A Japan-based U.S. Marine Corps unit designed to lock down maritime chokepoints and sink naval vessels has deployed the first forward-based American anti-ship missiles along the first island chain this week.
Stationed on Okinawa, Japan, the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) is the most recent of the service’s next-generation units derived from Force Design concepts that aim to train, equip and deploy Marines capable of fighting across the littorals of the Western Pacific.
This week, the service announced the unit had formerly received the anti-ship missiles and air defense systems that will form the backbone of its operations.
Redesignated in 2023, the Japan-based Marines are the closest MLR from China. Their location also offers rapid response to contingencies in the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and the South China Sea.
According to a release from the service, the arrival of the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction Systems (NMESIS) will provide American forces with “cutting-edge, land-based anti-ship capabilities.”
Equipped with a pair of low-observable Naval Strike Missiles, the unmanned launchers form the cornerstone of the MLR’s ability to strike maritime targets in support of area denial and island defense operations. Each battery organizes NMESIS into six sections of three launchers each for a total of 18 anti-ship missile systems.
Protecting NMESIS is the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS). Equipped with a chain gun, short-range anti-aircraft missiles and various sensors, MADIS is designed to provide close-in defense of the MLR from drones and attack aircraft. MLRs will use mobile anti-ship and air defense launchers that will be ferried to different islands aboard small amphibious landing craft.
Combined, these capabilities offer the 12th MLR the ability to threaten enemy naval forces from traversing the strategically critical archipelagos located within the first island chokepoints separating Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Their Hawaii-based sister unit, the 3rd MLR, previously and continues to pioneer Force Design concepts through annual Spring maneuvers in the Philippines. This MLR also showcased NMESIS and MADIS in Japan last year during joint exercises with the Japan Self-Defense Forces. These drills saw NMESIS deployed to islands near Taiwan.
The mission set behind the MLR’s capabilities comes through the need to lock down maritime chokepoints and provide intelligence to strike aircraft, warships and other land-based missiles to counter Beijing’s vast fleet. Marines and Army troops have been deploying more formations focused around getting mobile launchers into austere locations via aerial and maritime means in the Pacific for area denial means. Army developments include the deployment of SM-6, Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and upcoming Precision Strike Missile variants for ship-killing purposes.
