U.S. Marines Deploy Anti-Ship Missiles on Okinawa
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- The 12th Marine Littoral Regiment on Okinawa deployed the first forward-based American anti-ship missiles along the first island chain, and the service announced the arrival of the systems this week; redesignated in 2023, the unit is the closest MLR to China.
- The NMESIS (Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System) provides "cutting-edge, land-based anti-ship capabilities," with each battery organized into six sections of three launchers for a total of 18 anti-ship missile systems, each carrying a pair of low-observable Naval Strike Missiles.
- The MADIS (Marine Air Defense Integrated System) provides close-in defense of the MLR from drones and attack aircraft, equipped with a chain gun, short-range anti-aircraft missiles, and various sensors.
- The 3rd MLR, based in Hawaii, previously showcased NMESIS and MADIS in Japan during joint exercises with the Japan Self-Defense Forces, including deployment of NMESIS to islands near Taiwan.
- The MLR's mobile anti-ship and air defense launchers will be ferried to different islands aboard small amphibious landing craft, enabling area denial and island defense operations across the first island chokepoints between Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
- The U.S. Army has separately deployed SM-6 and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and is developing Precision Strike Missile variants for ship-killing purposes in the Pacific.
Why it matters: The deployment puts 18 mobile ship-killing launchers within rapid-response range of the three contingencies the Marine Corps names — the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. Combined with the Army's SM-6 and Tomahawk land-based anti-ship fires and last year's NMESIS exercise deployment to islands near Taiwan, it marks a concrete operational step toward making any Chinese naval transit through the first island chain measurably more costly.
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