USMC NMESIS ASM Engages Target Ship in SINKEX

By
Stephen W. Miller
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A Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System launcher deploys into position aboard Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, Hawaii, Aug. 16, 2021. The NMESIS and its Naval Strike Missiles participated in a live-fire exercise, here, part of Large Scale Exercise 2021. During the training, a Marine Corps fires expeditionary advanced base sensed, located, identified and struck a target ship at sea, which required more than 100 nautical miles of missile flight. The fires EAB Marines developed a targeting solution for a joint force of seapower and airpower which struck the ship as the Marines displaced to a new firing position. The Marine Corps EABO concept is a core component of the Force Design 2030 modernization effort. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Maj. Nick Mannweiler, released)

The US Marine Corps successfully fired two Naval Strike Missiles against a decommissioned US Navy Frigate, the USS Ingraham, as a target ship during a naval exercise off Hawaii on 15 August 2021. 

This is the first live firing of the Corps NMESIS system which mounts two Raytheon/Kongsberg NSM missiles on a JLTV vehicle operated as an unmanned system.  Both missiles we fired from a ground site 100 nautical miles from the target ship and achieved successful hits. The NMESIS also was exercised being loaded and off-loaded from a C-130 transport aircraft and carried and disembarked from an LCAC air cushion landing craft.

The NMESIS is a key element in the Marine Corps planned formation of it’s Marine Littoral Regiments (MLR). MRL’s are focused on supporting future naval operations in the Indo-Pacific. The SINKEX exercise also included the engagement of the target ship by Navy submarine and by F/A-18 Hornets operating from an air craft carrier.

by Stephen W. Miller

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Stephen W. Miller
A former US Marine ground combat and aviation officer instrumental in the adoption of wheeled armoured vehicles and manoeuvre warfare. He has extensive hands-on experience in development, acquisition, fielding, support and employment leading land, naval, and air programmes in the US and twenty-four other countries. [email protected]
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