Military & Defense
US Marines stand up first medium missile battalion at Camp Lejeune, built around NMESIS
1st Battalion, 10th Marines has changed from an artillery unit to the Marine Corps' first medium missile battalion, equipped with the NMESIS ground-based anti-ship missile system.
The US Marine Corps has created its first medium missile battalion, converting an artillery unit at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to operate a ground-based anti-ship missile system. 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, part of the 2nd Marine Division, changed designation at a ceremony on 9 October 2026, according to a release by the division published on DVIDS.
The Marine Corps describes the unit as the first of its kind in the service. The change follows the Commandant’s Planning Guidance and the Force Design 2030 modernisation plan, and it brings the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, known as NMESIS, into the battalion’s inventory.
What NMESIS brings
According to the release, NMESIS pairs a remotely operated ground unit, which carries the launcher, with a launcher able to fire two Naval Strike Missiles. The Marine Corps says the system was first introduced to the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment in 2024. The missile has an effective range of more than 130 nautical miles and can engage surface ships and fixed targets on land, the service says.
Lt. Col. Joseph Mozzi, the battalion commander, called NMESIS “the Marine Corps’ emerging ground based anti-ship missile capability” that “will also be a ground based long-range precision fires platform”. He said the requirement for a land-based sea denial capability was identified as a crucial step in helping maritime commanders fight for sea control. The missile itself is covered in our earlier explainer, NSM (Naval Strike Missile): The successor to the Harpoon.
Artillery stays in the regiment
The Marine Corps stresses that the new missile unit does not replace cannon artillery. Col. William Soucie, commander of 10th Marine Regiment, said NMESIS is “a complement” to howitzers, and that the regiment will keep its artillery capability in another battalion. The release says the redesignated battalion also retains lightweight howitzer capability.
Soucie said the new system will allow the regiment to fire in support of forces ashore and of manoeuvre at sea. The release describes the redesignation as the start of the modernisation of artillery battalions across the Marine Corps, and notes that 1st Battalion is part of the service-retained force, which gives the II Marine Expeditionary Force commander and the Marine Corps greater flexibility in a crisis.
Why it matters
The release says the Naval Strike Missile is a critical asset for denying adversaries access to key portions of contested waters, and that NMESIS gives the service a rapidly deployable system able to operate in austere, expeditionary environments. Soucie underlined that the people are unchanged: “the Marines and Sailors in that formation are not changing”, he said, adding that they will make the platform and whatever mission they are assigned successful.
The release does not say when the battalion will receive its full complement of launchers or where it is expected to deploy.