Marine

The 20-year-old soldier denies the charge as protests held on Okinawa and in Tokyo.

Japan’s prime minister says the killing of a woman, allegedly by a US Marine stationed in Okinawa, is a “heinous crime”, and she has called on the United States to “thoroughly enforce discipline” amid growing outrage in Japan.

Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers on Monday that the government has urged the US to provide “full cooperation with the investigation” and called for “strict discipline among US military personnel”.

About 54,000 US military personnel, including 18,000 Marines, are stationed in Japan. The majority of these forces are based in Okinawa, a Japanese island that came under US administrative control at the end of World War II and was returned to Japan in 1972.

Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-run and drink-driving incidents by US personnel have long sparked protests on the island.

The new case involves a 20-year-old Marine who was arrested on suspicion of killing a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in the city of Naha and stealing her wallet, police said on Sunday.

The Kyodo News agency, quoting police, reported that the woman’s body was found in a hotel room and she appeared to have been strangled.

The Marine was arrested by Japanese police on Sunday and sent to prosecutors on Monday, according to Kyodo News. He has denied the charges.

“The occurrence of such a heinous crime is extremely regrettable,” Takaichi said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters on Monday that Tokyo will “continue to urge the US side to thoroughly enforce discipline” among its soldiers in Japan.

Kihara, who is in charge of mitigating the impact of US forces in Okinawa, said Tokyo has protested to the US at “various levels”.

The incident has caused outrage across Japan, and the Japanese Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence have summoned the US ambassador and the commander of US forces in Japan.

According to Jiji Press, about 100 people held protests outside the Okinawa prefectural government building on Sunday and shouted: “How much longer do we have to bear all of this?”

Another 100 people participated in a rally in Naha on Sunday, Japanese media reported.

Okinawa native Sorane Sakihama, 24, who organised a similar rally in Tokyo on Sunday, said she cried upon learning about the woman’s death.

“We couldn’t protect her. That made me so angry and sad,” the university student told the AFP news agency, adding that she was planning to organise another protest in front of the US embassy on Tuesday evening.

“I want to ask them: What are these soldiers stationed here for? They might say they are here to protect lives or boost security. But how can they say that when a life was taken by one of their own?”

Since Okinawa was returned to Japan, about 6,000 US military personnel have been arrested in Japan, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

The officer who led the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on its recent combat deployment to the Middle East told us he needs his own uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) on future deployments. Operationalizing USVs is an area where the Marines are lagging behind. In particular, he wants the ability to send USVs forward to reconnoiter potential highly-contested beach landing areas, a mission largely assumed by the Navy.

As we have frequently reported, the military use of USVs is now proliferating around the globe at an increasing rate. Ukraine has employed sea drones to devastating effect against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet vessels and facilities, forcing the general evacuation of Russian naval assets from occupied Crimea to bases in Russia proper. During Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. used them for the first time in combat, as one-way attack weapons against Iranian targets, to hunt for mins, and for a search and rescue operation to locate the crew of an AH-64 Apache helicopter downed by Iran, as well as general broad-area surveillance and awareness. China is investing heavily in the space, as well, along with many other navies around the globe, both friend and foe.

The following video shows the first U.S. use of a USV as a kamikaze weapon.

“There was a lot in theater that were being used, but it wasn’t something that we went out with,” Col. Chris P. Niedziocha told us when we asked if the 31st MEU deployed with USVs. He answered in the affirmative when we asked him if MEUs need sea drones on future deployments. He said it is part of the “explosion in robotics and autonomy” being used in combat.

“These systems are incredibly useful and capable,” explained Niedziocha, now director of the USMC Expeditionary Warfare School. “And you say, ‘Hey, you know, [in] the next war, if the first thing you’re putting through the breach isn’t a robot, something’s wrong. You say never send a Marine someplace you haven’t sent a bullet. I think the new way is [you] never want to send a Marine someplace you haven’t already sent a robot. So yeah, we’re embracing [the technology] and we’re not leaders. We’re fast followers in that regime.”

Asked for specific use cases he sees for USVs, the colonel talked about using them before putting Marines ashore.

“I can tell you if you’re doing an amphibious operation, you want to understand what’s waiting beneath the surface in the water column,” Niedziocha noted. “So something can go either with a side-looking sonar array or even forward-looking to demonstrate that there’s nothing there, and the hydrography and bathymetry is what you… need for the operation to be successful.”

Hydrography measures “the shape and features of the shoreline; the characteristics of tides, currents, and waves; and the physical and chemical properties of the water itself,” according to NOAA. Bathymetry, which is part of that, focuses on mapping the depths and shapes of underwater terrain.

These functions are critical for mine detection and determining whether there are man-made or natural obstacles that would impede landing operations. While these missions are largely being performed by the Navy, including with USVs, the Marines are moving toward making that an organic capability. Recently, the Marines announced they were testing a counter-mine USV system. The evaluation was conducted late last month at Camp Pendleton by the Program Manager Combat Support Systems (PM CSS) Explosive Hazard Defeat Team.

The test of the USV was “in response to a littoral capability gap,” according to the media release. “The solution: seek a commercial USV solution that is equipped with integrated autonomous driving and payloads that consist of Sonar, Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) cameras, Line of Sight (LOS) Communications and Acoustic Communications (AComms).”

This was part of the overall effort to develop “solutions that enable increased standoff for Marines to detect, investigate and neutralize threats,” the release added. “The innovation of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Littoral Explosive Ordnance Neutralization (LEON) systems will provide Marine EOD Technicians with the confidence to operate in contested environments while preserving combat power, increasing operational reach, and minimizing exposure to explosive threats.”

LEON is a so-called system of systems, using a remotely operated vehicle, diver equipment, an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), a USV, and an Amphibious Unmanned Ground Vehicle to enable “EOD to confirm and mark hazards and obstacles from very shallow water to the beach zone,” the media release added.

While unmanned systems have long been part of EOD operations, “we’re expanding that into maritime systems that allow more endurance and less risk for operators,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Alfredo Andrade, officer in charge, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion (ESB). “Some of the conflicts that we are engaged in take a toll on the force, and surging in new forces is costly. It turns into a logistical problem. To preserve the safety and the health of the forces… the USV and the [LEON] program exist to ensure that we have readily available combat power.”

While Niedziocha didn’t address USVs for offensive combat roles, the Marines have evaluated them for that use as well as for logistics, among other functions.

There have been many other tests, as well. Including one just this summer at RIMPAC. These trials saw the launch and recovery of one of Splash Industries’ Typhoon USVs aboard the USS Essex. The ‘Gator Navy’ of amphibious assault vessels that haul Marines and their kit around the oceans is uniquely suited to act as USV motherships. Their well decks allow for easy deployment and recovery of USVs of many sizes and capabilities near seamlessly. So it won’t be surprising if these vessels and the Marines aboard them quickly become staples in the Pentagon’s USV playbook.

Still, the Marines have a long way to go to catch up to how these systems are already being used.

The Houthi rebels of Yemen actually pioneered the operational use of kamikaze USVs years ago and Ukraine has led the way in advancements of these systems. They first employing them as kamikaze weapons, but then added machine guns and rockets and later missiles, which were used to shoot down Russian helicopters and jets. Ukraine has also used them to launch first-person view (FPV) and bomber drone attacks as well as deliver uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) into enemy territory. Last week, Ukraine claimed to have attacked a Russian USV with a USV, marking another first.

You can see that engagement in the following video.

Having recently returned from a six-month deployment that saw the Marine Corps’ first use of its Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept in a combat setting during the fight against Iran, Niedziocha has a good sense of the realities of modern warfare. His Marines operated forward arming and refueling points (FARPs) for various aircraft in combat for the first time and set up remote sensing locations.

That a commander like him who sees value in USVs is a good sign for progress in the development of these systems.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Sept. 9, 2026 2:59 PM PT

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — President Trump had been eagerly awaiting his trip to Texas for Republicans’ unusual midterm convention. But his new Air Force One had other ideas, at least for a short time.

The president arrived at Joint Base Andrews via Marine One on Wednesday afternoon for his scheduled departure to Dallas. But he was held on the helicopter for about 15 minutes as U.S. Air Force personnel were seen attending to Air Force One and an inflatable emergency slide that was seen deployed from the front right exit, across the plane from the door that Trump typically uses.

As Trump arrived at the base, the old blue and white presidential aircraft was seen moving from its hangar onto the tarmac a few hundred yards behind the new plane that Trump accepted as a gift from the Qatari government and had refurbished and painted red, white, blue and gold. The older plane’s front and rear steps were put in place, signaling the possibility that it would have to be used for Trump’s Texas trip.

Eventually, Trump emerged from Marine One and said the slide on the new plane was being tested.

“They want to make sure everything works perfectly,” the president said of the jetliner that Trump accepted as a gift from the Qatari government and had refurbished.

It was not immediately clear whether the slide was intentionally inflated for testing or whether it was an error that had to be assessed and corrected. But Trump said he was not worried. Asked whether he was satisfied that the plane was safe, he said, “Yeah, I am — or I wouldn’t be on it.”

Trump boarded shortly after as the crew continued to work. They appeared eventually to deflate, detach and cart away the deployed slide.

Air Force One, the designation for whatever aircraft carries a sitting president, took off for Dallas shortly after.

Barrow and Martin write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta. AP reporter Collin Binkley contributed to this report from Washington.