The Marine Corps plans to give up its tanks, dramatically remake its artillery batteries, cut its helicopter fleet and take a host of other "radical" steps in arguably the most sweeping American military overhaul in a century — all with the goal of preparing for a potential 21st-century conflict with China.

And a little global pandemic hasn't stopped the Corps from hitting a very different beach.

Seventy-five years after storming beaches at Iwo Jima, Marine Corps leaders unveiled a blueprint this month concluding that the branch's traditional approach no longer meets the nation's needs.

"The Marine Corps we have been building for many years now is increasingly out of step with the problems they're going to face" in confronting China, said Chris Brose, chief strategy officer at Anduril Industries and former staff director for the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"There are reasons for why that is the case," he added. "The Marine Corps has borne the burden of a lot of the deployments overseas post-9/11. They were optimizing for a different set of challenges."