Marine Corps aviation plan to come in December, ahead of service’s ‘Project Eagle’ changes

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps plans to publish its next service-wide aviation plan this December ahead of the “execution” phase of a recently revealed initiative that will overhaul the service’s warfighting concepts, functions and technologies used throughout Marine aviation.

The service’s aviation plan (AVPLAN), historically published every other year and last published in 2022, provides a high-level view of the various platforms the Marines will use in the future.

But what makes the next AVPLAN unique this year is that it will be followed by the third phase of what the service has dubbed “Project Eagle” scheduled for next summer, according to a public document the Marine Corps published in conjunction with Naval Air Systems Command earlier this month. The document was published ahead of an industry day scheduled for Sept. 9 that will center around one of the lines of effort in Project Eagle.

Project Eagle, which is being organized by an internal Marine Corps office dubbed “The Cunningham Group,” began in 2022, but service leadership only recently started publicly discussing their efforts this past May during the Modern Day Marine exposition.

“What Project Eagle does for us, as we look across three [future years defense programs] is it shows us where the trade space is,” Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, deputy commandant for aviation, said of the effort during the exposition.

Project Eagle’s first two phases were focused on developing its initial lines of effort and incorporating feedback from the service’s commandant, according to the document. But next summer, the Marines will begin the third phase, focused on “execution,” scheduled to last through 2040. The changes to Marine aviation will span from new warfighting concepts to the implementation of artificial intelligence tools, according to the new document.

The two new concepts are “Distributed Aviation Operations” (DAO) and “Decision-Centric Aviation Operations” (DCAO).

“Marine aviation must further its capabilities for operating in austere and distributed littoral environments as an essential element of the Stand-in Force, and in support of [Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations]. Included in this functional concept is the need to review the traditional functions of Marine Aviation,” the document states about DAO.

“The central idea of DCAO is to accelerate the decision cycle of the [air combat element] to machine-level speeds using cutting-edge and emerging technologies,” the document continues. “The intent is to enable the rapid composition and decomposition of a more distributed force, achieving the benefits of mass while minimizing the risks associated with concentration.”

The document also states that while the six functions of Marine aviation — offensive air support, anti-air warfare, assault support, aerial reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and control of aircraft and missiles — were successful in the past, studies are now underway to consider expanding those functions to support the Joint Force.

As part of Project Eagle, several new “roadmaps” are being developed for live, virtual and constructive training; sustainment; command and control and ground support as well as aircrew recruitment and retention, among others.

The new document states that the AVPLAN’s publication will be part of Project Eagle’s second phase and “has been a vital tool to communicate the deputy commandant for aviation’s vision and direction to multiple audiences.”

“Project Eagle reorients Marine aviation’s lift vector and is the next waypoint in the Commandant’s vision for force modernization to ensure the nation’s 911 force remains agile, dynamic, and ready,” according to the document.