LAOAG, Philippines — At one point during Exercise Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines, one regiment of the U.S. Marine Corps had personnel strewn across 17 locations in the archipelago, giving forces a chance to flex their muscle in dispersed, expeditionary operations.
Held from Apr. 20 to May 8, Balikatan was a good testing ground for the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, or 3rd MLR.
This agile Hawaii-based unit possesses more than 2,000 personnel. Designed to operate at the tip of the Marine Corps, the MLR was created in March 2022.
1st Lt. Duncan Stoner, the unit’s director for communication strategy and, said his formation “is unlike any traditional infantry regiment in the Marine Corps. The key difference lies in our focus and our toolkit.”
To permit it to operate in dispersed locations, 3rd MLR’s headquarters oversees three subordinate elements.
The first is the 3rd Littoral Combat Team that fires Naval Strike Missiles from NMESIS (standing for Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System) missile launchers. These assets are accompanied by infantry companies for security, and this year they received attack drones for the first time.
Next up is the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion that handles air domain awareness and air defense utilizing TPS-80 radars and counter-drone systems.
Finally, the regiment possesses the 3rd Littoral Logistics Battalion to sustain operations in distributed, littoral environments.
This year’s exercise was the fourth time the regiment has participated in Balikatan, and Stoner told Defense News: “As the regiment continues to evolve, this exercise is where we validate our tactics alongside our highly capable regional allies and partners.”
Securing maritime straits
One of those tactics was maritime key terrain security operations, where the Marine Corps helped seize remote Philippine islands in the Luzon Strait. This included deployment of NMESIS sections with anti-ship missiles.
Yes, 3rd MLR deployed the NMESIS to the Batanes Islands in last year’s Balikatan, but this year that expanded dramatically to three separate islands. They inserted with the aid of Air Force C-130Js and Army LCU-2000 landing craft.
On May 2, Defense News visited one of those locations in Basco in the Batane Islands, which is closer to Taiwan than it is to the Philippine mainland.
A section comprising a single NMESIS launcher, command vehicle and leader vehicle – all based on the JLTV chassis – deployed to Basco for 72 hours and conducted simulated fire missions against warships attempting to pass through the Luzon Strait.
Staff Sergeant Darren Gibbs, a section chief in the MLR’s Medium-Range Missile Battery, described NMESIS “as an autonomous missile system that’s essentially used for protection of our straits and sea lines.”
He said “training in Batanes allows us a different environment than what we normally operate in, so it gives us unique opportunities to actually utilize the system.”
However, the NMESIS is yet to fire an actual missile in the Philippines.
Stoner explained that Balikatan is “a phenomenal opportunity to strengthen our partnerships, get reps in employing systems like NMESIS, MADIS and our sensing systems, and really exercise our ability to execute distributed command and control.”
Threats from the air
MADIS is short for Marine Air Defense Integrated System. Fielded by the Marine Corps last year, it comprises JLTVs fitted with various soft-kill and hard-kill counter-drone systems.
At an integrated air defense demonstration in Zambales on Apr. 28, Defense News saw a battery of MADIS vehicles take down various kinds of quad-copters and fixed-wing drones.
In that engagement, countermeasure seemed to miss more drone targets than it hit. However, Defense News learned that crews were deliberately practicing tracking the drones and perfecting tactics, techniques and procedures, rather than simply trying to blow them up.
Staff Sergeant Noah Konien, a platoon sergeant in the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion, praised his crews: “They did an excellent job, focused on what they had to do and did the job very well.”
Being based on Oahu, MADIS crews face limitations when live-firing at home, so Konien was enthusiastic about the opportunity to fire rounds and missiles in the Philippines.
Regionally relevant
There are two MLRs in the Asia-Pacific region, the other being the 12th MLR stationed in Okinawa, Japan.
Stoner explained, “We’re a purpose-built, informed formation designed to operate and persist in contested littoral environments in tandem with regional forces. In real-world terms, our function is to enable and deliver multi-domain effects that expand the decision space for the broader combined and joint force in the region.”
Asked what direction MLRs will go next, Stoner responded that the Marine Corp is constantly evolving. “The MLR is truly an example of modernization in action.”
He added, “Regardless of specific systems, we’re continually experimenting with advanced sensing capabilities, exploring more survivable command-and-control tactics, and pushing the envelope on multi-domain operations to ensure we remain effective and ready in any situation with our allies and partners in the region.”
Gordon Arthur is an Asia correspondent for Defense News. After a 20-year stint working in Hong Kong, he now resides in New Zealand. He has attended military exercises and defense exhibitions in about 20 countries around the Asia-Pacific region.