US Marines stand at attention in front of their M777 howitzers during a formal battalion redesignation ceremony in October 2026. The 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Division (or “1/10”) will now be known as a missile battalion. (US Marine Corps/Sgt. Alexis French)

Why the US Marine Corps Is Trading Its Cannons for Missiles

Share this link on Facebook

Share this page on X (Twitter)

Share this link on LinkedIn

Share this page on Reddit

Email a link to this page

The 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Division has formally been redesignated a missile battalion, but it has not surrendered its traditional artillery role altogether.

Every Marine, no matter his or her job, is first and foremost an infantryman. That hasn’t changed in the 251 years that the United States Marine Corps has existed, and it likely never will. Even so, the service has specialized units, and one of those—the 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, until now an artillery unit—has been formally redesignated as a medium missile battalion, the first of its kind for the service.

The Marine Corps held a “change of designation” ceremony at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the home of the 2nd Marine Division. It was made in accordance with the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ planning guidance under the Marine Corps Force Design 2030 plan, which called on the Marines to revise their warfighting doctrine to better adapt to a future war in the vast expanses of the Indo-Pacific.

The 1st Battalion will be equipped with the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), a mobile,........

© The National Interest