Images have emerged of a new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle armed with Naval Strike Missile.
The system is currently under development for the U.S. Marine Corps.
This initiative is part of a larger plan to reconstruct the service.
The test was conducted in November 2020 but no pictures were released at that time.
Raytheon has released the pictures on 28th Apr, which is credited to the U.S. Navy.
The system is officially known as the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS).
Kim Ernzen, Vice President of Naval Power at Raytheon Missiles and Defense,
said in the press release that went along with the new picture of the NMESIS,
"Our Naval Strike Missile is a vital weapon for denying enemies
the use of key maritime terrain. This test further demonstrates our partnership for advancing the
Marine Corps’ modernization priorities of enabling sea control and denial operations.”
In this video Defense Updates how U.S. Marine Corps will deploy NMESIS with Naval Strike
Missile to deter adversaries? Let’s get started.
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The U.S.Marine Corps has stated last year that it is not
“optimized to meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy.”
The service plans to embark on a 10-year transformation plan
that could see many radical changes including ditching of its entire tank force.
The plan is in line with the view that U.S Marines will have to fight in small
groups and in a distributed manner in any major conflict going forward.
The service also identifies China as the “pacing threat” to the U.S. and its allies
in the coming years. Most analysts believe that in the event of a conflict between the two countries,
the South China Sea will be a major theater of war.
In case the dispute escalates to a war, one of the job of Marine Corps will be
to capture the islands in the South China Sea which have been militarized.
The islands are relatively small , for example Fiery Cross Reef is only about 680 acres.
Though China has maintained that it does not intend to pursue militarization,
satellite imagery says different. China has excavated deep channels
created and dredged harbors and constructed communications
logistics and intelligence gathering facilities in the several islands.
Large hardened airfields and hangers suitable for military operations have been constructed.
Corps Commandant General David Berger told the House Armed Services Committee in this context,
"I think every service chief would love to have a better force.
But you need us to be lethal. You need us to be mobile. You need us to be integrated with the
Navy. So we're going to reduce the size of the Marine Corps some this year, more next year.”
A complete NMESIS system consists of the unmanned Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV),
also known as the Remotely Operated Ground Unit Expeditionary-Fires (ROGUE-Fires), and a launcher
with two ready-to-fire Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) inside their self-contained launch canisters.
While limited details are available for the ROGUE-Fires vehicle,
it will most likely utilize an unmodified 4x4 JLTV chassis.
Viewers may note Oshkosh was declared as the winner on 25 August 2015,
when its JLTV model was selected over Lockheed Martin and AM General’s models.
JLTV is as much of a technology leap over the Humvee,
as the Humvee was to the Jeep-like Ford M151 MUTT before it.
According to the U.S Army, an infantry brigade combat team
in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum was the first to receive JLTV in June 2017.
The JLTV family has many configurations - Heavy Guns Carrier, Utility, General Purpose,
Close Combat Weapons Carrier.
Naval Strike Missile or NSM is the upgrade of Kongsberg’s Penguin short-to-medium range
anti-ship guided missile. The missile has a range of 100 miles or 185 km.
NSM is a 5th generation missile capable of high subsonic speeds.
It has sea skim mode by which it travels very close to the surface and has a stealthy profile,
making it hard to detect and intercept.
It is equipped with 276 pounds or 125 kg multi-purpose blast/fragmentation warhead.
NSM features an imaging IR-seeker which is complimented by inertial/GPS navigation.
The missile also has a built-in database of representative ship types
to distinguish between intended targets and other objects.
Importantly it can be used as an anti-ship missile as well as for taking out land targets.
Kongsberg does offer NSM in a ground-launched configuration
with the missiles being mounted on tactical trucks.
Change is only constant and this is especially true when it comes to modern
warfare which is evolving at a rapid pace. The plan by U.S Marine Corps, if implemented
will see it optimize itself to face the changing dynamics.
It is to be noted that unmanned launch vehicles, networked together
could be employed in small groups and these can bring lethal fire to a significantly large area.
The operator and the launcher could be deployed in a distributed manner
and be much more mobile and flexible.
This will mean the rival won't be able to target them easily and in a decisive manner.
The key concept is to be able to rapidly deploy Marines to establish forward bases
across a broad area of operations and then they will rapidly position themselves
as per the tactical situation in the battlespace.
NMESIS could then be utilized to deter rival's naval forces from moving into adjacent waters.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming days.