Sea Power - May 2017

ACTIONABLE
INTELLIGENCE
MARINES TEST MOBILE RECON CONCEPT TO BOOST THE MAGTF PUNCH

BY GIDGET FUENTES, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

In a conventional war, reconnaissance provides the “eyes and ears” at the tip of the spear and firepower to guard and protect the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). A “proof-of-concept” force is examining ways a MAGTF’s highly mobile light armored reconnaissance units can stay technologically sharp and lethal against capable, “near-peer” opponents in the hybrid future fight as evolving technologies have exposed gaps in capabilities.

Those threats, military leaders say, will come from enemy forces well equipped with similar weaponry and with credible reconnaissance capability of their own. They fly drones with cameras to take photographs, record videos and collect intelligence about U.S. forces. Digital links let them quickly inform, share and spread the information. They jam electronics and use cell phones to communicate and share information instantaneously, social media to advertise and the web to manage information, command and control.

These threats are big drivers behind Task Force Recon, a force-on-force experiment by 1st Marine Division. The Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based division organized two light armored reconnaissance (LAR) battalions for a combined-arms live-fire exercise as part of Steel Knight. The annual exercise ran Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in California and Arizona.

By doctrine, the Marine Corps’ light armored reconnaissance battalions primarily conduct reconnaissance and security missions, as well as counter-reconnaissance,

for a ground combat element or MAGTF, in this case,
the division. For Steel Knight, the 1st Marine Division
equipped Task Force Recon with new technologies, like
sensors and drones, to boost intelligence-collecting and
aid in counter-reconnaissance, and some old tactics and
proven gear like camouflage netting.
The division’s initiative could help reshape the
MAGTF and gear it for the future fight and threats from
enemies or other opposing forces whose technologies
and capabilities match or could surpass that of the U.S.
military. The Marine Corps has long identified gaps in
what the LAR community can provide the MAGTF “in
their ability to conduct combined arms reconnaissance
and surveillance, counter-reconnaissance, raids and
offensive actions, security and defensive operations in
support of maneuver,” a Light Armored Vehicle pro-
gram office’s capability brief stated during the 2016
Modern Day Marine expo in Quantico, Va.
For the California exercise, which began Dec. 6 at
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine
Palms, Calif., Task Force Marines operated with LAVs
and practiced tactics in electronic warfare and counter-
unmanned aerial systems, among others. The proof-
of-concept included combined-arms training, so along
with tanks and artillery, they also operated with the
120mm Expeditionary Fire Support System (EFSS) as
well as air defense and lightweight counter-mortar
systems.
By tying in ground recon with intelligence, sur-
veillance and reconnaissance platforms, “we could
really gauge what the division was doing, and not only
could we see what they were doing, we could action
that,” Lt. Col. Philip Laing, who led Task Force Recon,
told Seapower. “The lessons learned from that really
started getting us looking hard at how we fight the
security area.”
That has put the spotlight on counter-recon, the
role of LAR and combined-arms integration to bolster
the MAGTF.