Marines are revamping their air defenses with these 2 critical systems

The US Marines are rapidly working to field two new air-defense systems in order to address vulnerabilities laid bare by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. The service is acquiring the Israeli Iron Dome system and the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS). Together, the two systems will protect deployed Marines from cruise missiles, rockets, low-flying aircraft, and drones.

Here’s everything you need to know about the two weapons systems, and how they’ll improve the Marines’ performance in the case of a major conflict.

Learning from others’ wars

Kamikaze and other drones have been a continual threat since the mid-2010s. The Russo-Ukrainian War has taken one-way drone attacks to a new level: instead of guerrilla groups launching sporadic attacks with limited resources, both Russia and Ukraine routinely make persistent, daily attacks across the 1,200-mile frontline, often involving multiple drones or even waves of drones. Relatively inexpensive and typically bearing a high-explosive or shaped charge, kamikaze drones have wiped out entire squads of soldiers and disabled multi-million dollar tanks.

Cruise missiles have also emerged as a major threat. Although invented in the 1970s, these subsonic, low-flying missiles have been used by Russia to take out both strategic and tactical targets in Ukraine. As the technology becomes more widespread, countries such as Iran and their Houthi proxies have used them in the Middle East. China has a formidable arsenal of cruise missiles, particularly the DongHai-10, or East Sea-10 land-attack cruise missile.

The Marine Corps has not yet faced a serious drone or cruise missile threat, but as America’s premier expeditionary force (see sidebar), it will eventually encounter one on the battlefield—it’s just a matter of when. After 20 years of fighting guerrilla wars, the Marines, like the US Army, has seen its air-defense force capabilities atrophy in favor of specialties. Medium-Range Intercept Capability and the Marine Air Defense Integrated System are part of an effort to restore that capability.

Medium-range intercept capability

The first system, Medium-Range Intercept Capability, is a familiar one: Israel’s Iron Dome. The Iron Dome was originally developed to counter short-range rockets fielded by Israel’s enemies—particularly Hezbollah and Hamas—and fired indiscriminately against Israel.

The Iron Dome consists of three components: an ELM-2084 Multi-Mission Radar that can track up to 1,200 incoming rockets at once, a battle management and control trailer where the controlling humans sit, and 3–4 firing units, each loaded with up to 20 Tamir interceptors. The Marine Corps launcher, however, seems to carry fewer missiles.

The Iron Dome’s radar can detect incoming targets from as far away as 43 miles, and the Tamir missile has a maximum range of 40 miles. This allows the system to engage multiple targets as far away as possible, to engage as many as possible. The ELM-2084 guides the missiles to their target, but as the missile gets closer, an onboard, nose-mounted radar takes over until it impacts the target. A proximity fuze detonates the warhead once the Tamir is close enough to its target.

The Iron Dome has proven highly successful against rockets, with a 90-percent success rate. However, while the system is primarily used against rockets, it can also be used against other flying threats, including cruise missiles, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters. The result is a system that can provide a low-altitude shield for the Marines against most flying threats, with the exception of high-flying aircraft and fast-moving ballistic- and hypersonic-missile warheads.

Marine air defense integrated system

Medium-Range Intercept Capability will protect Marine fixed positions. Meanwhile, the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) will travel with the troops at the front line, protecting them from drones and aircraft attacks.

MADIS will typically operate in pairs, each using a different variant. The first variant, Mk 1, combines a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the military’s new replacement for the Humvee, with a 30mm autocannon, an M240 machine gun, Stinger missiles, electro-optical targeting systems, and a dismounted, shoulder-fired Stinger missile launcher. The second includes all the features of the first, plus a 360-degree radar and command and control system. It’s not clear why there are two variants, but drone jamming equipment often causes interference with radio systems found in command and control systems.

The jammer will sever the radio connection between a human operator and a drone, rendering remote-controlled drones useless. For those drones that operate autonomously or via fixed waypoints, a Stinger missile or brief burst from the XM914E1 30mm x 113mm cannon. A Stinger missile can also handle low-flying aircraft, helicopters, and even an opportunistic shot against cruise missiles.

The takeaway

The Marines, as America’s main expeditionary force, could run up against a spectrum of enemies, from low-tech Houthis to China’s People’s Liberation Army. They must also travel across thousands of miles and supply their forces across an equally long distance.

Lightweight, multipurpose systems like Medium-Range Intercept Capability and MADIS could protect advancing Marines against a spectrum of threats while keeping the Corps lean and agile.