Marine Corps Aviation Intelligence

Aviation intelligence is critical to the success of the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). For the last quarter of a century, Marine aviation has not faced a serious enemy challenge in the skies and has operated with relative freedom of maneuver. This lack of a credible threat has resulted in the aviation intelligence community's losing sight of their role and has weakened the MAGTF. An analysis of the Doctrine, Organization, Training, Material, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities and Policy dedicated to Marine Corps aviation intelligence and the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance enterprise, reveals that they do not adequately support Marine Corps aviation in its current and near-future operations. As countries like Russia and China develop technologies to deny Marines access and to destroy Marine aviation, it is imperative that Marine Corps aviation intelligence refocuses. The USMC aviation intelligence community has not had to focus on aviation threats and thus has not truly been tested. Instead, the focus has predominantly been on collections in the form of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as targeting. As the nation's 911 force, the USMC must be in a constant state of readiness so that it can conduct forcible entry against its enemies, as directed by U.S. leadership. If one of these enemies possesses a credible threat to USMC aviation, will USMC aviation intelligence be prepared? ABSTRACT * ACKNOWLEDGMENTS * ACRONYMS * CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION * Background * Problem * Primary Research Question * Secondary Research Questions * USMC Aviation Legacy * History of USMC Aviation * The Six Functions of Aviation * Offensive Air Support * Anti-Air Warfare * Assault Support * Air Reconnaissance * Electronic Warfare * Control of Aircraft and Missiles * Aviation Intelligence * The Spoils of Air Superiority * Developing Threat Capabilities * Definitions * Limitations and Scope * Delimitations * Assumptions * Expertise * CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW * Marine Corps Gazette Articles * Intelligence is a Team Sport * Solving the 0202 Shortfall and Intelligence Occupational Field * Air Intelligence MOS Needed * Rebuilding the 0207 Aviation Intelligence Office * Reorganizing the Way We Do Aviation Intelligence * Rand Corporation Alert and Ready * Intelligence Career Paths and the Joint Strike Fighter * Conclusion * CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY * Purpose of the Study * The Approach and Methods * CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS * Doctrine * Organization * MCIA * MEF Intelligence Battalion * Joint Billets * Training * Training and Readiness Manual * AIOC * MIOC * MAWTS-1 * VMFT-401 Aggressor Squadron * Leadership * Personnel * Enlisted Intelligence Personnel * Intelligence Officer Personnel * Weapons and Tactics Instructors * CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS * Conclusions * Lack of Doctrine * Lack of High-Level Support * Lack of Defined Training * Lack of Career Progression * Poor Personnel Management * Secondary Questions * Recommendations * Doctrine * Organization * Training * Career Progression * Personnel Management * Items Requiring Further Research * Material: Technology Support to Aviation Intelligence * Facilities: Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities * Policy: Defense Intelligence Analysis Program * BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aviation intelligence is critical to the success of the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). For the last quarter of a century, Marine aviation has not faced a serious enemy challenge in the skies and has operated with relative freedom of maneuver. This lack of a credible threat has resulted in the aviation intelligence community's losing sight of their role and has weakened the MAGTF. An analysis of the Doctrine, Organization, Training, Material, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities and Policy dedicated to Marine Corps aviation intelligence and the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance enterprise, reveals that they do not adequately support Marine Corps aviation in its current and near-future operations. As countries like Russia and China develop technologies to deny Marines access and to destroy Marine aviation, it is imperative that Marine Corps aviation intelligence refocuses.

Official, unabridged U.S. Marine Corps Manual. Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 2-10A.9, Air Intelligence, is the first Marine Corps doctrinal publication dedicated entirely to intelligence support to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force's (MAGTF) Aviation Combat Element (ACE). This publication builds upon the doctrinal foundations established in Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 2, Intelligence, and Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-20, Aviation Operations. It provides tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) for air intelligence in support of the ACE and the MAGTF. This publication describes the unique aspects of intelligence support to the ACE and MAGTF relating to the enemy, weather, and terrain impacting the air domain. It includes doctrinal and scientific fundamentals, multidiscipline intelligence support to the ACE, frameworks for analyzing and understanding enemy air and air defense systems, and guidance on supporting the ACE and MAGTF commander's planning, decision-making, execution, and assessments cycle. This publication sets the foundation for training requirements, formal schools, organizational structure, and, most importantly, how we provide intelligence support to the ACE and MAGTF in combat. As such, it represents only a starting point and must be continually updated as the state of the art changes. Its users must continue to validate its contents and make recommended changes when more effective techniques or processes are developed. This publication is not meant to be read alone. Its readers must bookend it on their shelves with Marine aviation doctrinal publications on one side and Marine intelligence doctrinal publications on the other. Intelligence Marines outside the ACE must use this publication to understand how air intelligence can be integrated into their operations. Air intelligence Marines within the ACE must read other MAGTF publications to ensure they are leveraging the full range of MAGTF intelligence capabilities and the Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Enterprise (MCISRE) to support the ACE.

This USMC manual, Marine Corps Reference Publication MCRP 2-10A.9 Air Intelligence January 2021, is dedicated entirely to intelligence support to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force's (MAGTF) Aviation Combat Element (ACE). It provides tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) for air intelligence in support of the ACE and the MAGTF. MCRP 2-10A.9 Air Intelligence describes the unique aspects of intelligence support to the ACE and MAGTF relating to the enemy, weather, and terrain impacting the air domain. It includes doctrinal and scientific fundamentals, multidiscipline intelligence support to the ACE, frameworks for analyzing and understanding enemy air and air defense systems, and guidance on supporting the ACE and MAGTF commander's planning, decision-making, execution, and assessments cycle. This publication sets the foundation for training requirements, formal schools, organizational structure, and, most importantly, how we provide intelligence support to the ACE and MAGTF in combat. As such, it represents only a starting point and must be continually updated as the state of the art changes. Its users must continue to validate its contents and make recommended changes when more effective techniques or processes are developed.

U.S. Marine Corps intelligence comprises a number of ad hoc arrangements, practices, and organizations. A review of its organizational design examined how to better align it with current and future missions and functions.

The writing is an anthological history of aerial photographic reconnaissance and imagery interpretation in the U. S. Marine Corps in the Twentieth Century. This anthology covers the birth of photographic interpretation in the U.S. Marine Corps, the training evolution of imagery analysts from their cartographic roots, the transition from propeller driven aircraft to high performance reconnaissance jet aircraft, the evolution from hard copy photography to digital softcopy imagery, advancements in sensor technologies and remote sensing, and the emergence of the Marine Corps first Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

"The purpose of this text is to provide a tentative doctrine for the employment of aviation units, to be used primarily as a reference for staff and students of the Marine Corps Schools in connection with the course in aviation tactics"--Page v