As part of its fiscal year 2026 budget request, the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) has indicated that it will abandon its program for remotely operated 4×4 land-based Tomahawk cruise missile launchers, deeming it an inefficient system for use in the austere environments where it would most likely have been deployed. This decision has a twofold impact: it seemingly tips the balance definitively in favor of the new NMESIS systems, which have been tested in recent months from Philippine territory, while also potentially undermining the program’s chances in the U.S. Army’s selection process.
It is worth recalling that since 2020, the U.S. Marine Corps had been exploring options to field Tomahawk missiles from ground launchers, eventually activating its first battery equipped with them three years later—specifically, the 11th Marine Regiment stationed at Camp Pendleton, California. This marked a novel step not only for the Corps, but also for the U.S. Armed Forces as a whole, which had lacked such capabilities since 1991 following the retirement of the U.S. Air Force’s BGM-109G Gryphon.
However, these plans were abruptly cut short in the aforementioned budget request, which stated: “The Marine Corps has concluded that the LRF system could not be employed in littoral, austere, and expeditionary environments and has made the decision to terminate the program.” While few specifics were given regarding the rationale, it is notable that the ROGUE-Fires vehicle used in the system will still be utilized as part of the NMESIS platform, which is capable of launching two NSM missiles—smaller than the Tomahawk.
Among the potential reasons cited by U.S. analysts for the USMC’s decision to abandon the program is that a battery of Tomahawk launchers would require investment in resupply vehicles equipped with crane systems to transport the missiles, along with other logistical challenges unsuited to hostile environments. This issue had previously been pointed out by service members such as Colonel Bradley Sams, who highlighted the differences in Tomahawk deployment between the USMC and the U.S. Navy: “They [the Navy] take it straight from the OEM to the pier, install it on the ship, and that’s it,” he noted.
Finally, looking ahead, the Marine Corps currently lacks comparable alternatives to the Tomahawk for long-range naval interdiction tasks. This is particularly evident when comparing its range—up to 1,600 kilometers—to that of the NSM, which reaches only 203 kilometers in its base version. One potential addition to the USMC’s arsenal could be the U.S. Army’s PrSM systems, designed for launch from M142 HIMARS and capable of striking targets at distances of around 500 kilometers in their current iteration—still far short of the original Tomahawk-based plan.
*Images used for illustrative purposes only.
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