The Floating Forward Operating Base MEU

A blueprint for the Marine Corps of 2035

Executive Summary
The MEU of 2035 must evolve to remain relevant in the face of precision-strike threats, ubiquitous surveillance, and rapid technological change. This essay proposes the Floating Forward Operating Base MEU (F-FOB MEU), a modular, distributed, and adaptive force dispersed across a swarm of manned, unmanned, and hybrid platforms. The F-FOB MEU is survivable by dispersal, lethal by integration, and persistent by design. Leveraging autonomy, commercial innovation, and resilient command, the F-FOB MEU positions the Marine Corps for dominance in the contested maritime battlespace of 2035 and beyond.

Introduction
Since the end of the Cold War, the MEU embarked on a three-ship Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) has served as America’s forward-deployed, fast-response, flexible tool for power projection and crisis management. The Marine Corps’ adaptability, combined-arms prowess, and ability to kick down the door anywhere on earth have made it a global standard for expeditionary warfare.

Yet, as the United States faces new threats, peer competition, rapid technological change, and battlespaces saturated by unmanned systems and precision weapons, the traditional ARG/MEU may soon become too vulnerable, too predictable, and too limited to dominate future conflict. The 2035 security environment will demand a radical new approach: one that distributes risk, leverages autonomy, and exploits both commercial and military innovation.

This article presents a bold proposal: the FFOB MEU. This concept disperses Marine combat power, logistics, and command across a floating archipelago of manned, unmanned, and hybrid platforms. Persistent, unpredictable, and modular, the FFOB MEU is not merely an update of the old playbook but a blueprint for Marine relevance and dominance in the next era of maritime warfare.

The Imperative for Change
The Threat Environment of 2035
By 2035, America’s adversaries will have weaponized transparency and precision at sea. China, Russia, and even technologically advanced regional actors will field vast networks of satellites, over-the-horizon radars, persistent ISR drones, and long-range precision missiles. Massed anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, cybertools, and sophisticated electronic warfare will make any large, slow, and predictable naval force a target.

Peer competitors will pursue a strategy of high-end denial, making littoral and even blue water zones lethal to U.S. ships and aircraft. The old ARG model, with a big-deck amphibian LPD (Landing Platform, Deck), and a third connector vessel sailing in formation, will likely struggle to survive or operate with freedom of maneuver.

The Technology Revolution
Conversely, rapid advances in autonomy, artificial intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing (3D/4D printing), and commercial shipping are offering new tools for military adaptation. Swarms of unmanned vehicles, on, above, and below the water, can now deliver intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), strike, deception,andlogistics. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)  container ships and barges can be quickly converted into launch platforms, sensor nodes, or floating depots. Secure cloud networking and edge computing are making distributed command and control (C2) a reality.

The Marine Corps of 2035 must harness these tools, dispersing risk and reaping the benefits of autonomy, modularity, and resilience. The F-FOB MEU is the way forward.

The F-FOB MEU: Core Concept
Imagine a MEU not as three tightly grouped warships but as a distributed, adaptive floating archipelago spanning hundreds of miles at sea. This network is composed of a mix of manned, optionally-manned, and unmanned platforms, large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs), Expeditionary Fast Transports, converted container ships, autonomous barges, and submersibles, each carrying a tailored package of Marines, sensors, weapons, and supplies.

The F-FOB MEU can rapidly regroup, disperse, or reconfigure, denying adversaries the ability to find and fix the force. It becomes a persistent, unpredictable presence, a living system that is survivable by distribution, lethal by integration, and sustainable by design.

How the F-FOB MEU Works
The Platform Swarm

The back bone of the F-FOB MEU is its swarm of platforms:

• Manned Nodes: A small number of warships and manned transports act as command hubs, C2 nodes, and staging areas for Marines and specialized equipment.
• Unmanned Surface/Subsurface Vessels: LUSVs and unmanned underwater vehicles act as mobile launchers for missiles, decoys, ISR drones, and logistics containers.
• Commercial Conversions: COTS cargo ships and tankers can be quickly fitted with modular containers for medical, engineering, supply, or fires roles.
• Autonomous Barges/Submersibles: These pop up for resupply, then vanish below the surface or scatter to reduce vulnerability.

Each platform carries modular payload pods, missiles, loitering munitions, sensors, small unmanned aerial vehicles, or even additive manufacturing printers for on-demand parts.

Distributed Prepositioning and Pop-Up Basing
Rather than relying on vulnerable supply convoys, the F-FOB MEU prepositions critical supplies, munitions, and equipment across the platform swarm and in autonomous underwater or afloat storage modules. Marines can establish expeditionary advanced bases (EABs) ashore or afloat at the point of need, supplied by unmanned connectors and tiltrotor aircraft. When necessary, these EABs can relocate in hours, keeping the enemy off-balance.

Persistent ISR and Fires
Hundreds of expendables, networked drones, surface, subsurface, and aerial, provide continuous ISR, jamming, deception, and kinetic/non-kinetic fires. Marines access a digital fires grid, allowing them to cue effects from any platform across the archipelago. This persistent ISR/fires mesh creates a cloud of awareness and influence over the battlespace.

Distributed, Virtualized Command Element
The F-FOB MEU C2 is inherently distributed. The command element is split among afloat, ashore, and cloud-based nodes, each linked by quantum-secure, multi-redundant comms. Key functions, fires, logistics, and information operations can be provided by reach-back from CONUS or secure allied locations. This approach minimizes risk to senior leaders and ensures continuity of operations even if nodes are disrupted.

Civil-Military and Partner Integration
Because much of the F-FOB MEU relies on modular, commercial platforms, the force can scale up or down rapidly for humanitarian relief, embassy security, partner training, or major combat operations. Civilian-military hybrid ships, containerized hospitals, and modular engineering pods make the force truly versatile.

Operational Advantages
Resilience by Distribution
The F-FOB MEU has no golden goose. Losing a single node or even a handful of platforms is a tactical setback, not a strategic defeat. The distributed mesh is inherently robust; if one node is hit, others adapt, reposition, or take over its function.

Unpredictability and Adaptability
A constantly moving, modular archipelago confounds enemy targeting and tracking. The F-FOB MEU can have mass effects at a chosen point, disperse when under threat, or reposition to exploit gaps. Pop-up EABs, autonomous logistics nodes, and unmanned decoys further complicate the adversary’s decision making.

Lethality by Integration
By blending manned and unmanned assets, Marines can mass fires, ISR, and EW from any direction, overwhelming enemy defenses and enabling first-mover advantage. The ability to launch synchronized, multi-domain attacks, including kinetic, electronic, and informational, from a distributed force, is a game-changer.

Endurance and Sustainability
With additive manufacturing, distributed prepositioning, and autonomous resupply, the F-FOB MEU can operate for weeks or months in contested areas without major traditional supply lines. Persistent ISR and virtualized C2 further enable continuous around-the-clock operations.

Mission Essential Tasks for the F-FOB MEU
To meet the future, the F-FOB MEU must be proficient in:

• All-Domain Distributed Operations: Coordinating, fighting, and sustaining in the maritime, littoral, air, space, and cyber domains.
• Dynamic Expeditionary Basing: Rapidly establishing, relocating, and defending temporary bases afloat or ashore.
• Persistent ISR and Precision Fires: Maintaining an integrated grid of sensors and shooters, leveraging AI for speed and mass.
• Rapid Crisis Response: Agilely deploying for humanitarian, partner, embassy, or major combat operations at global speed.
• Civil-Military Operations: Integrating with civilian, allied, and partner assets for logistics, sustainment, and influence.
• Resilient C2 and Information Operations: Surviving, adapting, and fighting in the information domain, as well as the physical.

Risks, Mitigation, and Implementation
Risks

• C2 Complexity: Managing distributed operations requires new comms tech, robust battle management AI, and flexible leaders.
• Technology Vulnerability: Over-reliance on autonomy and networks must be balanced by hybrid manned-unmanned control and backup systems.
• Logistics Disruption: Autonomous resupply and pop-up storage must be hardened against cyber, kinetic, and electronic attack.
• Cultural Resistance: The F-FOB MEU demands new doctrine, training, and mindsets, embracing experimentation, failure, and innovation.

Mitigation

• Redundant Mesh Networking: Quantum-secure, AI-managed comms keep C2 alive even under attack.
• Hybrid Manning and Cross-Training: Manned nodes oversee critical functions; Marines train in unmanned ops, rapid adaptation, and cloud C2.
• Incremental Fielding: Pilot units test and refine F-FOB MEU tactics, techniques, and procedures alongside legacy ARGs.
• Wargaming and Exercises: Aggressively red-team and challenge the concept against peer threats, evolving the model continuously.

Implementation Path

• Experimental Unit: Stand up a MEU detachment blending Navy, Marines, industry, and academic partners to prototype the F-FOB approach.
• Leverage Commercial Innovation: Tap the private sector for COTS platforms, modular payloads, and cloud-based C2.
• Rapid Iteration: Use lessons learned to scale the model, transitioning from pilot to fleet-wide adoption over a decade.

The Vision Realized
In 2035, the F-FOB MEU is not a fantasy, but a logical extension of current Marine innovation:

• Unmanned systems and autonomous logistics are rapidly maturing.
• Navy unmanned surface/subsurface vessels are being fielded now.
• Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations, stand-in forces, and resilient distributed ops are part of the Corps’ emerging doctrine.
• Additive manufacturing and containerized payloads are no longer science fiction.

A crisis erupts in the Indo-Pacific. The F-FOB MEU deploys as a living archipelago, hundreds of miles wide. ISR drones saturate the battlespace. Pop-up EABs enable Marines to surge at critical points, then melt away. Autonomous logistics keeps the force supplied. The enemy—overwhelmed by false signatures, networked fires, and unpredictable movement—is forced to react to the MEU’s tempo.

This is not just a new way of fighting, but a new way of thinking, one that marries Marine adaptability with the logic of networks, autonomy, and resilience.

Conclusion
The threats and opportunities of 2035 demand that the Marine Corps move beyond the classic three-ship ARG. The F-FOB MEU is a bold, feasible, and future-proof solution, maximizing survivability, adaptability, and lethality in the most contested maritime regions.

By embracing distributed, modular, and autonomous platforms, leveraging commercial technology, and fostering a culture of relentless innovation, the Marine Corps will remain America’s crisis response force; relevant, ready, and dominant, no matter how the world changes.

The F-FOB MEU is more than a concept. It is the next chapter in the storied legacy of the United States Marines.

>LtCol Papay was the Commanding Officer of VMFA(AW)-533, an F/A-18D Hornet squadron stationed at MCAS Beaufort, SC. His career as a Marine Aviator spanned almost 22 years, logging 198 combat missions and over 5,000 flight hours in the F-4 Phantom and F/A-18 Hornet.

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