The U.S. Army’s latest watercraft demonstrated its ability to transport a Marine Corps NMESIS anti-ship launcher last week in Hawaii.
The U.S. Army’s next-generation landing craft transported a Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in a cross-service test in Hawaii to enhance their interoperability and transport capabilities of the Marine Corps anti-ship launchers across the Indo-Pacific.
Last week’s beach rehearsal at Marine Corps Base Hawaii involved the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment – one of the service’s units dedicated to countering threats from China – and the 7th Transportation Brigade. The latter of these units recently received a Maneuver Support Vessel – Light, the Army’s replacement for its aging Landing Craft Mechanized fleet.
Compared to the Cold War-era landing craft, these new transports can operate at longer ranges, a capability that the service looks to utilize heavily in the Indo-Pacific amid Washington’s efforts to bolster its forces in the region against China’s military modernization and expansion.
“The MSV(L) is designed for logistics in contested environments, capable of supporting both routine and combat operations by delivering troops and equipment to austere ports, degraded ports, and bare beaches throughout the Indo-Pacific region,” read one caption from a released Army photo on the cross-service effort.
U.S. Army watercraft have frequently transported missile launchers, such as the High Mobility Rocket Artillery System (HIMARS), in drills across the region in Japan, Australia and the Philippines. A release from the 8th Theater Sustainment Command highlighted that MSV-L enhanced “littoral maneuver” across Indo-Pacific Command’s area of responsibility. While the service’s watercraft have focused on sustainment and resupply, recent exercises have seen the service utilize its watercraft – as well as leased vessels – to support the maneuver of ground forces and missile launchers.
Combining the new watercraft with the NMESIS unmanned anti-ship missile launchers also expands the deployment potential of the U.S. Marine Corps Marine Littoral Regiments. With delays to the Medium Landing Ships, a class of amphibious vessels dedicated to transporting the regiment’s forces, the Marines could utilize cross-service capabilities to insert NMESIS to more austere locations.
Equipped with two low-observable Naval Strike Missiles, NMESIS provides the Marine Corps with a highly mobile maritime strike capability. The service has recently deployed the system to first island chain chokepoints in Japan and the Philippines in Resolute Dragon and Balikatan. Chinese state media noted the strategic implications of the missile deployments, including their locations near Taiwan.
The test was also the latest effort from the ground-based service to validate its ability to transport missile launchers via vessels. Last November saw a Washington-based Multi-Domain Task Force transport a Mid-Range Capability launcher on a chartered civilian vessel.
