The MISR Approach to Enhancing the “Fight Tonight” Force

When I first visited the MISR program in 2020 at the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center at Fallon, it was obvious that this was a very innovative element for driving change in the operational capabilities for the maritime force. Officers were being trained to think like information “jedi knights” to find the ISR needed by the deployed force to make the key decisions at the point of relevance.

At the same time, the USMC has been working various ways to enhance their ability to work their approaches to force distribution, including Distributed Aviation Operations or DAO, a process which I have followed for many years.

Not surprisingly the two strands of innovation have found each other. The USMC now provides officer to the MISR program, and through its operational innovation feeds back its experience in the ongoing evolution of the MISR program. This is a major success in shaping better integration between the U.S. Navy and the USMC as they work together to make their forces more lethal and survivable in the information warfare age.

At the heart of this transformation lies a philosophical shift that Commander Tim Bierbach of NAWDC’s MISR program describes as developing new “mental furniture” for 21st century warfare. This concept, emerging from Admiral Paparo’s directive to integrate MISR capabilities into Marine Corps operations, represents more than technological adoption. It’s a fundamental reimagining of how Marines think about and conduct warfare.

The MISR program’s partnership with the Marine Corps Training and Education Command at Quantico has produced remarkable results. Moving from 10 to 40 students per class, with Marines guaranteed 8 spots per class, the program has created a new breed of warfighter capable of operating across multiple domains simultaneously. The success of early Marine graduates, who quickly deployed to 7th Fleet operations and demonstrated immediate operational impact, validates this educational approach.

Rather than traditional training-focused development, both MISR and Marine Corps leadership have embraced an education-first approach. This methodology emphasizes developing cognitive frameworks through condensed practical experiences, simulators, war games, and tabletop exercises. The goal is creating “safe-to-fail” learning environments where Marines can experiment with new concepts without operational consequences.

As Commander Bierbach explains, “We need to educate our people, and then in a short period of time, condense it by doing practical experiences or practical application, and then gaining experiential knowledge.” This approach has proven essential for rapid capability development in an era where waiting for a traditional force development to yield results is no longer viable.

The practical application of this new “mental furniture” approach is vividly demonstrated by the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit’s successful integration of the JUMP 20 Group 3 uncrewed aircraft system during the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group Marine Expeditionary Unit exercise (ARGMEUEX) in May 2025.

The JUMP 20’s first-ever flight aboard a San Antonio-class amphibious warship represents more than a technological milestone. It embodies the “fight tonight” philosophy that prioritizes immediate capability enhancement over distant force development goals. With over 13 hours of flight endurance and 30-pound payload capacity, the JUMP 20 provides the kind of persistent, over-the-horizon ISR capability that transforms how MEUs operate in contested environments.

Captain Luke Stockman, the 22nd MEU’s MISR weapons and tactics instructor, emphasizes the transformational impact: “Technological innovation and integration of manned-unmanned teams addresses this challenge, providing the means for the 22nd MEU to identify and prosecute kill-chains at extended ranges and within high-threat environments through persistent, over-the-horizon ISR.”

The JUMP 20’s integration during ARGMEUEX supported operations ranging from maritime interception to battalion-level amphibious assaults involving over 700 personnel. Lieutenant Colonel Cody Hardenburgh noted that the system provided “unprecedented” real-time awareness throughout all exercise phases, directly informing tactical decisions while minimizing risk to forces.

The culmination of this transformation is evident in III MEF Information Group’s Exercise Kaiju Rain 25, which concluded in May 2025. This exercise demonstrated how the Marine Corps has successfully integrated C5ISRT (command, control, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting) capabilities across multiple domains.

Colonel Joshua Mayoral, commanding officer of III MIG, described how the exercise brought together “joint, interagency and allied partners to refine the integration of cyber operations, electronic warfare and multi-domain sensing in support of distributed operations.” The All-Domain Operations Center served as the central hub for synthesizing information across the battlespace, enabling the kind of rapid decision-making essential for distributed maritime operations.

The exercise validated key concepts from the MISR program’s educational approach. Units like 3rd Intelligence Battalion provided multi-domain sensor fusion, while 3rd Radio Battalion delivered signals intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities. 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company demonstrated cross-domain fires integration, and 7th Communication Battalion established resilient command and control nodes.

Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Ogletree captured the significance: “We are in an information age, and right now with modern technology, information is one of the fastest moving things on Earth. Whoever controls the flow of information will control the fight.”

This Marine Corps innovation is focused on shaping forces that can reach “the point of relevance.” Rather than maintaining static defensive postures, these new capabilities enable Marines to rapidly deploy combat clusters that can adapt available technology to create desired effects.

Crucially, this transformation prioritizes warfighting capability development over technology acquisition in and of itself. As Commander Bierbach notes, “The actual domains have not changed. The tools that we’ve used in the domains have, and people are still wanting to think back in the 20th century and the tools that we had then.”

The success of programs like MISR, demonstrated through operational exercises like ARGMEUEX and Kaiju Rain 25, validates an approach that emphasizes adapting existing technology creatively rather than waiting for next-generation platforms acquired through a legacy acquisition process. This philosophy enables Marines to “think with 21st century capabilities while applying timeless principles.”

The transformation approach through MISR integration offers several critical insights for broader military innovation:

• Educational Innovation Over Training Expansion: The success of education-first approaches suggests that traditional training-heavy development models may be inadequate for modern warfare’s pace of change.
• Immediate Capability Focus: The “fight tonight” philosophy proves more effective than distant force development timelines, particularly when supported by adaptive acquisition approaches.
• Cross-Domain Integration: Success requires breaking down traditional service and domain boundaries, enabling Marines to operate effectively across land, sea, air, cyber, and space domains simultaneously.
• Allied Partnership Integration: Innovation flourishes when exercises and operations integrate allied capabilities from the beginning, rather than treating partnership as an afterthought.

As these capabilities mature and spread throughout the force, they promise to deliver the kind of distributed, adaptable, and lethal expeditionary capability that America needs for an era of major power competition. The success of this transformation depends not on acquiring new platforms, but on continuing to develop the cognitive frameworks and operational concepts that enable the Navy and the Marines to fight and win with whatever tools they have available.

The message is clear: the future belongs to forces that can think differently, adapt quickly, and integrate seamlessly across all domains of warfare. Through programs like MISR and exercises like ARGMEUEX and Kaiju Rain 25, the Navy and Marine Corps can lead the way toward that future.

The featured image was generated by an AI program.