US Marine Corps acquires two new combat watercraft

The US Marine Corps (USMC) recently took delivery of two new combat reconnaissance watercraft in a series built by Australian-New Zealand partnership The Whiskey Project Group (TWPG).

Designated as Multi-Mission Reconnaissance Craft (MMRC), the 4o-foot (11-metre) vessels are capable of reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, interdiction, and battlespace shaping operations.

The MMRCs have been accepted by the Marine Corps War Fighting Lab (MCWL) and are being used extensively by reconnaissance marines to host and trial a number of different mission payloads.

Each MMRC incorporates a range of systems, sensors, modular mission sets, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems. The trials have included analysing a wide range of critical mission-specific payloads built specifically for USMC operational theatres as well as recreating a series of multi-scenario combat operations.

The delivery of the first two 40-foot MMRCs follows a comprehensive competitive evaluation process in which TWPG was awarded a US$20.5 million contract to supply a number of both its 30-foot (eight-metre) 40-foot MMRCs to the USMC.