Marines dedicate first medium missile battalion at Camp Lejeune

The battalion will employ the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, a land-based anti-ship missile weapon. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Joseph Mozzi, commander of 2nd Marine Division’s 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, attaches a battle streamer to the unit’s new colors during a redesignation ceremony on Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Oct. 9, 2026. (Alexis French/U.S. Marine Corps) A Camp Lejeune battalion this month became the Marine Corps’ first missile battalion after adopting the service’s newest anti-ship missile platform, officials at the North Carolina base said Monday. The 2nd Marine Division’s 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment transformed Oct. 9 from an artillery unit to a medium missile battalion, as the Corps shifts from a heavy land fighting service during the Global War on Terrorism years to a more agile, naval-focused force, according to a service news release.

The battalion will employ the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS, a land-based anti-ship missile weapon that can strike targets about 150 miles away. It is the first battalion-sized unit to adopt the NMESIS platform, after smaller units have tested it in training in the Pacific region in recent years. “Projecting combat power ashore from the sea is historically what [Marines] do,” Col. William Soucie, the 10th Marine Regiment’s commander, said in a statement. “What we will be able to do with