The Marine Corps is tweaking its Force Design 2030 plan as it enters the second half of its post-Global War on Terror transformation this month, releasing an update for 2025 after skipping 2024.

That includes putting on hold plans to stand up a third Marine Littoral Regiment, the service’s new shallow-water unit concept, which had been planned for Guam, a spokesman told Defense One on Tuesday.

“We've decided, given what we have right now in the Pacific, we're going to keep 4th Marine Regiment a traditional Marine regiment, and not transition it to an MLR,” said Lt. Col. Eric Flanagan, holding the count at 3rd MLR in Hawaii and 12th MLR in Japan.

With the MLR project now effectively complete, the Corps is eagerly anticipating getting its beleaguered medium landing ship program of

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