A Hawaii-based United States Marine Corps unit that is optimized for maritime warfare in the Pacific Ocean theater has officially received a new ship-killing missile system to attack hostile targets at sea.
At a ceremony held at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Tuesday, the Third Marine Littoral Regiment formally received the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, a mountable, ground-based anti-ship missile launcher, becoming the first U.S. Marine Corps unit to field the weapon.
The system, or NMESIS, is composed of two Naval Strike Missile containers mounted on a remote-operated, unmanned Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. It has an anti-ship capability intended to facilitate sea denial and control, and is capable of striking targets over 100 nautical miles (115 miles) away.
Sgt. Jacqueline C. Parsons/U.S. Marine Corps
The regiment is the centerpiece of the U.S. Marine Corps’ initiative “Force Design 2030,” which puts greater priority on naval expeditionary warfare. It is specialized in amphibious and littoral warfare operations, as well as having the capability of disrupting the enemy in a contested littoral environment.
China is rapidly building up its naval forces and has the largest navy in the world with over 370 ships and submarines in service. The Chinese military has been expanding its operations in the Pacific Ocean further from its shores, challenging U.S. naval dominance in the region.
General Eric Smith, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, has said that the Marine Littoral Regiment, which can provide a flexible and rapid response, is designed as a counter to China’s aggression and to protect Washington’s treaty allies: Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
A report on Monday claimed that the U.S. military will deploy the Marine Littoral Regiment along Japan’s Southwest Islands, which are located to the northeast of Taiwan, should a contingency over the self-ruled island become “highly imminent,” referring to a potential Chinese invasion.
Cpl. Earik Barton/U.S. Marine Corps
China has long viewed Taiwan as its territory. Admiral Samuel Paparo, the head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned last week that his forces “must be ready” after the Chinese military had staged the largest rehearsal for an invasion of the island in his career.
Newsweek has emailed the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment.
Colonel John Lehane, the Third Marine Littoral Regiment’s commanding officer, said moving the NMESIS from the test and evaluation phase to a fielded weapon system is a significant milestone, which provided the ability to attack enemy maritime targets.
The U.S. Marine Corps said the regiment, which was activated in March 2022, deploys throughout the Indo-Pacific region to promote security and stability. The introduction of the NMESIS, which is a mobile precision fire system, enhanced its sea denial capabilities and maritime lethality.
According to a document prepared by the Congressional Research Service, NMESIS is one of several essential systems for the Marine Littoral Regiment to accomplish its missions, which also include unmanned aerial systems, short-range air defense systems, and landing ships.
Besides the Hawaii-based unit, which was the first Marine Littoral Regiment, a second unit was set up on Japan’s southwestern island of Okinawa in November 2023. A third will be based in Guam, the westernmost territory of the U.S., in a few years, according to a report in June.
Okinawa, Guam, and Hawaii are the respective centers of the first, second, and third island chains, which are the layers of a U.S. defense concept that leverages allied or friendly territories, including Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, to constrain Chinese naval and air activity in wartime.
