Marines Test Javelin Missile Teams In Rubber Rafts "Like Somali Pirates, But Better Armed"
Defending against beach landings and ducking between islands in the dead of night, the Marines are looking to small boats to help fight big conflicts.
By Joseph Trevithick March 22, 2021
The War Zone
Teams of Marines armed with Javelin anti-tank guided missiles riding in small inflatable boats trained to engage enemy naval forces for the first time as part of a major recent exercise on and around the Japanese island of Okinawa. The development of these waterborne tactics was influenced, in part, by lessons learned from responding to Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in the past two decades or so. This follows a smaller exercise earlier this year, in which Marine Corps forces in that same region practiced employing Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, also known as Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADS, from rubber rafts.
The use of Javelin teams in small boats was a component of Exercise Castaway 21.1, which wrapped up on March 20, 2021. The main scenario centered on the establishment of a simulated Expeditionary Advance Base (EAB) on Japan's Ie Shima island, which is situated less than five miles off the coast of Okinawa. Though led by the 3rd Marine Division, which is forward-deployed in Japan, other Marine units, as well as Air Force and Army elements, including special operations forces, also took part in Castaway 21.1. The main task for the Marines in small boats was "littoral defense," consisting mainly of keeping watch for any attempts by enemy naval forces to land on Ie Shima and uproot the EAB and being positioned to help respond to any attacks.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/39865/marines-test-javelin-missile-teams-in-rubber-rafts-like-somali-pirates-but-better-armed
