Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday speak at the West 2026 conference in San Diego on Feb. 11, 2026. (AFCEA International/Facebook)
SAN DIEGO — The top four-star officers of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard on Wednesday emphasized their plans to sustain flexible, powerful maritime forces during a lunch and town hall that drew an overflow crowd at the West 2026 conference.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday underlined the defense industry conference’s theme of “maintaining maritime dominance and readiness” as hundreds of attendees watched the four-star feed live on a nearby jumbo closed-circuit television at the San Diego Convention Center.
“We just have never been in a time and space when the maritime services are more required and important,” Caudle said.
The trio pointed out that recent buildups of U.S. forces in the Middle East have relied on the Navy and Marines, while efforts to pressure Venezuela — culminating in the special forces raid to extract President Nicolas Maduro — have relied heavily on Navy and Coast Guard forces.
“Eric and Kevin and I to do all those operations in those areas around our globe,” Caudle said. “It shows the incredible capability of the maritime forces.”
Smith underscored the Marine Corps’ match with the Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy, which calls for leaner, modern, mobile U.S. forces.
“We had to be able to strike the adversary,” Smith said. “We had to be able to strike at range.”
The Marines are transitioning from 30 years of strategy and tactics used while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We are proud to have done it, but it wasn’t going to get us anywhere against a pacing threat, a true peer competitor, which we haven’t faced since the 1940s,” Smith said.
The Marines are training for a wider range of scenarios, including the Indo-Pacific region and the new strategic emphasis on the Western Hemisphere.
Caudle reprised his “U.S. Navy Fighting Instructions” blueprint, which he presented earlier this week, calling for tailoring the response to the situation. He said this week that it could mean using alternatives to the traditional aircraft carrier strike force.
“This whole idea of the fungibility and scalability and applicability of our forces has never been more demonstrated than right now,” Caudle said.
The Navy still needs an infusion of investment in its fleet and the industrial base, which has led to delays in shipbuilding and worker shortages. Caudle said the issue affects the Navy’s ability to support the Marines’ need to get them into combat when called upon.
“I need to do more for Eric, to be a better partner with him, with my readiness,” Caudle said.
Lunday praised Congress for a $25 billion infusion of money for the Coast Guard — the largest in the service’s history — contained in last year’s congressional budget reconciliation package.
The funding boost comes at a critical time, as the Coast Guard takes a leading role in drug interdiction, border security and monitoring Chinese and Russian activity in the Arctic, Lunday said.
“We are now beginning to emerge from probably one of the worst readiness crises in the last maybe 150 years for the Coast Guard, just due to sustained lack of annual appropriation investment,” Lunday said. “It’s an incredibly exciting time for our Coast Guard, with operations that are ongoing right now.”
But even good news presents challenges, Lunday said. One example is the Coast Guard’s announcement Wednesday that it had finished contracting for 11 new Arctic Security Cutters to be built in Texas and Finland under an innovative agreement between the two countries to pool design, shipyard capacity and workers.
“We’re very excited about that, but those 11 ships will take 1,300 Coast Guardsmen to crew and sustain those ships, and they need to be in training right now and being assigned for the ships that will arrive in 2028,” Lunday said.
The Coast Guard has an aggressive recruiting goal of adding 15,000 new service members by 2028.
All three sea service chiefs said they were pleased with an upswing in recruiting and retention rates. They also agreed on the need for faster, more flexible procurement to allow the services to catch up with their acquisition goals.
Smith said it is incumbent on the defense industry to deliver their projects on time and on budget.
“I’m buying something, and I expect it to shoot 200 miles,” Smith said. “No, 180 miles isn’t good enough. I paid for 200 miles. I expect to get 200 miles out of my missile, and I expect to get it on time.”
Smith offered an appropriate analogy, given Wednesday’s setting. He likened changes in design and specifications after projects are in development to ordering lunch and having the sandwich vendor suggest changes or upgrades, which will also require a longer wait.
“Man asked for ham sandwich, just give him a ham sandwich,” Smith said. “That’s what I’m here to do. I’m just looking for a ham sandwich.”
