L-MADIS counter-drone training aboard the USS Makin Island is reshaping how the US Marine Corps prepares to defend amphibious assault ships, with a newly upgraded version of the Light Marine Air-Defense Integrated System (L-MADIS) now fielded by the US Marine Corps unit operating in the Pacific.
The training took place off the coast of California last month as part of deployment preparation exercises with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-reaction force. Marines sat in a pair of small tactical vehicles chained to the ship’s deck, their sensors scanning the sky for any incoming hostile drone. The drill was deliberately uneventful: its purpose was readiness, not response.
How L-MADIS counter-drone training works at sea
The system operates as two paired vehicles. One acts as a command-and-control hub, drawing on radar, optics and a radio-frequency sensor to build a recognised air picture of nearby small drones. The second carries electronic warfare equipment designed to sever the radio link between a drone and its remote operator. According to DefenseScoop, the system is mounted on Ultra-Light Tactical Vehicles, requires four gunners to operate, and can detect drones at ranges of up to 3,000 metres.
The SkyView sensor is a particular asset: it listens passively for drone signals without transmitting, allowing operators to search for threats without revealing their own electronic position. In Ukraine, both sides have exploited electromagnetic emissions to locate and target opposing forces, making passive detection an increasingly valued capability for the US Navy and Marine Corps operating together at sea.
Once L-MADIS identifies a drone, it checks a military database of known drone types operating in the region. If it finds a match, it generates a track showing the drone’s type, direction, distance and operating frequency. An operator can then tune the jammer to that frequency and transmit interference, flooding the radio link with noise and delivering what Marines describe as a “near-kill” effect. Depending on how the drone is programmed, it may crash, hover in place, becoming a straightforward target for a Marine with a rifle and specialist anti-drone ammunition, or return to its operator, potentially exposing an enemy position.
Cpl. Julian Moore, one of the L-MADIS operators on the Makin Island, described the system as surprisingly intuitive despite its complexity. “You’re only as lethal as the operators that you have sitting in it,” he said, cautioning that expensive technology solves nothing without the right people behind it. “If you take someone and put them in the driver’s seat who has no idea what they’re doing, you’re going to be dead,” he added.
A new package and a growing funding commitment
The Marines aboard the Makin Island received an upgraded L-MADIS package two months ago, replacing the previous version with lighter, more mobile vehicles and updated sensors and jamming equipment, said 1st Lt. Adelaide Ortiz, a low-altitude air defense officer overseeing Marines assigned to the system. While the Corps has operated earlier iterations of L-MADIS for several years, this latest variant reflects the accelerating pace at which small drones are reshaping battlefield requirements.
The financial commitment behind the programme underlines that urgency. The Marine Corps requested $33 million for L-MADIS in fiscal 2024, according to DefenseScoop, a figure that reflects how seriously the service is treating the counter-drone problem across both land and maritime domains.
Lt. Gen. Jay Bargeron, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for plans, policies, and operations, told reporters last week that giving squads, platoons, and companies the means to defend themselves against one-way attack drones is “maybe one of the biggest holes in our swing.” The observation followed years of watching small, inexpensive drones reshape battlefields in Ukraine and the Middle East, where both sides have demonstrated that low-cost unmanned systems can threaten far more expensive platforms.
L-MADIS sits within that broader counter-drone effort as a ship-borne, team-operated layer of protection. Marine air defense gunners operate the camera, jammer and weapons; systems technicians maintain connectivity and feed the tactical picture to commanders aboard ship. Stinger missiles remain available for larger drones, helicopters and small aircraft, but the primary focus for the Makin Island team was electronic disruption: breaking the link before a drone gets close enough to strike. Moore put the mission simply: “The better and the more training we get, and the more expertise we get in the seats operating the vehicle is what’s going to lead to us being pretty badass with this thing.”