Posted on March 13, 2024
The Department of the Navy’s budget request for the Marine Corps for 2025 funds the service’s modernization ambitions, and remains similar to the fiscal year 2024 proposal, a top Navy official said.
“Procurement is mostly flat with investments in the industrial base, undersea capabilities and Marine Corps Force Design,” Rear Adm. Ben Reynolds, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget/director, fiscal management division, N82, at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said at a Navy budget briefing March 11.
The Marine Corps launched Force Design 2030 in 2019 to revise the service’s force structure, weapons systems, equipment and training to focus on peer threats in the Indo-Pacific. The service has been issuing annual reports and updates based on research and experimentation and changes made under the plan. The service has since dropped the “2030” from the name.
The Marine Corps’ 2025 budget reflects the commitment to investing in Force Design’s readiness and modernization, Reynolds said.
About $4.2 billion is set aside for Marine Corps weapons and ground procurement, $200 million more than the fiscal year 2024 budget request, which has still not been enacted. They include: 674 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles; 80 Amphibious Combat Vehicles; and guided missiles such as 90 Naval Strike Missiles with an anti-ship/land attack cruise missile capability, 22 Block V Tactical Tomahawk missiles for Long-Range Fires, and 123 Javelins; and six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
The procurement budget also funds 53 fixed-wing aircraft: 13 F-25B and 13 F-35C Lightning IIs and 27 Multi-Engine Advanced Training Systems, as well as funding for rotary-wing heavy lift CH-53K King Stallions.
In addition to weapons and fleet modernization, the Marine Corps budget focuses on readiness, with $4.7 billion allocated for ground combat readiness, $5.7 billion in aviation readiness and $4.5 billion for fleet Marine force readiness, the defense budget overview stated.
With the Navy reinvesting in its maritime industrial base, the service has allocated funding for ships used primarily by the Marine Corps, with some increases and decreases.
Reynolds noted that the 2025 budget features a decrease in the [research, development, testing and evaluation accounts. “We take risks there to adequately fund other priorities,” he said.
The combined procurement and RDT&E funding for the LPD 17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock, which transports Marines and their equipment and supports amphibious operations, increased from $77.6 million in 2024 to about $1.7 billion in 2025. These funds will support procurement of one ship, as well as development funds for testing, outfitting costs and cost to complete.
The LHA America Class Amphibious Assault Ship supports embarkation, deployment and landing of the Marines, and its funding dropped from about $1.9 billion to $234.4 million. The service aims to fund advance procurement for LHA 10, a FY 2027 ship, and complete costs for LHA 8.
The Medium Landing Ship, which enables distributed maneuver and logistics for the Marines, increased from $14.7 million to $274 million. The 2025 program goal is to fund the new lead ship and continue development and modernization.
