• The U.S. Marine Corps is preparing for potential conflict with China in the Pacific by deploying the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, aka NMESIS. A newly formed Littoral Combat Team in Okinawa will be the first forward-deployed unit to field the anti-ship missile system.
• NMESIS is a land-based missile launcher mounted on the autonomous ROGUE-Fires vehicle, capable of firing Naval Strike Missiles and other munitions. This system enhances the Marines’ ability to strike enemy ships while remaining mobile and concealed.
• Under the USMC’s Force Design, Littoral Combat Regiments will be strategically positioned on remote islands in the Indo-Pacific, ensuring rapid response capabilities and strengthening U.S. alliances.

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If the U.S. and China ever wind up fighting it out in the Pacific, the United States Marine Corps will be charged with creating chaos and uncertainty in the region. And the Corps’ plan to do that just got a major boost.

NMESIS: The Marine Corps’ answer to China’s navy

The Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System –– or NMESIS –– is a land-based way to attack ships at sea. Now, a newly formed USMC Littoral Combat Team in Okinawa, Japan, is getting 18 of them. While it isn’t the first Littoral Combat Team to field the NMESIS, the USMC’s 12th LCT will be the first to field the anti-ship battery while also being forward deployed.

How will Marines use NMESIS?

The NMESIS is essentially a modular missile launcher that fits on the Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires, or ROGUE-Fires, from Oshkosh Defense. It’s a vehicle Straight Arrow News recently profiled on Weapons and Warfare.

The NMESIS/ROGUE-Fires combo gives Marines an autonomous mobile platform that fires two Naval Strike Missiles, the same ship-killing weapon many modern naval warships carry. The ROGUE-Fires vehicle can also be configured to fire anything a HIMARS can or be used as a logistics transport.

The Marines’ shift to the Pacific

As the United States military pivots to the Pacific, the Marine Corps needs to rethink its force posture. Unlike the land wars found in the Middle East, a fight in the Pacific means the Corps is returning to its amphibious roots.

Under the USMC’s Force Design initiative, the service branch is forming three Littoral Combat Regiments. One regiment will be dispersed into combat-ready groups and pre-positioned on remote islands across the INDOPACOM Area of Responsibility. There will be a concentration in the First Island Chain, though, which is a group of islands running from Japan southward.

Once on an island, small groups of Marines can pre-position NMESIS launch containers in different locations so the ROGUE-Fires units can basically “shoot and scoot. ” This helps conceal the Marines’ exact whereabouts on the island while also ensuring a stand-in force is ready to respond at a moment’s notice.

Strengthening alliances and readiness

It’s designed to help allies sleep a little easier while also keeping adversaries up all night. The commanding officer of the USMC’s 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, Col. Peter Eltringham, said, “We bring this combat power to Okinawa to be able to deliver it in the eyes of our adversaries and ensure we can bring it to the decisive point on the battlefield. We do this alongside our Japanese Ground, Air, and Maritime Self-Defense Force partners, because there is nothing more powerful than this alliance in this theater.”