Marines operate an Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel at Naha Military Port, Okinawa, Japan, Jan. 17, 2025. (Rodney Frye/U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — An unmanned, semisubmersible vessel designed to move supplies and weapons across oceans will stay on Okinawa indefinitely following an 11-month trial with the Marine Corps, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel arrived at Naha Port in October and was scheduled to operate in Okinawa’s coastal waters through August, the III Marine Expeditionary Force said at the time. The Marines now plan to keep the vessel on Okinawa “indefinitely,” III MEF spokesman 2nd Lt. James T. Selcke said by email Wednesday.
“III MEF is continuing its evaluation and integration of the Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel to enhance training, readiness, and the sustainment of distributed maritime forces,” he said. “The incorporation of new systems, like the ALPV, ensures III MEF Marines are equipped to persist in challenging, contested, and complex environments.”
The drone vessel is designed to resupply troops on contested islands in the Indo-Pacific as part of the island-fighting doctrine described in the Marines’ Force Design plan.
The vessel can carry up to five tons 2,000 nautical miles, according to a March 2024 news release from the vessel’s designer, Leidos, a defense contractor in Reston, Va.
Brig. Gen. Simon Doran, commander of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., at a conference Sept. 4 described it as “just a narco-boat” — low-profile boats used by drug runners in Central and South America.
Marines of Combat Logistics Battalion 31 recover an Autonomous Low-Profile Vessel during a cargo transfer at Kin Red Training Area, Okinawa, Japan, April 9, 2025. (Skilah Sanchez/U.S. Marine Corps)
The Marine Corps has deployed one of the vessels to Okinawa and is not planning to add more, an Okinawa Defense Bureau spokesman said by phone Wednesday. The vessel may operate outside the coastal waters of Okinawa’s main island, he added.
Okinawa prefecture made no complaint about the vessel when the bureau, an arm of Japan’s Ministry of Defense, notified the prefecture Tuesday in Naha of the vessel’s indefinite deployment, according to a spokeswoman with the prefecture’s Military Base Affairs Division.
The vessel will continue operating in the waters around Okinawa, but the U.S. has no plans to transport missiles or ammunition in it, the spokeswoman said by phone Wednesday.
Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Marines in units across III MEF used the vessel in 2024 during covert resupply exercises that “demonstrated the ability to resupply a dispersed lethal fighting force in contested maritime terrain,” according to a January news release.
In January, the 12th Littoral Logistics Battalion, the support element for the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, practiced piloting the vessel remotely and directly to deliver supplies at Naha Military Port, according to a February news release from the 3rd Marine Division.
Marines with the Combat Logistics Battalion 31, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, trained with the vessel at White Beach Naval Facility and Kin Red Beach Training Area in April.
The 3rd Landing Support Battalion and Combat Logistics Battalion 4 with 3rd Marine Logistics Group also trained with it at the same locations in May, according to photos released by the service.
The Marines plan to employ the vessel during the joint exercise Resolute Dragon scheduled Sept. 11 to 25 across Japan and Okinawa, according to a fact sheet provided Wednesday by the Ministry of Defense. The exercise is meant to enhance cooperation between the two militaries during remote island defense operations, it said.
AloJapan.com