The Ship Model Forum

Marines Sank a Moving Ship When They Fired a Navy Missile from a Drone Truck
The Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System can launch naval strike missiles from the back of a modified Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to destroy targets on land or at sea. (U.S. Navy)
13 May 2021
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
The Marine Corps took out a moving ship by firing a Navy missile at it from the back of an unmanned vehicle on land -- a new weapon the service's top general says will make "an adversary think twice."
Commandant Gen. David Berger revealed new details about a groundbreaking test announced last month in which Marines in California used a deadly new system to take out a threat at sea. Known as NMESIS, the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System can launch naval strike missiles from the back of a modified Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to destroy targets.

(...SNIPPED)

Marines strap missile to truck and strike target at sea
Todd South
4 days ago
Marines in early 2021 combined an unmanned Joint Light Tactical Vehicle with the Naval Strike Missile, successfully hitting a target at sea from land. (Navy)

Marine officers and industry technicians stripped down a tactical vehicle, strapped an anti-ship missile onboard and hit a target at sea from land.

And the top Marine was quite pleased.

Commandant Gen. David Berger said in a congressional hearing Thursday that the tests were the result of the �brilliance of a couple of young officers� and industry partners.

The Marines, Maj. Matthew Browning and John Pomfret, lead engineer at Marine Corps Systems Command, along with employees at Oshkosh Defense, Raytheon, Kongsberg and Corvid took a modified, unmanned joint light tactical vehicle, removed the cab and installed a Naval Strike Missile, ground launcher and fire control system on the back. Marine Maj. Aaron Davidson is the current project officer for the effort.

During a recent test, a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System aboard the amphibious transport dock Anchorage successfully destroyed a target on land 70 kilometers away, according to the Defense Department.
Jeff Schogol

The unmanned version is known as the remotely operated ground unit for expeditionary fires vehicle, or ROGUE.
(...SNIPPED)

Marines May Practice Attacking Enemy Ships from Shore in Upcoming Exercise

(...SNIPPED)

"Some of [what] we are looking at is ... by putting a landing force ashore, for example, how would that landing force project fires, both kinetic and non-kinetic, to help achieve sea control?" he said.

This could be made possible using developmental missile technology designed to be retrofitted onto the high mobility artillery rocket system, or HIMARS, Osterman said.

"We would be able to ... project things like that ashore to be able to conduct anti-surface fires from the shore," he said.

Marines might also act as forward observers from shore, using high-tech sensors on unmanned aerial systems to target enemy ships for naval fires.

"Maybe the force that's ashore is actually doing the target acquisition and target identification through electronic means or visual means. Or let's say a UAS operating from the shore then cues a naval shooter that is over the horizon," Osterman said. "This would allow, from a sea control perspective, for the ground forces to actually be woven in � That we could help contribute to."

(...SNIPPED)