Dispersed island-seizure drills highlight US Marine Littoral Regiment in Balikatan 2026
During Balikatan 2026 in the Philippines, the Hawaii-based 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment practiced dispersed operations across 17 locations to test its distributed, littoral warfare posture, including NMESIS missile launches and MADIS air-defense capabilities, with basing on the Batanes islands to simulate strait security; live missile firings had not occurred yet, but crews exercised multi-domain command and control with regional partners.
