Research Guides: College of Distance Education and Training (CDET) Guide: Force Design 2030

Force Design 2030

"The 2018 National Defense Strategy redirected the Marine Corps’ mission focus from countering violent extremists in the Middle East to great power/peer-level competition, with special emphasis on the Indo-Pacific. Such a profound shift in missions, from inland to littoral, and from non-state actor to peer competitor, necessarily requires substantial adjustments in how we organize, train, and equip our Corps. A return to our historic role in the maritime littoral will also demand greater integration with the Navy and a reaffirmation of that strategic partnership. As a consequence, we must transform our traditional models for organizing, training, and equipping the force to meet new desired ends, and do so in full partnership with the Navy."

-General David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps

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CMC Force Design 2030 Report Phase I and II, March 2020
As described in the introduction by General David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps: "This report describes the progress of the Marine Corps on my watch in preparing for the sweeping changes needed to meet the principal challenges facing the institution: effectively playing our role as the nation’s naval expeditionary force-in-readiness, while simultaneously modernizing the force in accordance with the National Defense Strategy (NDS) – and doing both within the fiscal resources we are provided."

Force Design 2030 Resources

Commandant's Planning Guidance: 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps (July 2019)
"The Commandant’s Planning Guidance (CPG) provides the 38th Commandant’s strategic direction for the Marine Corps and mirrors the function of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Planning Guidance (DPG). It serves as the authoritative document for Service-level planning and provides a common direction to the Marine Corps Total Force. It also serves as a road map describing where the Marine Corps is going and why; what the
Marine Corps force development priorities are and are not; and, in some instances, how and when prescribed actions will be implemented. This CPG serves as my Commandant’s Intent for the next four years." (General David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps)

2015 A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower
A Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority Version 2.0 (December 2018)
"The current security environment demands that the Navy be prepared at all levels for decentralized operations, guided by commander’s intent. This operating style is reliant on clear understanding up, down, and across the chain of command. It is also underpinned by trust and confidence created by demonstrating character and competence." (p. 7)

Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (2017)
"The purpose of this concept is to describe “naval operations in the littoral environment in light of emerging threats” in order to provide a unified framework for Navy-Marine Corps innovation. It places a renewed emphasis on fighting for and gaining sea control, to include employing sea-based and land-based Marine Corps capabilities to support the sea control fight." (p. 3)

Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) Handbook Considerations for Force Development and Employment (1 June 2018)
"EABO is a future naval operational concept that meets the resiliency and forward presence requirements of the next paradigm of US Joint expeditionary operations. The concept is adversary-based, cost-informed, and advantage- focused. The EABO concept is designed to defeat adversary attempts to execute counter intervention and fait accompli strategies that might otherwise inhibit a credible US response to aggression against treaty allies and economic partners." (p. 5)

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