The Marine Corps deployed an unmanned truck to the seashore to strike a surface target at sea. Marines launched a Navy missile from the back of an unmanned tactical vehicle in a first-ever live-fire test. The U.S. Marine Corps wants to be able to sink ships, and it wants that ability fast. The service is looking to field its own anti-ship missiles to defend Marines on shore from nearby enemy warships.
As a result, the Marine Corps has combined two existing technologies. As a result, the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) can launch naval strike missiles from the back of a modified Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV, to destroy targets on land or at sea.
The JLTV used in the test at Point Mugu is an unmanned version known as a ROGUE -- or remotely operated ground unit for expeditionary -- fires vehicle. The naval strike missile fired from the back carries a 500-pound class warhead, according to Raytheon. The Navy uses the missile on littoral combat ships.
Raytheon Missiles and Defence, which makes the naval strike missile, announced Wednesday that the Marine Corps used NMESIS to hit a target in the water from Point Mugu Sea Range in California. The missile can take out targets from more than 100 nautical miles away.
In 2021, the Marine Corps requested $125 million to buy nearly 50 Tomahawk missiles it could launch from land.
