Long Live the King: Expeditionary Force 21's Call to Action for Marine Artillery
Abstract
In early 2014, Headquarters Marine Corps published Expeditionary Force 21 (EF21), a concept paper that describes a near-term future operational environment and outlines a campaign plan to change the Marine Corps in response. EF21's vision of MAGTF fires supporting a distributed Ground Combat Element (GCE) while retaining the ability to mass creates a broad mission set for Marine artillery. Following a critical analysis of EF21 from an artilleryman's perspective, four critical characteristics emerge as priorities for artillery force development: versatility, mobility, simplicity, and distribution. Versatile artillery units are capable of aggregating and disaggregating in support of varied operational requirements. Mobility is the ability of artillery-including its required sustainment-to get to the fight. Simplicity implies systems that are only as complex as necessary. Although simple weapons may use new technology, they are not dependent upon them. Finally, future artillery must be capable of supporting a distributed GCE. Following these priorities, the paper offers specific recommendations necessary for Marine artillery to maximize its potential in 2030.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 23, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1178772
Entities
People
- Craig Giorgis
- Kenneth Del Mazo
Organizations
- Marine Corps University