News

Jun 23, 2023

US Marines Stand Up First Tomahawk Battery

Zach Abdi 26 Jul 2023 U.S. Marines from the 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division stood up the Marine Corps’ first long-range missile battery, equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, last Friday.

Zach Abdi 26 Jul 2023

U.S. Marines from the 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division stood up the Marine Corps’ first long-range missile battery, equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, last Friday. According to the press release, the historic ceremony took place at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.

The newly stood-up Alpha battery will be equipped with four Long Range Fires (LRF) weapon systems. A typical LRF weapons system is composed of four elements; a Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires leader kit, LRF launcher, LRF C2 System (LC2S), and LRF Reload and Resupply System (LRRS).

“It is truly a privilege and honor to stand with these Marines as we move forward with the long-range fires capability,” said Capt. Justin Hillebrand, who became the battery’s first commander during the ceremony. “These Marines have done phenomenal things. They took an idea and are making it work. The job just started, but this capability will be able to reach out and provide devastating and lethal fires.”

The LRF is a weapon system that is instrumental to the Marine Corps’ ability to support joint force long-range, precision fires requirements. It is also an important part of the former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger’s vision for Force Design 2030 as it allows the Marines to expand on the capabilities of NMESIS.

While the Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) will be the Corps’ first step in contesting areas beyond the shore. It does not have the range required to contest certain areas of the Pacific from shore. The system’s Naval Strike Missile has a range of 185 km, which is only enough to deny certain passages and coastal areas from shore.

“This is a historic chapter in the Marine Corps and the 11th Marine Regiment. The American people expect the Marine Corps to prepare for war,” added Col. Patrick Eldridge, the commanding officer for 11th Marines. “There are nefarious states and actors in our world today who are credible threats to their neighbors, to our allies, and to the United States. The requirement for this capability now exists and the SecDef turned to the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps turned to 11th Marines, and we turn to Alpha Battery and our test and evaluation partners to make this capability a reality.”

When combined with tactics envisioned under Force Design 2030, the Tomahawk will allow the Marines to contest a greater area than they otherwise would with just NMESIS. It also allows units to go after hardened or buried targets that were otherwise beyond their capabilities to address.

The LRF will be deployed in long-range missile (LMSL) batteries, each battery consists of 16 launchers and associated C2 and reloading systems. Current plans call for the Marine Corps to field three LMSL batteries that will form a single LMSL battalion. This LMSL battalion is to be capable of deploying a single battery at a time by 2030.

The Marines are currently planning to procure 56 launchers and expect to field the first four operational launchers in the fourth quarter of FY24, with additional units standing up from FY2026 to FY2028. To equip their launchers, the Marine Corps is procuring both Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) and Maritime Strike Tomahawks (MST).

The LRF units will be equipped with the Block V Tomahawks, which are the latest version of the Tomahawk cruise missiles. The baseline land attack variant has a range of 1,600km and uses GPS guidance which is augmented by Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) and Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM). The missile is equipped with a 1,000 lb high explosive warhead.

The Maritime Strike Tomahawk is an anti-ship Tomahawk that is equipped with a passive Radio Frequency (RF) seeker and processor built by Raytheon Technologies. The missile uses electromagnetic emissions to detect, track, and home in on enemy ships. It is also capable of carrying out in-flight retargeting.

Aside from Marine Corps, the U.S. Army is also planning to field ground-launched Tomahawks as well as Standard Missile-6 to fulfill its Mid-Range Capability requirements. The ground-launched Tomahawks will be assigned to the Army’s newly stood-up Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTF). The 1st MDTF recently carried out a successful launch of the Tomahawk missile from a Typhon launcher during a live fire on the 27th of June.