2024-03-30T18:02:52+00:00
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/ US Army forces are working to form the 3rd Marine Coastal Regiment, a new formation within the US Navy (Marines) that reflects the US Army’s latest concept to fight adversaries such as China on remote, strategic islands in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Smaller and lighter
These units were designed to be smaller, lighter, more mobile, and more lethal, their commanders say, according to a report published by the Washington Post.
After 20 years of ground combat in the Middle East, Marines are scrambling to adapt to a sea battle that could extend across thousands of miles of islands and coastlines in Asia.
In parallel, these new regiments are viewed as part of a broader strategy to synchronize the operations of American soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, and thus with allied and partner militaries in the Pacific.
Logistical challenges
Their focus is on a crucial stretch of territory stretching from Japan to Indonesia known as the First Island Chain. China believes that this region, which includes an area approximately half the size of the contiguous United States, falls within its sphere of influence.
For their part, analysts said that the comprehensive strategy bodes well, but faces major obstacles, especially if war breaks out, such as logistical challenges in a vast maritime region, and the timely delivery of new equipment and technologies, which are complicated by budget battles in Congress.
In addition to uncertainty about whether regional partners such as Japan will do so. And allowing American forces to fight from its islands. This last piece is the key.
While Beijing believes that the American strategy aimed at deepening security alliances in the Pacific region is escalatory, which raises the concern of some officials in partner countries who fear that they may be drawn into a conflict between the two powers.
Vision and challenge
The US Marine Corps has a response plan and vision called force design that emphasizes forward deployment of Marines and placing units on the front line while making them as invisible as possible to radar and other electronic detection devices.
The idea is to use these “reserve” forces, which number in the thousands in the theater of operations at any one time, to enable the larger joint force to deploy its collective power against a major enemy.
It aspires for the new formation to be the first on the ground in any conflict, as it can collect information to send coordinates to a B-1 aerial bomber so that it can fire a missile at a Chinese frigate hundreds of miles away, or send a target and data to its Philippine counterpart that can A cruise missile is directed at a destroyer in the disputed South China Sea.
Chinese challenge
It is noteworthy that Beijing’s aggressive military modernization and investments over the past two decades have posed a challenge to the United States’ ability to control the seas and skies in any conflict in the Western Pacific.
China has significantly expanded its influence in the Pacific Ocean, as it has built artificial islands for military sites in the South China Sea, and seeks to expand its bases in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including a naval facility in Cambodia that US intelligence says is for the exclusive use of the Chinese people. Editing.