The USMC has deployed the NMESIS unmanned coastal defence system fitted with NSM anti-ship missiles in the Philippines, marking the first deployment abroad.

Army Recognition reported that NMESIS will be deployed within the scope of the Balikatan 2025 military exercise held annually by the Philippines, and the U.S. NMESIS will be used in naval strike exercises involving attacks on simulated targets.

NMESIS in USMC service will serve as the primary means of defending against warships as a system with less capacity but higher mobility with two NSM missiles currently in use by the Navy’s LCS.

The deployment of NMESIS might also be a move directed at China due to the political tensions with the Philippines, particularly on the sea. Time will tell if the new coastal defence will be kept after the Balikatan 2025 exercise, which will be a hint regarding the intentions behind the deployment.

NMESIS: New Approach to Marine Fire Support

NMESIS is a coastal defence system using Oshkosh’s JLTV 4x4 vehicle, already in widespread use but with the twist of a conversion to a UGV to carry two NSM anti-ship missiles. This platform, called ROUGE-Fires, can also be configured to carry other missiles like GMLRS artillery rockets and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Unlike most of the coastal defence systems using large 8x8 trucks with larger missiles, NMESIS prioritises mobility and easy deployment with a far lighter and unmanned 4x4 platform at the cost of missile capacity. This approach stems from the fact that NMESIS was developed for the USMC, which is often deployed overseas, giving birth to a need for something highly mobile.

Author: Kaan Azman

Editor: Özgür Ekşi