Futures Directorate

Abstract

During FY 2013, due to an internal Marine Corps reorganization (Marine Administrative Message (MARADMIN) 177/13), the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) was incorporated into the establishment of a broader Futures Directorate (FD). Therefore, to accurately reflect enhanced synergy within the Deputy Commandant, Combat Development and Integration (DC, CD&I), this project, 2297 (MCWL), was renamed FD. As part of the DC, CD&I, the mission of the FD is to identify plausible future security environments and develop and explore warfighting concepts and Concepts of Operations (CONOPS). It does this in order to identify potential future capability gaps and opportunities in order to inform future force development. FD executes its' mission through three divisions: Futures Assessment Division's (FAD's) mission is to: research, examine, and describe plausible future security environments 15 to 30 years into the future. Knowledge of these future security environments will provide an estimate of possible future threats, challenges, and opportunities, to include: the rise of possible partners and adversaries, emerging disruptive technologies, and likely sources of conflict. This work is largely accomplished through research, seminar participation, and coordination with various experts in academia, the intelligence community, and think tanks. Emergent Force Development's (EFD's) mission is to: explore select future security environments, emerging warfighting opportunities and challenges in order to guide development of Marine Corps Service concepts and CONOPS. EFD is responsible for the production of formally published concepts, CONOPS, and options for future force organization and posture that describe how the Marine Corps will operate and fight. MCWL's mission is to: explore and analyze Marine Corps service concepts using an integrated combination of research, modeling and simulation, wargaming, live force experimentation, science and technology (S&T) discovery, assessment and integration, and analysis in order to better understand how these concepts expose gaps and create opportunities for future force development. FD uses the following competencies to accomplish its mission: Wargames are conducted to frame emerging warfighting concepts, establish the Joint context for the Marine Corps Force Development System, and establish priorities for development of experimental and non-experimental capabilities. Modeling and Simulation (M&S)-based events allow the FD to examine capabilities with larger scale venues and forces than is practical with live forces at lower cost in terms of funding and in terms of operating force personnel and equipment. M&S also enables assessment of proposed capabilities before making investments in costly concept demonstrator technologies required in live force experiments. Live force experimentation permits exploration of prototype and surrogate technologies, as well as Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs), in order to better refine equipment requirements and to identify Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, and Facilities (DOTMLPF) initiatives needed to produce future capabilities. Experimentation encompasses inquiries into multiple warfighting areas, including: Combat Service Support (CSS) and Force Protection; Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4); Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR); Fires, Targeting, and Maneuver; and Warfighting Excellence. Technology investigations, investments, and assessments are conducted to identify, modify where appropriate, and evaluate technological capabilities that support advanced warfighting concepts, and to explore the military utility of promising new commercial or government technologies in support of urgent and compelling needs. MCWL's S&T Division will investigate the relevance to Expeditionary Force 21 (EF21) capabilities and gaps of advanced technologies according to the following EF21 derived Thrust Areas: C4ISR, Autonomy and Robotics, Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Fires, Maneuver, Expeditionary Logistics (to include Expeditionary Energy), Expeditionary Medicine, Cyber and Electronic Warfare (EW), and Force Protection. DC, CD&I is designated as the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Advocate for S&T. As Director FD, the Commanding General (CG) of the MCWL is the DC, CD&I designated Proponent of USMC S&T and serves as the USMC Executive Agent for Marine Corps S&T. The FD also serves as the Marine Corps' liaison to the Joint Staff for Joint Concept Development and Experimentation; thereby facilitating service-specific experiments as well as participation in joint service experimentation. The current Futures Directorate Campaign Plan (FDCP) addresses how the Naval Services must reshape their capabilities in order to meet the concepts and CONOPS called for in the Secretary of the Navy's "Cooperative Strategy 21" and the Marine Corps' follow-on "Expeditionary Force 21 (EF21)" concept. The FD was created in 2013 to be the organization within the Marine Corps with the unique mission of anticipating future operating environments, determining the demands they will place on our naval services, and informing the capabilities development process on how to operate and maintain the tactical advantage in these environments. In doing so, the FD makes recommendations to Marine Corps advocates and proponents so that they may more cohesively and logically structure the future Navy and Marine Corps team. FD will pursue exploration of concepts that support flexible and sustainable MAGTFs employing distributed tactical formations across the range of military operations. FD will also examine future enhancements in training, organization, and equipment for immediate crisis response.

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Document Type: Project
Publication Date: Oct 01, 2016
Source ID: 2297_0603640M_3_1319_PB_2016

Futures Directorate

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