WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps’ highest-ranking officer closed Modern Day Marine 2025 by asking industry for technologies that keep Marines lethal, survivable, and one step ahead of the enemy.
“What I need is lethal capability that’s affordable, that’s light, that’s getting more autonomous, that matches the needs I have for the Marine Corps,” Gen. Eric Smith said at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on May 1. “If you’re focused on what I’m focused on, then you’re in good position.”
The commandant’s “North Star” is being able to continuously deploy three amphibious ready groups around the globe, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. That benchmark hasn’t been met recently due to deployment extensions and ship maintenance bottlenecks.
“But I need you to understand, this is about more than ships,” Smith said, discussing the highly sought-after configuration of U.S. warships and Marines. “It’s about deterrence and denial. It’s about making sure Marines are in position when the next fight comes.”
With the theme of “Ready today, first to fight tomorrow,” this year’s Modern Day Marine military exposition reflected Smith’s focus on preparedness, from the latest systems zipping around a netted-off Drone Zone to talks about operating in contested environments, intelligent robotics and autonomous technologies.
The president and CEO of the Marine Corps Association, which co-hosted Modern Day Marine alongside the Marine Corps League, told Reserve + National Guard Magazine this unified messaging was key to the expo.
“One of the most important takeaways was the strong alignment between the event’s programming and the commandant’s priorities,” retired Lt. Gen. Chuck Chiarotti said. “Particularly in areas like force modernization, innovation and warfighter readiness.”
Besides the continuous deployment of three amphibious ready groups, Smith’s stated priorities included barracks renovations for improved quality of life and completing the sixth year of Force Design, the Corps’ plan to restructure for potential conflict with near-peer adversaries like China.
“We’re making small units more lethal, more connected, and harder to kill,” Smith said. “The equipment is arriving, and the formations are evolving, and the feedback coming from the fleet is driving our next steps.”
Exclusively focused on the Corps, Modern Day Marine acted as a strategic platform to communicate the service’s needs to the industry partners who build tomorrow’s technology as well as the Congress members who fund it.
“For next year, we plan on building on the success of MDM 2025,” Chiarotti said. “One area that I want to fully explore as we plan for MDM 2026 is greater inclusion of our allies and partners — perhaps more international industry partners as well.
“The Marine Corps has stated openly that the future fight will require joint and combined support to be successful.”
The final numbers for Modern Day Marine 2025 have yet to be released, but it’s safe to say thousands of people attended the Washington military expo between April 29 and May 1.
“Every generation of Marines has added a new page to the playbook, and now it’s our turn: Force Design, stand-in forces, long-range precision fires, maritime denial and control from the shore,” Smith said. “These aren’t experiments. They’re our contributions to the next fight. And like everyone before us, they’re built on the lessons learned by Marines in conflict. We’ve been doing this for 250 years, but we’re just getting started.”
Want to attend next year? Check out the MDM website for more information.
