Marines Conduct Second Littoral Exercise
28 Feb 2022

Marines and Sailors from the 2d Marine Division (2d MarDiv), Strike Fighter Squadron 105 (VFA-105), and the United States Coast Guard (USCG), have begun the second iteration in a series of Littoral Exercises to continue ongoing experimentation and testing of reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance concepts in support of Force Design 2030.


Littoral Exercise II (LEX II) will be taking place at various installations along the East Coast and Atlantic waterways and will build on lessons learned from Littoral Exercise I (LEX I), which took place last month.


This series of training events will focus on surveillance, reconnaissance, and counter-reconnaissance operations in littoral environments against a notional adversary. During LEX II, the Marines and Sailors will be operating in scalable, mobile teams, and employing low signature communication systems to enable identifying, tracking, and then eliminating the threat of a simulated enemy in near-shore coastal regions. They will also employ lethal miniature aerial missile systems (LMAMS), or organic precision fires-infantry (OPF-I) against simulated adversary vessels. For training purposes, during LEX II, the simulated adversary will be multiple vessels operating off the coast of North Carolina.


This innovative training demonstrates 2d MarDiv’s pursuit of new capabilities and concepts in accordance with Force Design 2030. LEX II will test the Marine Corps’ ability to better support Fleet and Joint Commanders by providing an enhanced, more thorough understanding of a battlespace and will provide an opportunity to ensure 2d MarDiv is prepared to deter malign behavior, fight, and win in any clime or place.


Through critical Fleet Marine Force feedback and continued testing and evaluations, the lessons learned from LEX II have the potential to re-define how Marine Corps forces will operate in critical future scenarios. By capitalizing on new capabilities to deter conflict and dominate inside an enemy’s weapon engagement zone, LEX II is an opportunity for 2d MarDiv to judiciously evaluate, wargame, experiment, and refine our abilities in order to contribute to the future force our Nation needs by 2030.


High-resolution imagery of the training is available at the DVIDS feature page link below. For more information about the exercise, please contact 1st Lt. Sydney Murkins at Sydney.murkins@usmc.mil.