U.S. Army looks to deploy agile new unit to Japan for exercises

Japan Times

07-05-2025

The U.S. Army plans to deploy one of its new agile, multidomain units to Japan for exercises as it looks to work more closely with allies and partners to help deter and potentially confront adversaries in the Indo-Pacific, the army's Pacific commander said Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters, U.S. Army Gen. Ronald Clark didn't provide specifics but noted that the focus of the service's new Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTFs), 'and not just in their employment or deployment to Japan, is to combine ... capabilities to challenge China's anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) network.'
A2/AD refers to Beijing's strategy of working to keep the U.S. and allied forces at bay in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
Concerned about the threat posed by Russia and China, the U.S. Army has been setting up MDTFs that can operate across all warfighting domains — land, air, sea, space and cyberspace.
Equipped with the army's latest weapons, such as new long-range precision missile systems and advanced cybercapabilities, the Pentagon has already established three such formations in strategically significant locations worldwide and is planning two more over the next two to three years.
'We're right now in the process of making our formations more mobile, more lethal, more survivable and more resilient by increasing the lethality of our soldiers and giving them capabilities that they can use right now ... to be able to deter our adversaries,' Clark said.
Two of those formations — the 1st and 3rd MDTFs — already operate in the Indo-Pacific and a third is in the works.
'Our opportunity to deploy those capabilities, really across the region, is something that we look forward to continuing to do,' Clark said after elements of the 1st MDTF, which is headquartered in the state of Washington, deployed the Typhon Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system to the northern Philippines for exercises in April last year.
The system, which is capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a range of 1,600 kilometers as well as SM-6 missiles — has remained in the country since. Philippine officials have suggested that it will stay in the country indefinitely, with Manila also announcing plans to acquire its own midrange system.
'Our ability ... to synchronize in time and space long-range precision fires, (a) cybercapability, space capability and information operations in order to penetrate and neutralize an A2/AD threat is important,' Clark said.
A U.S. Army High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) assigned to the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, is readied as part of the Balikatan 25 military exercises, in Palawan, the Philippines, on April 28. |
U.S. ARMY
Crucial to success, he added, is the ability to deploy those assets in a way that's dispersed, easily camouflaged and allows U.S. forces to be one the move, so that they cannot be targeted at any one time and place.
'Both the will and capability to deploy those assets is the key to deterrence, and we plan to do that whenever possible,' he said. 'This is all about our ability to prevent war by building necessary capacity and interoperability with our partners and allies in the region.'
Clark suggested the topic could be discussed at the U.S. Army's upcoming Land Forces Pacific Symposium in Hawaii from May 13 to 15. The event, he said, will bring together representatives from 32 Indo-Pacific nations, including at least 11 army chiefs as well as the commanders of the two MDTFs currently operating in the Indo-Pacific.
His remarks came after the four-star general, who took up his post in November, wrote late last month that the U.S. Army would not only deploy an MDTF to Japan but also 'employ long-range non-kinetic space and cyber effects across the theater' as the Pentagon increasingly views allies as 'force multipliers.'
'The whole goal of this is that we want stronger and more resilient partnerships and a network of partnerships, not less going forward,' Clark said Wednesday. 'Less does not deter.'
As part of a strategic move to reinforce its military posture in the Indo-Pacific, Washington has been considering the idea of having an MDTF 'operate out of Japan' as a part of exercises, along with a powerful missile system, since 2024.
Last September, then-U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the Pentagon had already made its interest clear with the Self-Defense Forces, adding that any deployment would 'go at the pace of the Japanese government.'
Clark, who oversees 106,000 personnel, told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that the goal is for the U.S. Army to operate the new multidomain agile units on front-line territories, including in the first island chain — which runs from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing China's coastal seas — to deter Chinese aggression.
In a conflict, the idea would be for these forces to disperse, hit Chinese targets from land, collect valuable battlespace information and create openings for U.S. air and naval forces to maneuver, Clark said in the interview, adding that the role of the new missile systems being deployed to the region is to help the units do their job.
Besides the Typhon, the U.S deployed the HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system to this year's Balikatan exercises in the Philippines along with the Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), a ground-based anti-ship missile system.
'If it gives them (China) pause, if it causes them to think twice, if it causes them to delay any thoughts they would have about some sort of aggressive action towards Taiwan that would result somehow in reunification, let them have it,' Clark was quoted as saying about giving these systems to allies and partners.