Oshkosh Defense receives new ROGUE Fires contract

A NMESIS launcher deploys into position aboard the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Hawaii, in August 2021. The NMESIS and its NSMs participated in a live-fire exercise during ‘Large-Scale Exercise 2021'. (US Marine Corps)

The US Marine Corps (USMC) awarded Oshkosh Defense with a USD23.7 million contract to produce the chassis for its new Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS).

The Pentagon announced the new indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires contract on 29 September and said this deal covers work until November 2023.

ROGUE Fires is an unmanned 4×4 Joint Lightweight Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) that houses a launcher to fire two of Raytheon's Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs).

This weapon system is part of the service's larger Force Design 2030 plan, and it has been testing and refining the design while also demonstrating early versions of the ground-based weapon. For example, during the ‘Large-Scale Exercise 2021' in August 2021, the service said NMESIS “successfully hit” targets.

“During the exercise, forward-deployed forces on expeditionary advanced bases detected and, after joint command-and-control collaboration with other US forces, responded to a ship-based adversary,” the service wrote in an announcement at the time. “Simultaneous impacts from multiple, dispersed weapons systems and platforms across different US services – including NMESIS – engaged the threat.”

Meanwhile, the service is preparing to make a production decision for its new remotely operated anti-ship missile system in late 2023 and requested USD345 million for NMESIS production for fiscal year (FY) 2023, Janes previously reported. The new fiscal year will begin on 1 October, but lawmakers have not yet approved the defence spending bill.