{"id":35268,"date":"2020-03-05T21:05:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T21:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/05\/to-combat-the-china-threat-us-marine-corps-declares-ship-killing-missile-systems-its-top-priority\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:51:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:51:35","slug":"to-combat-the-china-threat-us-marine-corps-declares-ship-killing-missile-systems-its-top-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/03\/05\/to-combat-the-china-threat-us-marine-corps-declares-ship-killing-missile-systems-its-top-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"To combat the China threat, US Marine Corps declares ship-killing missile systems its top priority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 The Marine Corps is all in on fielding mobile anti-ship missiles<\/a> in the Pacific to challenge China\u2019s growing Navy, declaring it in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s seapower subcommittee to be its highest ground modernization priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA ground-based anti-ship missile capability will provide anti-ship fires from land as part of an integrated naval anti-surface warfare campaign,\u201d the written testimony reads. \u201cThis forward-deployed and survivable capability will enhance the lethality of our naval forces and will help to deny our adversaries the use of key maritime terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The designation of the Marines\u2019 ship-killing ambitions<\/a> as its top modernization priority comes as the Marine Corps is going full-steam toward reorienting itself as an extension of naval power, rather than the lighter version of the Army that it evolved into during the height of its involvement the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\t