The US Marines received the first unmanned anti-ship system NMESIS

The 3rd Regiment, Hawaii, 3rd Division, US Marine Corps, has received the first Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) ground-based unmanned anti-ship system.

This is reported in a press release from the US Marine Corps.

The ceremony was held on November 27 in the presence of representatives of the US Army and delegations of partner countries.

The 3rd Marine Corps Regiment is a special unit that specializes in amphibious and coastal combat operations. The regiment is deployed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The NMESIS complex is located on the ROGUE (Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary) chassis, which is an unmanned version of the army's JLTV off-road vehicle.

NMESIS is armed with two launch pods of NSM (Naval Strike Missile) anti-ship missiles.

The US Marines plan to use NMESIS in combined missile divisions, which will also be armed with M142 HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems.

NSM

Naval Strike Missile (NSM) – anti-ship cruise missile, developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.

The NSM is a subsonic missile capable of hitting surface and ground targets. The missile, 4 m long and weighing over 400 kg, is equipped with a penetrating high-explosive warhead weighing 120 kg.

The missile is controlled during the flight phase using an inertial system with GPS signal correction.

On the final leg of the flight, the missile is guided using a target recognition system with an infrared homing head, which has its own database of target thermal signatures.

Thanks to it, it is able to recognize specific types of targets and select the desired one.

The missile is equipped with a TRI-40 turbojet engine and a solid-fuel launch booster. The maximum launch range is about 250 km.

Development of unmanned missile carriers in the US Marine Corps

In July 2023, the US Marine Corps first publicly presented an unmanned ground-based launcher for long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The missile carrier is based on the ROGUE NMESIS complex. It was called the Long Range Fires Launcher.

According to the plans of the IMP, the first LMSL division of three batteries with an unspecified number of launchers should be received by 2030.

The Marine Corps has been actively working on creating installations for ground-based launch of Tomahawk missiles since 2020. In addition to the Navy, the US Army is also developing a similar system.