Marine Corps unveils 2026 installations and logistics enterprise plan

The U.S. Marine Corps has released a new enterprise-wide roadmap for installations and logistics, outlining how the service intends to generate, deploy, and sustain combat-credible forces amid intensifying global competition. The document, Marine Corps Installations and Logistics Enterprise (MCILE) 2026, is billed as “The Reference A for Marine Corps Installations and Logistics,” consolidating the current state of the enterprise, ongoing modernization, and known capability gaps into a single reference.

“We have a fundamental responsibility to deliver Marine forces that optimize the effectiveness and capabilities of the combatant commands. This plan is our commitment to ensuring the Marine Corps can fight and win tonight, while preparing for the demands of tomorrow,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen D. Sklenka, deputy commandant for Installations and Logistics. “A force is not combat credible if it cannot get to the fight and endure. MCILE 26 describes how we are building the installations and logistics enterprise required to project and sustain our forces against any threat.”

At the center of the plan is the “3-1-5 Framework,” which organizes logistics around three principal moves of force projection—force mobilization and deployment, force closure, and force sustainment—paired with one operational necessity of littoral mobility and five sustainment imperatives for prolonged conflict: munitions, fuel, blood, water, and food.

MCILE 2026 identifies four focus areas: multidomain positional advantage, network resilience, resource discipline, and enterprise integration. Among its major initiatives are a Global Positioning Network that blends afloat, ashore, and contracted prepositioning; alignment with the Regional Sustainment Framework to leverage allies, partners, and the defense industrial base for distributed maintenance and repair; closer integration with the Joint Logistics Enterprise; and continued investment in autonomous logistics, including the Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel and the Unmanned Logistics System-Air family of aerial resupply platforms.

The plan highlights modernization efforts spanning advanced manufacturing, littoral mobility, medical support, prepositioning through the Global Positioning Network, and logistics information technology. Systems cited include the Maven Smart System, the Visual Integrated Tactical Logistics-Battle Management Aid, and the Logistics Chain Management System.

Beyond operational sustainment, the document details how the Corps’ installations serve as hubs for training, mobilization, and quality-of-life support for Marines, Sailors, and families. It points to portfolio-level installation planning and Barracks 2030 as a service priority to improve living conditions for unaccompanied junior Marines, as well as ongoing work to strengthen base protection against unmanned aerial systems, offensive cyber operations, and foreign collection.

The release is explicit about remaining gaps, noting shortfalls in force deployment and closure, forward sustainment, and littoral mobility. It calls for continued investment to close those gaps and to ensure expeditionary forces can move, persist, and fight in contested environments.

MCILE 26 is designed as a recurring reference, with updates planned annually to track progress sustaining today’s force while modernizing for future demands. The document is available at: https://media.defense.gov/2026/Jun/23/2003953060/-1/-1/0/MCILE26_REF-A.PDF