US Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Cade Heller, an artillery cannoneer with Fox Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, prepares a Navy/Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System to be fired at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, June 27, 2023. (USMC/ Cpl. Earik Barton)
WASHINGTON — The US Marine Corps is going forward with a plan to put more robust autonomous navigation on Joint Light Tactical Vehicles that are the basis for an unmanned mobile, anti-ship weapon system, according to the vehicle manufacturer.
“By seamlessly integrating cutting-edge autonomous technologies with Oshkosh systems, we’re equipping the Marine Corps to strengthen sea denial capabilities, enhance operational agility, and maintain a decisive technological edge against evolving threats,” said Pat Williams, chief programs officer at Oshkosh Defense.
Oshkosh is under contract to produce Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires (ROGUE Fires) for the service. That weapon integrates the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — a mountable, ground-based anti-ship missile launcher with two Naval Strike Missiles — onto the JLTV chassis.
The new development involves a $30 million investment by the Marines into putting autonomous navigation in the form of tech firm Fonterra’s AutoDrive system into the vehicles, rather than have them navigating via teleoperations or a leader-follower set up.
“Fielding self-driving ground autonomy on ROGUE-Fires is crucial to the Marines’ modernization plans…that will reduce casualties and improve our warfighters’ ability to fight and win,” said Christian Seifert, Head of Robotic Missile Systems at Forterra.
The two companies didn’t detail a precise plan for integration and testing the enhanced capability on ROGUE Fires, but Williams said the company anticipates that it will begin delivering the 48 vehicles this June.
As the USMC looks to rapidly develop and field a new autonomous launcher suitable for the Indo-Pacific region, the Army too is working on a number of systems including the Autonomous Multi-domain Launcher. It is also developing a fifth Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) for an autonomous launcher to hit targets beyond 1,000 km.
The director of the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team, Brig. Gen. Rory Crooks, explained in December 2024, that initial work on a fifth PrSM increment is underway, and a science and technology development initiative will kick-off in fiscal 2026. The idea, he added, is to design a missile that can be fired from an autonomous vehicle.
“If you’re familiar with an [M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System] MLRS pod, it’s about 13-feet long,” the one-star general told the audience. “If you have something without a cab, that’s autonomous, you might be able to employ something longer than that.”
“We’re in the science and technology phase of something that we’ll maybe, eventually call Increment 5,” Crooks added. “You might be able to employ something that’s actually longer … and you might be able to achieve ranges that, right now, don’t seem realistic.”
