The Marine Corps recently unveiled its budget request for fiscal 2026 that calls for spending $57.2 billion on new aircraft, drones, advanced weapons and military technology for its readiness in the Indo-Pacific.
The funding is included in the Navy’s $292.2. billion budget and represents a boost of 6% over last year’s budget.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith disclosed the service’s priorities in a posture statement made public by the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 10.
Gen. Smith said the 33,000 Marines deployed in the western Pacific are the nation’s “expeditionary shock troops” that provide rapid and flexible military power to meet the threats of an unpredictable security environment, with China the main danger.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive military modernization, coercive economic practices, and actions in the South China Sea directly threaten the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he stated.
The Marines are ready to fight at a moment’s notice and can deter CCP aggression, protect vital seal lanes and safeguard U.S. interest, he said.
Growing threats from China are prompted the Corps to speed up its modernization and integration of new weapons and technology systems, he said.
To be ready, the Marines are deploying three Amphibious Ready Groups or Marine Expeditionary Units — two in the Pacific and one from the East Coast.
The units are ready for expeditionary strikes, sea denial, seizure of advanced naval bases, cyberspace operations, and amphibious assaults.
For strikes against enemy targets, the Marines are developing “kill webs” of advanced sensors and electronic warfare systems.
Drone weapons will play a key role, including the MQ-9 Reaper that can fly for 27 hours, fly up to 50,000 feet and carry a 3,850 pound payload.
In addition to the Reaper, the Marines are adopting what Gen. Smith called “organic precision fires” a loitering, beyond-line-of-sight precision attack drone.
Thousands of other lethal attack drones are being deployed through the Pentagon’s Replicator rapid drone procurement program.
“These systems will enhance the survivability and lethality of Marine formations by complicating adversary targeting, enabling kill webs, and imposing unfavorable cost-exchange ratios on potential aggressors,” Gen. Smith said.
To supply forces during conflict, the Marines also are developing special new systems that are more agile and difficult to disrupt and can operate over vast distances in the Pacific.
The efforts include prepositioning weapons and equipment at key areas in the Indo-Pacific; ultra-light tactical vehicles, drone resupply aircraft and “expeditionary manufacturing” using portable fabrication laboratories.
New weapons for long-range strikes include the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), a remote-controlled antiship missile systems that has been deployed in Philippines.
The budget also includes $3.4 billion to restore and modernize Marine Corps facilities.
Budget documents made public by the Marines reveals that the Corps’ Long Range Fires (LRF) launchers a modified Mark 41 vertical launch system cell for Tomahawk cruise missiles on its ROGUE-Fires carrier vehicle was canceled, the online newsletter Naval News reported.
The Tomahawk shooter was cut over concerns for its maneuverability in littoral and austere environments.
“The Marine Corps has concluded that the LRF system was not able to be employed in austere, expeditionary, littoral environments and has made the decision to terminate the program,” says a Marine Corps fiscal 2026 budget document mad public earlier this month.
While cutting the Tomahawk missile, the service is instead pressing ahead with shore-based anti-ship capabilities by buying more NMESIS systems, including upgraded versions of the anti-ship missile system.