New U.S. Marines Littoral Combat Regiments Will Spearhead Fight Vs. China In Indo-Pacific

The U.S. Marine Corps is pushing forward with plans to organize, equip and train its first three "Marine Littoral Regiments" (MLRs) that will spearhead combat operations against the Chinese in the event of a future armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

It was only last week the Marines made known their intention to stand-up, or make operational, their first MLR. These more mobile but heavily-armed fighting units will be designed to execute the Marines' island-hopping strategy against the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps.

Initial plans call for an MLR consisting of 1,800 to 2,000 Marines and U.S. Navy sailors. An MLR will comprise a Littoral Combat Team, a Littoral Anti-Air Battalion and a Littoral Logistics Battalion

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Watson, Vice Chief of Naval Research and Commanding General, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, recently said the service plans to have the first MLR reach initial operational capability in Fiscal Year 2023, which starts October 2023. This MLR, the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, will be based in Hawaii.

“There has been discussion of creating as many as three in the Pacific between now and 2030 and they would be forward-based in the Pacific, although they might–depending on the experimentation that we do–they might be rotational in terms of how we source some of the people that man these Marine Littoral Regiments,” said Watson.

“And then based on their -- where they’re home-based in the Pacific, elements would rotate on a regular basis further west,” he noted. “So working with allies and partners so that we persistently have a presence from each of the Marine Littoral Regiments out there in the western Pacific.”

Watson said the new MLRs can also fight in other geographies, including contested waters like the Black Sea near Russia or the Persian Gulf against Iran.

U.S. Marines

Watson described MLRs as fighting units optimized to fight and win in the complex littorals of the western Pacific. MLRs should also prove a useful tool for U.S. foreign policy in the Baltics, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Black Sea and any sort of close contested littoral terrain, according to Watson.

“So it’s a unit that’s designed to be lethal first and foremost, on land or at sea and from the land to the sea, to operate in distributed small units that are low signature and to bring capabilities that enable the larger naval or joint force, particularly in contested or a denied degraded environment.” (9 Feb. 2021)

US Navy Will Deploy More Littoral Combat Ships to Indo-Pacific

 The U.S. Navy will surge the deployment to the Indo-Pacific of its fleet of littoral combat ships (LCS) this year even as the incoming administration of President Joe Biden is signaling it will move forward with the "Pivot to Asia" strategy of the Obama administration.

Among the most modern ships in the Navy, LCS' are ideally suited to operating in the Indo-Pacific because their shallow draft allows them to maneuver in waters with a depth of only four meters. Their shallow draft is well suited for Indo-Pacific operations due to the many shallow-water ports in the region that impede larger warships.

The Navy has funding to build 35 littoral combat ships. Of this total, 21 have been commissioned into the Navy and are operational. Four warships will be decommissioned starting 2022, however.

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Forces, said the LCS warships assigned to Asia will lead the Navy's ongoing campaign to resolutely counter China's growing influence in the region. Chinese expansionism is being spearheaded by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), which is becoming a formidable blue water navy.

Kitchener said the Navy has identified missions the LCS will fulfill in U.S. Seventh Fleet, the largest of the forward deployed Navy fleets.

Based at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, the fleet commands up to 70 warships, 300 aircraft and 40,000 Navy, Marine Corps personnel, and Coast Guard support personnel.

"If you look at the things we want to do and the Seventh Fleet ... that's what (Vice Adm. William Merz, Commander, Seventh Fleet) wants to use them for," according to Kitchener. "And there's a lot of capability there. They're going to be on the front lines.

Kitchener said littoral combat ships are useful platforms, especially in the Pacific, where the Navy and Marine Corps are focused on littoral (or close to shore) operations in a contested environment and expeditionary advanced base operations.

USS  Gabrielle Giffords

Adm. Michael M. Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, last week asserted he's committed to making good use of the Navy's 31 littoral combat ships.

The littoral combat ships that will be deployed to Asia will be among the most lethal in the fleet, said Gilday. LCS can bring a lethal capability to day-to-day competition at sea, said Gilday.

"I'm going to deliver that with LCS in this decade," vowed Gilday.

Every LCS will be armed with the Kongberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM), said Kitchener. He also said the Navy is continuing to study how to make the warships more lethal.

"I think it's going to become exciting," he said. "We've just got to deliver a sustained plan of how many we're going to get out there next year, maybe the following year. And we've got to meet that requirement."

NSM is long-range, precision-strike weapon anti-ship and land-attack missile that can find and destroy enemy ships from up to 185 kilometers away. It was designed specifically for littoral water ("brown water") scenarios.

Kitchener noted the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) that operated in the South China Sea in 2020 was the first LCS to get the missile, which is called the RGM-184A in Navy service. (Jan. 14, 2021)