The Marine Corps is preparing infantry squads for a battlefield where hostile drones could be watching every movement from above.

Its new modernization blueprint calls for pushing stronger air defenses “down to the squad level” so Marines can detect, jam, and destroy enemy aircraft without waiting for outside help.

Released Wednesday, Ground Combat Element 2040 lays out how the Corps intends to transform the land component of the Marine Air Ground Task Force.

The 40 page roadmap focuses heavily on equipping basic infantry formations to survive and fight beneath skies crowded with unmanned systems.

Here's What They're Not Telling You About Your Retirement

A Marine Air Ground Task Force combines ground, aviation, and logistics units under one commander.

That structure gives the Corps a flexible package for combat, but cheap drones have created an urgent vulnerability for troops maneuvering on the ground.

“The widespread use of drones underscores the need for effective organic protective measures across the Ground Combat Element, down to the squad level,” the document says.

“The evolving drone threat presents the most significant risk to ground maneuver, requiring layered active and passive counter unmanned aircraft systems capabilities to retain the initiative.”

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

The Corps is already fielding equipment meant to stop what Lt. Gen. Jay M. Bargeron described as “inexpensive, lethal one way attack drones.” Bargeron, the deputy commandant for plans, policies, and operations, said the objective is to give small units their own defensive options.

“The ability for our lowest echelon units, squad, platoon, company, to defend themselves against these one way attack systems is really maybe one of the biggest holes in our swing,” Bargeron told reporters Wednesday. “So we’re working hard on that.”

More than 80 sets of the Marine Corps system known as the “organic counter small UAS system” have been fielded so far this year, according to Corps officials. The equipment allows squads to jam small drones or destroy them before they can strike.

The Marines have also purchased 400,000 specialized rounds for M4 carbines and M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles.

Each round separates into five projectiles after being fired, increasing the chances that a rifleman can hit a small and fast moving drone.

“I think that will change how we do counter small unmanned aircraft systems at the small unit level,” Bargeron said.

That is a practical answer to a practical problem, since every squad cannot drag a full air defense battery across the battlefield.

Training is being updated alongside the new equipment. Bargeron recently visited the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, California, where officials are developing a course covering the best tactics, techniques, and procedures for rifle squads facing small drones.

The Corps is also fielding the “Home Alone” countermeasure, which can detect drones from several kilometers away.

That added warning could give Marines precious time to conceal themselves, jam an incoming aircraft, or engage it with rifles and dedicated counter drone weapons.

“Home Alone is a Counter small Unmanned Aircraft Systems that is a semi fixed site ground based air defense solution that supports our layered defense structure,” said Capt. Steven Keenan, a Marine Corps spokesperson. The layered concept combines detection, electronic attack, direct fire, concealment, and other protective measures.

Marines will not remain on defense, either. The Corps is fielding loitering munitions that could allow rifle squads to locate and strike targets as far as 20 kilometers away, dramatically expanding the reach of formations that once relied on heavier supporting arms.

“That’s something that that Marines rifle squad, platoon, company would have had to depend on artillery somewhere else, mortars somewhere else, aircraft somewhere else to talk onto the target,” Bargeron said. “I think that will be dramatic.”

Marine antitank missile gunners will operate the loitering munitions, and officials currently have no plans to establish a separate military occupational specialty.

The approach keeps the capability inside existing infantry formations instead of creating another bureaucratic lane while the drone threat is evolving at battlefield speed.

Ground Combat Element 2040 reflects a blunt reality already demonstrated in modern wars: troops who cannot control the air directly above them risk being found and struck within minutes.

By giving squads both counter drone defenses and their own long range attack systems, the Marines aim to preserve initiative instead of becoming targets in somebody else’s video feed.

Warning: Account balances and purchasing power no longer tell the same story. Know in 2 minutes if your retirement is working for you.