The U.S. Marine Corps is evaluating a transportability of its Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, also known as NMESIS, aboard of the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7).
Tripoli is the first L-class ship to embark the NMESIS as part of a demonstration of the system’s transportability aboard an amphibious ship.
The NMESIS is a robotic combat vehicle with the ability to be remotely controlled by a distant operator looked like a JLTV but without a cab, equipped with an assortment of sensors and cameras, and topped with a launcher for a multi-mission cruise missiles.
NMESIS integrates established, proven sub-systems, such as the Joint Lightweight Tactical Vehicle Chassis, the Naval Strike Missile and the Fire Control System used by the Navy for NSM.
The Marine Corps’ NMESIS will provide the Marine Littoral Regiment with ground based anti-ship capability to facilitate sea denial and control while persisting within the enemy’s weapons engagement-zone.
The Marine Corps also successfully demonstrated NMESIS during Large Scale Exercise 21 in August. The system launched an NSM that flew a non-linear flight path covering over 100 nautical miles before successfully hitting two targets.
“We made it fly a [non-linear] route to simulate what Marines would experience in a real-world situation, where they may have to navigate around friendly and neutral shipping or any other impediments between the ground-based firing position and the target,” said McPherson. “The ability for us to provide waypoints and plan a complex route improves the survivability and utility of the system before impact.”
