A Marine HIMARS missile launcher fires from the deck of the USS Anchorage during the Dawn Blitz 2017 exercises.
Breaking Defense: Marines Want Missiles To Sink Ships From Shores, And They Want Them Fast
“The Army is looking at this too but probably on a different timeline -- the Marine Corps wants to get after this pretty quickly.”
WASHINGTON The Marine Corps has kicked off a rapid development program to begin firing long-range anti-ship missiles from shore-based ground vehicles in an effort to add more punch to the Navy’s growing anti-ship capabilities, which are aimed squarely at Chinese and Russian advances.
Dubbed the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System — that’s NEMSIS to you — the program has completed its design phase. For the missile itself, Marines are looking at
* Lockheed Martin’s new Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), with stealthy features to penetrate enemy missile defenses, a 1,000-pound warhead, and a range disclosed only as “over 200 miles”;
* Raytheon’s Naval Strike Missile (NSM) already chosen as an upgrade for Navy Littoral Combat Ships, with a 264-lb warhead and a 115-mile range;
* and Boeing’s venerable Harpoon, whose variants have a 500-lb warhead and ranges between 70 and 150 miles.
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Update: The U.S. Marines Want the Ability to Sink Ships (Popular Mechanics).
WNU Editor: I guess the Marines do not feel confident that the US Navy will be around to repel any enemy naval attack on the shores where the U.S. Marines may find themselves dug in.
