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U.S. Marines Train with NMESIS Anti-ship Launcher in Japan for First Time

U.S. Marines with 3d Marine Division execute a notional hearth mission with the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System throughout an Expeditionary Superior Base Area Coaching Train on the Central Coaching Space, Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, July 28, 2025. US Marine Corps picture

The U.S. Marine Corps spent the previous a number of weeks honing the usage of a brand new cell ground-based anti-ship missile system, launching the weapon for the primary time from Okinawa, Japan.

Marines from the third Marine Division skilled with the Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in current weeks after the system arrived July 10 in Japan, the Marine Corps mentioned. NMESIS, a maneuverable unmanned launcher, provides the Marines the power to sink warships and different maritime targets from land. The system is supplied with two low-observable Kongsberg Naval Strike Missiles and has a hanging vary of 185 kilometers, or round 115 miles.

The twelfth Medium-Vary Missile (MMSL) Battery, twelfth Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) of the third Marine Division targeted on refining important operational utilization, together with launcher survivability and executing notional hearth missions. The twelfth Battery staged the system at numerous areas throughout the island, the Marine Corps mentioned in a information launch.

“These coaching alternatives with the NMESIS validated the effectiveness of our collaborative defensive structure,” Capt. Kurt James, the twelfth MMSL battery commander, mentioned within the launch. “We refined our means to coordinate responses to potential threats, reinforcing our dedication to regional safety.”

The third Marine Division initially acquired the weapons system Nov. 26, 2024, integrating the NMESIS into the third Marine Littoral Regiment’s medium-range missile battery. Since November 2024, the Battery has skilled with the system within the Philippines in April and Could throughout Train Balikatan 25 and Train KAMANDAG.

In the meantime the 4th Marine Regiment, third Marine Division drilled Aug. 11-22 on their use of small unmanned aerial programs (sUAS) and Autonomous-Unmanned Floor Autos (A-UGV) at Okinawa’s Camp Schwab. The coaching marked the primary time the Marines flew a sUAS untethered over an Okinawa-based Marine Corps set up, the service mentioned in a separate information launch.

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Steven Chappell, a platoon sergeant with 2nd Battalion, twenty third Marines, ahead deployed beneath the 4th Marine Regiment, 3d Marine Division as a part of the Unit Deployment Program, retrieves an untethered Skydio X2D small, unmanned plane system on Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan, Aug. 12, 2025. US Marine Corps picture

“The Marines and sailors with 4th Marine Regiment are getting used to using and innovating with know-how that we haven’t used prior to now,” Capt. Wesley Pond, Regimental Assistant Air Officer of the 4th Marine Regiment and lead planner of the sUAS coaching on Camp Schwab, mentioned within the launch. “We’re serving to them to see new issues, new methods to seek out an adversary and new methods of shifting in regards to the battlespace.”

Previous to the train, Marines and sailors attended a course with Skydio X2D sUAS to hone their proficiency with the system. The in-depth coaching allowed some service members to obtain an extra Army Occupational Specialty as sUAS operators after they accomplished all of the required coaching targets, the third Marine Division mentioned.

Marines and sailors with 4th Marine Regiment additionally refined shared procedures for experimental strategies of extracting an emergency casualty through the Mission Grasp A-UGV. The unmanned floor automobiles can help with tactical transport, resupply and casualty evacuation.

“That is the primary time our corpsmen within the 4th Marines Regimental Assist Station have had the chance to coach with and use an autonomous system as a [casualty evacuation] platform,” U.S. Navy Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman David Lengthy, senior enlisted chief for 4th Marines Regimental Assist Station, mentioned within the launch.

Within the coaching situation, the Mission Grasp autonomous automobile was used to hold wounded service members out of hurt’s means on the battlefield, enabling the Marines to rapidly and tactically carry the casualty behind pleasant traces.

“This coaching demonstrates the 4th Marine Regiment’s dedication to coach as we combat and to compete with adversary capabilities now,” U.S. Marine Corps Col. Richard Barclay, commanding officer of the 4th Marine Regiment, mentioned. “Coaching isn’t nearly getting ready for a future combat however sustaining a decisive edge within the present working setting. What Capt. Pond, the 3d Marine Division, and Marine Corps Installations Pacific group have achieved is simply the beginning of far more work to be performed inside the realms of sUAS and UGV coaching.”

The third Marine Division, as a part of the III Marine Expeditionary Power (III MEF) is scheduled to participate within the U.S. Marine Corps-Japan Floor Self-Protection Power (JGSDF) Train Resolute Dragon, which spans Sept. 11-25 in Japan. The train is supposed to be a bilateral disaster response drill and contingency operations, the III MEF mentioned Thursday.

Resolute Dragon will characteristic the NMESIS system and the JGSDF Western Military’s Kind 12 Floor-to-Ship Missile, in addition to the U.S. Military’s third Multi-Area Activity Power’s (3MDTF) Typhon missile system.

III MEF and the Japan Self-Protection Power (JSDF) will combine command and management features by means of a categorized command put up train, adopted by subject coaching evolutions throughout numerous coaching areas all through Japan, together with the Southwest Islands, in keeping with the discharge.

Coaching will embody force-on-force engagements in numerous domains, logistics actions utilizing the U.S. Marine Corps’ Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel. The items may even conduct live-fire drills, together with a bilateral live-fire of 3d Marine Division’s Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the JGSDF A number of Launch Rocket System.

Greater than 5,000 U.S. service members will take part within the train alongside roughly 14,000 Japanese troops.

“The Resolute Dragon workout routines underscore our ironclad dedication to defend the pursuits of the US and people of our Allies and companions,” U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Roger Turner, III MEF commanding normal, mentioned within the launch. “By coaching alongside the Western Military in practical, combat-focused eventualities, we sharpen the warfighting fringe of our forces and current a transparent, credible deterrent to any adversary who would threaten peace and safety within the Indo-Pacific.”


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Ryan

Ryan O'Neill is a maritime enthusiast and writer who has a passion for studying and writing about ships and the maritime industry in general. With a deep passion for the sea and all things nautical, Ryan has a plan to unite maritime professionals to share their knowledge and truly connect Sea 2 Shore.

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