![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/del-toro-3.jpg-3.jpg\")
Though the unit just formally stood up, Swindle said MIU already has more than 130 projects in various stages of completion. Many concern Marine organizations struggling with information management \u2014 they collect a lot of data but can\u2019t use it \u2014 or those wanting to conduct a rapid acquisition effort but can\u2019t figure out how to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swindle offered one example of an ongoing project with the deputy commandant for information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOf the multiple forms of information and intelligence that comes in, there are some that we have very classified, bespoke things that only the DoD and the U.S. government do. But there\u2019s also a lot of things that are going on just in plain sight on social media \u2014 there are multiple terabytes of data [daily] that are generated; well, how do you make sense of that? What\u2019s the prevailing narrative? What\u2019s going on that\u2019s important to a combatant commander or to a [Marine Expeditionary Force] commander? That\u2019s a really wicked problem to solve,\u201d the colonel said, but it\u2019s also one that could lend itself to creating a consortium with other defense organizations facing the same problem, and for which a commercial solution may already exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee and whose district includes Stewart Air National Guard Base, also spoke at the event. He called the Marine Innovation Unit\u2019s mission \u201cpersonal,\u201d both from his experience as a soldier and then as a small business owner trying to work with the Defense Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said during a speech that \u201cI have personally experienced a lot of the frustrations and pain points\u201d that small businesses still face 15 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the biggest ones was just getting access to the problem, meaning, being able to sit down with folks in the field and understand what are your greatest needs, and then to have access to some of the classified information that you\u2019d need to actually be able to solve those problems,\u201d he told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan added that \u201cthe urgency of the China threat has been a wakeup call for a lot of folks\u201d and that perhaps a clear threat plus the help of the Marine Innovation Unit could create a real change for the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The unit aims to leverage reservists’ contacts in the business and tech worlds to quickly solve modernization problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":112884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,10,29,13,36,35],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3291],"class_list":["post-36350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-cyber","category-home","category-industry","category-it-networks-battlefield-tech","category-c2-comms-battlefield-tech"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SQCU6TT26RA6LL52FLIKEKIFGM","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2023\/05\/10\/marine-innovation-unit-tackles-some-remaining-force-design-tech-needs\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n