U.S. Marines in Japan to keep training troops in use of new missile system

NAHA, Japan – The U.S. military in Japan will continue training their troops in the use of a new mobile ground-based anti-ship missile system and will also cooperate with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces over the transportation of defense equipment, the commander of the U.S. Marine Corps littoral regiment based in Okinawa Prefecture said Saturday.

The system called NMESIS, which was brought to Japan for the first time in July, has been featured in the ongoing annual Resolute Dragon exercise between the U.S. Marines and the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force simulating island defense. Concerns are high over China’s maritime assertiveness in the region.

“We will continue to train with it and work with” the GSDF to enhance the credibility of its capabilities, Col. Richard Neikirk, commanding officer of the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, said at a press conference at Camp Hansen in the prefecture.

Neikirk also said one of the objectives of bilateral training is to increase the interoperability between the U.S. military and the SDF, indicating that the transportation of defense equipment is also a key area for cooperation.

“So whether that’s the U.S. transporting Japanese equipment, or Japanese transporting U.S. equipment, the ability for both of us to do that is very relevant for combat situations. All the capabilities that the U.S. has, along with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, are complementary,” he said.

For the Resolute Dragon exercise, a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport aircraft transported NMESIS from the main island of Okinawa to a GSDF Camp on Ishigaki Island, also in the prefecture.

NMESIS, which is formally known as the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, features two strike missiles mounted on an unmanned, remotely controlled vehicle. It has a strike range of some 210 kilometers, according to another officer of the regiment, and its high mobility and long-range precision strike capability is expected to play a key part in island defense.

To defend Japan’s Nansei island chain, stretching southwest from Kyushu toward Taiwan, the launcher system needs to be deployed to the far-flung islands instead of being placed on the main island of Okinawa.

Asked if NMESIS will remain in the prefecture after the Resolute Dragon exercise, which will run through Thursday, Neikirk only said the decision of the employment of assets will be left up to a higher authority, the III Marine Expeditionary Force.