Marine Corps Reveals It Has Tested A New Anti-Ship Missile Launcher Truck

The U.S. Marine Corps has confirmed that it test-fired a Naval Strike Missile anti-ship cruise missile from a new launcher based on the 4x4 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle truck last year. Mobile ground-based launchers loaded with anti-ship and other longer-range missiles are key components of the service's current plans for conducting distributed operations in the future.

The Marine Corps told Naval News that the test had taken place in November 2020. The most recent annual report from the Pentagon's Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, or DOT&E, said that the plan had been to conduct the first launch of a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) from this new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) based system in June of that year, but that this had been pushed back after the discovery of a software issue. However, that report only covered test and evaluation activities through September 2020, so it was initially unclear if the Marines had kept to their new schedule.