5th ANGLICO wins Marine Corps Innovation Award

Photo By Lance Cpl. Peter Eilen | U.S. Marines with All Domain Effects Team, 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, III Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, communicate with Japanese Soldiers with the Field Artillery Battalion, Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, during a training exercise at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, June 27, 2023. 5th ANGLICO conducted the exercise to evaluate ADET’s ability to liaise with a bilateral partner, coordinate joint fires and effects, and integrate their enablers into team-level operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Peter J. Eilen)  

OKINAWA, JAPAN

05.31.2024

Story by 1st Lt. Keyon Whyte 

III MEF Information Group     

CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa, Japan - 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company was awarded the Marine Corps Information Environment Enterprise Innovation Award for their superior achievements and innovations in the information space.

On April 11, 2024 the Okinawa based unit received the MCIEE innovation award for their efforts and ingenuity in 2023. This award is given to units that distinguish themselves by setting new standards in innovation including information operations, training, and technology.

During this period, 5th ANGLICO made significant advancements in building foreign relationships, integrating multi-domain operations with allies and partners, and finding innovative ways to support information as a warfighting function. These efforts, partnerships, and integration further enable 5th ANGLICO to better plan, coordinate, and employ multi-domain fires and effects in support of joint and multi-national forces.

“This award is a testament to the dedication, competency, and capability of the Marines and Sailors,” said LtCol. Matthew R. Ashton, the commanding officer of 5th ANGLICO. “While maintaining our lethality in the terminal control of fires, 5th ANGLICO is evolving into an information warfare unit that provides battlespace awareness, contributes to assured command and control, and integrates effects from and across all domains. I have no doubt that we will continue to be a beacon of innovation and continue adapting to face the dynamic and complex challenges posed by today’s operating environment.”

5th ANGLICO demonstrated their forward-thinking and innovation through several operations and exercises over the span of the year. They developed their information dissemination capabilities to support robust and timely public communication through the establishment of a communication strategy and operations team and preserved force flexibility by creating resilient and redundant communication nodes across the Western Pacific. 5th ANGLICO detachments deployed throughout the Indo-Pacific region, leveraging their relationships with allies and partners to gain exclusive access to command-and-control nodes. They demonstrated the value of this access to U.S. INDOPACOM and the joint, multilateral force by successfully receiving targeting data from ally and partner common operating pictures and passing that data to the joint force, successfully validating the kill – web concept and further demonstrating 5th ANGLICO’s ability to seamlessly integrate with multi-national forces. The ADETs also established robust communication infrastructures and provided networking, transmission, and cryptological services to support joint and multilateral operations, improving information sharing across the joint force.

In conjunction with providing a critical liaison and integration capability, 5th ANGLICO Marines hosted and conducted high fidelity joint and bilateral training with allies and partners which included simulated and live-fire close air support and artillery events. Their professionalism, support, and proficiency earned them an invitation to a Japanese Self Defense Force fires and coordination exercise, a traditionally Japan only training evolution, marking the first time a U.S. Marine Corps unit was invited to the event.

5th ANGLICO’s efforts continue to be instrumental to providing depth in the battlespace. Their innovative reimagining of the structure and employment of how ANGLICO units’ liaison capabilities can be brought to bear has single-handedly expanded the assets available to the joint force and has further demonstrated the importance of information as a warfighting function.

5th ANGLICO's forward presence in the Western Pacific and liaison capabilities facilitate the coordination and employment of multi-domain fires and effects to support joint and multinational forces across the full spectrum of military operations.

• Date Taken: 05.31.2024
• Date Posted: 06.05.2024 02:42
• Story ID: 472835
• Location: OKINAWA, JP