MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- The message to defense contractors was clear: “If the Corps is changing, industry needs to change as well,” as Brig. Gen. Frank Kelley, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command, put it.
The consensus on the panel at the Marine Corps’ Report to Industry at the Modern Day Marine Expo on Sept. 26 was that the Corps is, indeed, changing. Five of the service’s top decision-makers when it comes to discretionary spending explained to a crowd of about 300, most of them representing defense contractors, that if they want to do business, they need to help the Marine Corps lose weight.
With the prospect of continued “sequestration” budget cuts and the end-of-war drawdown, as well as a shifting of forces from the Middle East to the Pacific, the service is looking to shed both pounds and dollars, panelists said.
“As a middle-weight force, if we were trying to make weight right now, we might come in a little heavy,” said Lt. Gen. William Faulkner, deputy commandant for Installations and Logistics, adding that one positive aspect of the cuts is that they will force some necessary changes. Having beefed up for wartime, he said, the Corps now has a lot of equipment that is either unnecessary or obsolete, and most of it, from humvees to generators, has literally grown heavier than what was used pre-war.
He told businessmen what is needed is equipment that is light, modular and multifunctional.
Faulkner said one area where Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, has decided to make cuts is in construction at bases and stations. He worried that if construction isn’t maintained and upgraded, past investments will go bad, but concluded, “We’ll just have to live with what’s good enough.”
Brig. Gen. John Jansen, assistant deputy commandant for Programs and Resources, noted that another area taking heavy cuts will be manpower. While the Navy deals in ships and the Air Force in planes, he said, the Marine Corps maneuvers battalions. About 60 percent of the Corps’ budget goes to personnel, versus only about 40 percent of the Navy’s budget.
Meanwhile, Jansen said, while a Marine Corps rifleman had about $2,500 worth of gear in 2001, the same Marine now carries about $14,000 worth of gear.
Accordingly, a plan to shrink the Corps to 186,000 Marines has been revised to downsize to 174,000 in the event of continued sequestration cuts, with a priority on maintaining current readiness and a forward presence, he said.
Even in this environment, Jansen said, there is opportunity to do business with the Marine Corps, but it will go to whoever is adaptable and can deliver high performance at a low cost. “The ability to adapt and perform is really the formula for success in this environment,” he said.
Faulkner agreed, saying, “Industry is going to be even more important to ensure the Marine Corps remains the nation’s No. 1 crisis response force.”
Lt. Gen. Kenneth Glueck Jr., deputy commandant for Combat Development and Integration and commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, said concepts are being developed to focus priorities on the Corps’ strength as an expeditionary force. “It’s about getting there and getting there fast,” he said. “We need to be lighter, faster, more agile and cheaper.”
As for the rest, he said, “We need to focus on what’s good enough during this period, not what we think we need or want, but what is good enough.”
In response to a question about the difficulty in getting concrete information regarding the Corps’ needs and plans, and the impact this is having on businesses, Bill Taylor, program executive officer of Land Systems, was blunt: “Industry is going to get punched in the face with reality over the next couple of years,” he said, adding that, with the military downsizing, the defense industry may have to consider downsizing as well.
Kelley said defense spending has always fluctuated, “and we were due for what some might consider a downturn.”
He said industry needs to be receptive to the Marine Corps’ changing needs.
“If you hear we’re going back to sea, don’t try to sell us a 70,000-pound vehicle that doesn’t fit on a ship,” Kelley said, warning against coming to the Corps with old ways of doing business. “We don’t have time for that. We have time to work with you.”
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com