Contested Logistics to Pose Problems for Marines.

• Author: Driggers, Tom

The Marine Corps has a long and storied history of successfully operating in contested environments--from the shores of Iwo Jima to the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan.

However, the operating environment of the future is likely to be even more complex and challenging, particularly in the realm of logistics. The threat environment of engaging in the Indo-Pacific with a highly advanced and capable competitor has led the Marine Corps to rethink the future fight.

In a contested logistics environment, the service will face several challenges, including increased threats to supply chains, reduced mobility and freedom of movement and the need to operate in austere and resource-constrained environments.

The Commandant's Planning Guidance, Force Design 2030 and the National Defense Strategy have provided the necessary roadmap for the Marine Corps in increasing lethality, survivability and sustainability. However, to address these challenges effectively, the service will need to adopt new technologies and operational concepts, as well as develop new skills and capabilities among its personnel.

The Marine Corps' most recent strategy report, "Installations and Logistics 2030," focuses on the need to modernize logistics systems, recognizing the pivot from operating in a permissive environment to the difficulties presented when operating in austere and resource-constrained environments. This may include operating in remote locations with limited infrastructure or in areas where the enemy has disrupted or destroyed key infrastructure such as waterways, ports, airfields and highways. This long tail for logistics against a peer threat poses new problems while reminding the country of historic battles in the Pacific theater.

The Fleet Marine Force for the future recalls the Marine Corps' amphibious roots. In 1946, General Alexander Vandegrift, then commandant of the Marine Corps, gave his "Bended Knee Speech" while fighting for the service's very existence. He said, "Professional military opinion throughout the world was bemused by the axiom that a landing against resistance is an impossible feat of arms." He went on to tell the then Senate Committee on Naval Affairs the most sustained effort to supporting the fighting force "is the task of developing the techniques, doctrines, equipment and procedures which relate to the amphibious specialty."

Contested logistics is not solely focused on the battlefield. It is a comprehensive...