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A Tamir missile was launched in a test in New Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Raphael.)
WASHINGTON: The nation’s second-highest-ranking Marine Corps officer says he is prepared to invest in the service’s medium-range interception capability following three successful kills at a New Mexico test site last month, the commanders of the Marine Littoral Regiment said.
“We just confirmed it and tried it. And now we are going to go out to buy that system. It has been in operation for some time. And until you confirm that, we noticed that we’re holding on to that funding for two years,” said Eric Smith, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps (ACMC), at an event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the US Naval Institute.
In the world of military technology testing, where good experiments don’t always translate into future funding, public nodes like Smith’s are important to service brass. That’s where support from Pentagon leadership comes into play, especially in the form of figures like the assistant commandant who served as the Navy’s highest requirements officer before becoming the ACMC.
The Intermediate-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) prototype, which successfully fired three drones playing the role of cruise missiles during a demonstration at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in late June, has multiple subsystems. They include a ground/air task-oriented radar and a joint aviation command and control system. It also includes ground launchers and Tamir interceptor missiles used by Israel’s Iron Dome.
“We need a long-range air defense capability to cover these highly mobile units,” Smith said, referring to the Marine Littoral Regiment. “We asked for a wicked solution to a wicked problem. High mobility, light weight and very long range. And MRIC gave it to us.
He added that the service had planned to conduct four launches during the test event in June, but one of the drones used for the target was damaged.
Major James Slocum, MRIC program leader, said MRIC’s inclusion of several other well-known technologies, such as the G/ATOR radar, was a deliberate choice to rapidly develop the service. Shortly after the test event.
The Marine Corps has additional live-fire testing later this year before service brass makes a decision about future funding, the statement added.
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