One of the Marine Corps’ newest operational formations recently fielded a crucial “workhorse” air defense system to counter enemy drones and other aerial threats.
Leathernecks with the 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion, 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment in Hawaii received the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, according to a Marine Corps Systems Command release. The newly formed unit is positioning itself to counter threats in the Indo-Pacific region.
“The rapid rise of UAS, used for surveillance, targeting and attacks, has made advanced air defense systems like MADIS critical to protecting our Marines and preserving our combat effectiveness,” said Lt. Col. Craig Warner, Future Weapons Systems product manager. “MADIS not only detects, tracks and defeats aerial threats but also serves as a powerful deterrent, signaling to adversaries that their aerial assets will not succeed against U.S. forces.”
All services continue to face a growing drone threat in every area of operations. In 2018, the Marines responded by beginning to build capacity for a “layered defense,” one that would eventually use the MADIS, Col. Andrew Konicki told Marine Corps Times. Konicki manages the Corps’ Ground-Based Air Defense program office.
Marine officials have called the MADIS, built by Kongsberg Protech Systems USA, the “basic building block of the LAAD battalions’ ground base air defense capability.”
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