proliferation of drones, noting it would integrate lessons learned from the ongoing war in Ukraine, compete against other services, and serve as the technical and cultural model for units across the service that will soon see their own teams pitted against each other. Read Next: 'This Is Going to Be a Challenge': Service Officials Detail Fallout from Civilian Resignations Pushed by Trump Starting next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, the Marine Corps is "going to be doing an attack drone competition where we'll field teams from across the Marine Corps to compete internal to the service," Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, the commanding general of Training and Education Command, said during a media roundtable at the Modern Day Marine expo in Washington, D.C., this week. While Watson did not say which units would participate in the competitions, the events serve as a way to help the service build its program more rapidly in the absence of actual combat, such as in Ukraine where an active adversary "forces them to evolve very quickly." "The closest thing we can do is put ourselves out there in competition, and so the attack drone team really is our mechanism for forcing that, putting the service's reputation on the line with not only the other services, but a bunch of 14-year-olds with skinny arms and long hair and glasses that are probably going to kick our ass the first time we get out there in the drone competition," Watson said. "But we think that puts us under a level of pressure that will help us to iterate faster, particularly in the first-person-view drone space, which is one of the places we've got the most room to grow," he added. Pentagon leaders and industry professionals are sprinting toward ways to make drones scalable, cheap and replicable. But the introduction of drones to the Marine Corps has not been without its challenges, officials said throughout the expo. previously reported that leaders felt they were behind the curve on building their drone repertoire and faced some challenges, including air space management and acquiring parts. "I think what we're desperate to do inside the Marine Corps at this point is adopt new technologies that we're seeing being used throughout the world, but hold on to what we value as Marines in the way that we fight," Col. Sean Hoewing, director of the Capabilities Development Directorate's Aviation Combat Element, said Thursday. "And so there are challenges when you introduce [a] large-scale number of aircraft that aren't traditionally controlled by folks that are familiar with operating inside of airspace." But junior members of the MCADT said they have been diligently working through those problems over the last four months, such as identifying which parts "break fastest" so they can quickly reproduce them, Cpl. Hunter Zenoni, a weapons repairer on the team said, or fine-tuning motor skills to manipulate the drone's thrust, turns and pitch. They said they share those lessons with other Marine units and services. "It's still a struggle," Cpl. Timothy Brockup, an infantryman assigned to the MCADT, said about adjusting task organizations and tactical use for drones. "But it's a struggle that we are overcoming with just more repetitions, practice and the more insight and research we put into this." The MCADT will take part in its first competition starting in early June against the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, the event likely being a model for how these newly fielded drone teams across the fleet will compete with each other. "We're not too terribly worried," Brockup said, adding the MCADT has been consistently training and reviewing their tactics in preparation for facing the Rangers. Later, he added: "if you want to put it on the record, by the way -- yeah, we're gonna win." Related: Every Marine a Drone Operator? New Team Aims to Compete, Set Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Warfare.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
Our enemies are targeting our comms networks, Marine general says, and we need a quantum fix
A Marine general warns US military communications are vulnerable to new threats. Quantum communications could secure sensitive data on unclassified networks. Quantum tech is evolving but remains costly and complex for practical use. US military communications are vulnerable, and Marines know the outcomes can be deadly if the enemy gets its hands on data once thought to be secure. "We've got to figure out a way to get the promise of quantum communications in place," said Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Sklenka, who serves as the Corps' Deputy Commandant, Installations and Logistics. Sklenka, along with Army and Navy logistics leaders, spoke as part of a panel on combat logistics Thursday during the Modern Day Marine expo. With the rise of new threats to communications, leaders can't just count on shifting to different networks to guard information, he said, explaining that he wants to see networks become "undecryptable" by adopting a tech that's still in its infancy but seems poised to profoundly change warfare: quantum communications. Secure quantum communication offers unparalleled protection of sensitive communications by giving them unbreakable encryption, but that capability is still being developed. "We all operate predominantly on the unclass net," Sklenka said, referring to the defense department's unclassified network. While the "secret" information is distributed through an entirely different network, many sensitive details, including unit and personnel information and equipment data, can be shared on unclassified networks, making it a very desirable target for enemy penetration. "That's a vulnerable network. We know that our adversaries are in there," he said. It's still early days for emerging quantum tech, which also includes quantum computing and quantum sensing. A 2021 study estimated the level of tech the defense department would find most useful is still years away from development, though US companies like IBM, Amazon, and Google are racing to harness the nascent tech. The rapidly evolving field remains deeply technical, expensive for researchers to work on, and not yet particularly useful for anyone outside certain circles. What's on the horizon: a new era of super-computers that can dramatically outpace current systems in yet unknown ways that will likely transform society— including military operations. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, is paying attention too. The military research and development agency has ongoing quantum initiatives, including one that is focused on achieving utility-scale quantum operation by 2033 and others focused on research to build parts required for quantum computing. Part of the quantum transformation will inevitably include encryption methods, which researchers already know are set to become obsolete in their current state. "Anything that's internet-connected will likely have problems," said Karl Holmqvist, the CEO of Lastwall, a cybersecurity provider of quantum resilient technology used by the DoD, in an interview with Business Insider earlier this year. The dramatic changes posed by quantum technology will certainly play out in the national security sphere, from financial markets to battlefields for Marines, all as the DoD grapples with remedying other major issues that could impact how it fights a war, including a too few ships and lagging shipbuilding capacity, drone adoption, retention, and more. "I've got to figure out how to make it so the bad guys can't figure it out, so even if they capture that data, it's garbage to them," said Sklenka. But at the same time, he said, US forces still need to able to use the networks, and share that information with allied militaries that US troops may be fighting alongside. Read the original article on Business Insider
