The US Marines assigned to the III Expeditionary Operations Training Group at Okinawa, Japan, and operators from US Naval Special Warfare Command have executed the US Marine Corps’ first live-fire drone strike against a maritime surface vessel from a naval surface craft.

An unmanned surface vessel, also designed and built by the training group, was the target. The officials noted that the event , which occurred in March at Naval Base White Beach, Okinawa, Japan, was a landmark in the increasingly close integration of special operations forces and conventional forces, ushering in a new era where drones and even their targets are designed and built by the US Marines.