Enhancing Maritime Awareness with U.S. Marines and Sailors of Task Force 61/2

In support of Force Design 2030, one of our commandant's primary focuses is on reconnaissance and counter reconnaissance, specifically in littoral spaces. So we're here in Estonia right now at the request of the Estonian government, and we're here to reassure our allies. A key part of that is increasing what's called maritime domain awareness. Our main role in this task force is to further provide targeting data and to provide further awareness specifically in the maritime environment. And the Navy and Marine Corps team, that is where we operate. There are ideas and systems that have existed for a long period of time, but in the past they've required a lot of planning and resources. Those same sensors today can be packed out and they can be employed anywhere in the world, anywhere the Navy or the Marine Corps needs us to go. So this has been a very interesting opportunity because this all started as an idea, as a concept that the commandant asked us to define, and it turned into an operational employment that has served very useful, not only to the 6th Fleet and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, but to our allies and partners here within the region. In a very short period of time, we've been able to take a concept, make it real. Innovation of ideas, really led by NCOs leading from the front, really demonstrates the very best of what the Marine Corps is and the best what the Navy and Marine Corps team can provide to the joint force. Maritime domain awareness operations encompass all the activities to create a broader picture for the fleet commander of everything that is transiting the maritime domain. So we combine small form factor surface search radars, small UAS, and enhanced observation telescopes to provide actionable intelligence and information to provide targeting data on vessels of interest transiting the straits. We currently have a liaison element located in the Estonian Maritime Operations Center, and we maintain a constant presence of the Estonian Navy within our Combat Operations Center. Maritime domain awareness is enhanced by all the different assets available to you. This is exactly what the U.S. Marine Corps is helping Estonian Navy currently to achieve with having multiple mobile teams on our shores. The more eyes we have, the greater our situational awareness is, which all leads to a greater overall security. Second Marine Division is moving ahead, exercising the commandant of the Marine Corps' force design concepts. The commandant directed change so that we find and execute new ways to operate within the great power competition continuum. We did that by standing up the Reconnaissance Counter Reconnaissance Force, or RXR. We are integrating with the Navy through a physical and operational presence within a fleet headquarters. In deploying forward, we achieved direct, tangible, and actionable results related to naval integration with our stand-in forces distributed throughout the UCOM theater. By positioning ourselves forward and serving alongside our joint partners and allies, numerous operational opportunities were seized upon by distributing several reconnaissance teams from 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion and mobile reconnaissance teams from 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, supported by critical enablers from Marine Air Support Squadron 1, 2nd Radio Battalion, 2 MEF Informational Group, and Victor 1-2 IBEX to Estonia during Exercise Hedgehog 22. This is a NATO country that is actively seeking opportunities to enhance their own maritime domain awareness that mirrors the greater Sixth Fleet goals while maintaining a strong relationship with NATO allies and partners.