QUANTICO MARINE BASE, Va. – U.S. Marine Corps expeditionary warfare experts are asking Oshkosh Defense LLC in Oshkosh, Wis., to provide uncrewed armored combat vehicles as missile launchers for a new Marine Corps land-based anti-ship missile system.
Officials of the Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico Marine Base, Va., announced a $16.9 million order to Oshkosh on Friday for Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires (ROGUE-Fires) missile launchers for use in the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS).
The ROGUE-Fires long-range anti-ship missile launchers are based on unmanned remotely operated versions of the Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), each which will carry two Naval Strike Missiles to help protect Marine Corps infantry on invasion beaches.
NMESIS will provide the Marine Corps High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) battalions with anti-ship missiles. NMESIS integrates a Naval Strike Missile launcher unit, capable of launching two Naval Strike Missiles, onto a ROGUE-Fires carrier.
Navigation and guidance
The Naval Strike Missile has an imaging infrared seeker, an onboard target database, and navigates by Global Positioning System (GPS), inertial sensors, and terrain-reference systems. It can detect, recognize, and discriminate among targets independently, and is designed to strike enemy ships at or near the water line to inflict maximum structural damage.
Raytheon is building the Naval Strike Missile in partnership with Kongsberg Gruppen in Kongsberg, Norway. In addition to NMESIS, the missile is to equip the littoral combat ship and FFG(X) future frigate with stand-off surface-to-surface weapons capability.
The Naval Strike Missile is a fifth-generation long-range, precision-strike missile that offers strike capability against heavily defended land and sea targets. The Naval Strike Missile is a modernized version of the Norwegian Penguin anti-ship missile.
NMESIS testing
Experts from the Marine Corps and Raytheon tested the NMESIS off the coast of California in April 2021. The ROGUE Fires vehicle is remotely operated using the teleoperator or leader-follower modes. It was built for the Marines to support anti-ship operations from the ground.
The ROGUE Fires version of the JLTV lacks a crew cab and body, and is integrated with sensors and cameras, with a launcher mounted on top of the vehicle. Marine Corps leaders say they plan eventually to launch future weapons from ROGUE Fires.
On this contract Oshkosh will do the work in Oshkosh, Wis.; Gaithersburg, Md.; Alexandria, Va.; and Pittsburgh, and should be finished by December 2026.. For more information contact Oshkosh Defense online at https://oshkoshdefense.com/oshkosh-defense-advances-next-gen-autonomous-technology-for-rogue-fires/, or Marine Corps Systems Command at https://www.marcorsyscom.marines.mil/.
