U.S. Marine Corps buys more anti-ship missile launchers

The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace a contract worth up to $404.4 million for full-rate production and support of Naval Strike Missile launchers and the fire control system that aims them, the U.S. Department of War announced Sept. 25.

The firm-fixed-price contract covers the Naval Strike Missile Launcher Unit, its Weapon Control System and related support equipment. Kongsberg will do 85% of the work in Kongsberg, Norway, and 15% in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, through Sept. 24, 2034. No money was obligated at award. The Marine Corps will fund the work through individual orders as it places them, so the final amount spent depends on how much it buys.

The Marine Corps did not compete the award, citing a federal rule that allows sole-source contracts when only one company can meet the requirement. The Marine Corps’ Portfolio Acquisition Executive at Quantico, Virginia, is managing the contract. The announcement did not say how many launchers or control systems the Marine Corps plans to order.

The Marine Corps fires the Naval Strike Missile from the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS. Each NMESIS launcher carries two missiles on an unmanned, remotely driven version of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle built by Oshkosh Defense, called ROGUE-Fires. With no crew cab, the vehicle can hide among coastal terrain and move between firing positions while its operators stay out of the target area.

The Naval Strike Missile is a stealthy, sea-skimming anti-ship missile that flies at high subsonic speed and weighs 407 kg (897 pounds). It finds its target with an imaging infrared seeker and an onboard database that lets it pick out the right ship on its own. Kongsberg lists its range as more than 300 km (186 miles). The Marine Corps has described NMESIS as having a striking range of about 185 km (115 miles). Raytheon is Kongsberg’s U.S. production partner, and the U.S. Navy also carries the missile on its warships.

The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment received the first NMESIS launchers in November 2024. Marines took the system to the Philippines for Balikatan 2025, flying launchers across northern Luzon and the Batanes Islands, and to Okinawa, Japan, that summer for its first training there. During Balikatan 2026, they moved NMESIS by C-130J to the island of Itbayat and landed it by ship on Calayan, both in the Luzon Strait north of the Philippine main islands.

The Marine Corps has made NMESIS its main long-range anti-ship weapon and dropped plans for a ground-launched Tomahawk. Its fiscal 2027 budget request includes 32 NMESIS launchers and 103 Naval Strike Missiles. In May, Oshkosh received a delivery order for more ROGUE-Fires vehicles, due through September 2028. In July, Kongsberg received a $50.3 million modification for launcher missile modules for the program.