{"id":19357,"date":"2021-12-30T02:11:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T02:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/12\/30\/new-in-2022-marines-are-finally-leveling-up-their-drone-game\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:34:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:34:52","slug":"new-in-2022-marines-are-finally-leveling-up-their-drone-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/12\/30\/new-in-2022-marines-are-finally-leveling-up-their-drone-game\/","title":{"rendered":"New in 2022: Marines are finally leveling up their drone game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marine Corps got into the drone game early, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/05\/10\/marines-eye-tactical-resupply-drone-prototypes\/\" target=\"_blank\">experimenting <\/a>with the then-new technology in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other priorities, funding and a drone-hungry Air Force put the Corps in the backseat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marines are finally mounting a drone comeback, with its first noticeable acquisitions in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent years the Corps could only point to two armed drones in its fleet, compared to the Air Force which counts 351 such armed drones, according to a November <a href=\"http:\/\/defense360.csis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/211115_Cancian_MilitaryForcesFY2022_MarineCorps_v3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Strategic and International Studies <\/a>report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Marine Corps Commandant<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hqmc.marines.mil\/Portals\/142\/Docs\/CMC38%20Force%20Design%202030%20Report%20Phase%20I%20and%20II.pdf?ver=2020-03-26-121328-460\" target=\"_blank\"> Gen. David Berger<\/a> prioritized building a robust drone fleet early in his tenure and has driven funding and manning in that direction. The Corps will buy six additional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/09\/21\/did-the-us-marine-corps-give-up-on-a-big-ship-based-surveillance-drone-too-soon\/\" target=\"_blank\">MQ-9 Reaper drones <\/a>in the coming year if its budget request is approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/05\/10\/marines-eye-tactical-resupply-drone-prototypes\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"284\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MK4-RX-UAV-edited.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Marines eye tactical resupply drone prototypes<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Just like Amazon wants to use drones to drop off packages on your doorstep, the Marines want to use UAS systems for tactical resupply to squads in the field.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his Force Design 2030 guiding document, Berger called for a doubling of active-duty drone squadrons from three to six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marines have operated the RQ-21 Blackjack for years, but in the Corps that\u2019s used as an unarmed, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform. The Blackjack is a Group 3-level drone, which comes in at less than 1,300 pounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s after the Marines spent recent years trying to get a do-it-all drone dubbed the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Aerial System, or MUX funded. That drone would act not only as an armed overwatch and reconnaissance platform but include electronic warfare capabilities and work as a hub in a fires network that would like air-ground-sea-space assets at the fingertips of Marines in theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Congress was lackluster on funding for the program as it is already heavily invested in Navy shipbuilding, aviation improvements across the fleet and a host of new Army equipment upgrades and additions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, the MQ-9 Reaper will have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an October exercise, Marines and Airmen teamed up for the first MQ-9 drone flight from the mainland to Hawaii. In<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same month the Corps announced a new MOS for MQ-9 drone operators, 7318 for officer ranks between second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel to advise commanders on using Group 5 drones such as the Reaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>This is an excerpt from \u201c19 Things Marines Need To Know For 2022,\u201d in the January print edition of Marine Corps Times.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Marines are buying more heavy-duty, armed drones in 2022 than ever before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":33724,"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":69,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"9":{"categories":["unmanned","daily-brief","newsletters","home"],"primary_category":"unmanned"},"10":{"categories":["unmanned","unmanned-systems","newsletters","daily-news-roundup"],"primary_category":"unmanned"}}},"categories":[101,23,92,12,25,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3396],"class_list":["post-19357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"RHYBZQKS3VDXNJPP23N2P6EGZE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/12\/29\/new-in-2022-marines-are-finally-leveling-up-their-drone-game\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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