A new U.S. defense plan aims to create modernized Marine units specialized in island fighting and capable of reacting to the threat posed by China.
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00:00Every two years, dozens of countries send warships to the U.S. state of Hawaii for RIMPAC.
00:06It's the world's largest maritime exercise, lasting over six weeks.
00:11The goal is to practice working together against common threats,
00:15but the sheer size of these drills can be an obstacle.
00:19So RIMPAC being 29 different countries participating in a single exercise,
00:24that is almost too large for any tangible progress on things like collective action plans.
00:31That kind of format is too large to really drill that sort of thing in a meaningful way.
00:38That's why in addition to working with allies and partners,
00:41countries like the U.S. are going forward with new ways to better prepare for a conflict.
00:46The U.S. says it wants to create a new kind of fighting force,
00:50and that plan is called Force Design 2030.
00:54The purpose behind that initiative was essentially,
00:57the U.S. had to transition away from the kinds of conflicts
01:02and the kinds of threats that it was engaged in at the time,
01:06meaning counterterrorism and how to move away from that,
01:11and tailoring it more toward the threats we saw emerging in the Indo-Pacific.
01:18Officials from the Pentagon say Force Design 2030 is designed to adapt to one threat in particular,
01:24China's military.
01:26For decades, Beijing has invested heavily in modernizing its armed forces
01:31and developing weapons that are able to strike U.S. bases within the first and the second island chain.
01:38These threats pose a challenge for the U.S.,
01:41which has long been able to operate its military anywhere in the world with little resistance.
01:46Under Force Design 2030, the U.S. hopes a new military unit
01:51called the Marine Littoral Regiment can solve this problem.
01:55We have some technology, such as small UAS and other sensors
02:01that allows us to do reconnaissance in the maritime domain,
02:04which is one of the things that uniquely separates our battalion from other infantry battalions.
02:08These Marines specialize in littoral combat zones,
02:12meaning on shorelines or between groups of islands, conditions common in the Western Pacific.
02:18The first Marine Littoral Regiment was set up in Hawaii in 2022.
02:23A year later, the second group was established in Okinawa.
02:26And now, there are plans to set up a third group in the U.S. territory of Guam in the coming year.
02:32Equipped with advanced drones and anti-air missiles,
02:35these soldiers can respond quickly to any potential conflict.
02:39The adversaries identified require a different type of thinking.
02:43This means being very lean, agile, and able to move, therefore being able to survive.
02:48So the Marine Littoral Regiment, underneath Force Design 2030 concepts,
02:52is there to fight in the littoral areas.
02:56In a world facing multiple wars on different continents,
03:00units like these could play a crucial role and, the U.S. says, deter any further conflicts.
03:07And here at RIMPAC, this is an opportunity for other countries to learn from the U.S.'s lead,
03:12with the emphasis on quality over quantity of forces.
03:17Jaime Okan, in Honolulu, Hawaii, for TAIWAN+.