Latest news with #MDTF
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Army task forces ‘centerpiece' for deterring China: INDOPACOM boss
The head of the largest U.S. combatant command praised the fires capabilities that the Army's multidomain task forces bring to a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific region. The service's task forces are the 'centerpiece' of how the joint force denies Chinese military access to key areas, said Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual Land Forces Pacific conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Paparo said such units, combined with the Army's firepower, enable land forces to contribute fires that counter China's military aggression in the region. Multidomain task forces are growing and shaping exercises overseas 'We're facing a profoundly consequential moment here in the Indo-Pacific and, accordingly, the world,' Paparo said. In a call with media before the event, Army Gen. Ronald Clark, head of U.S. Army Pacific, further framed the use of the task forces. 'What we have developed over time through the joint force is the capability to flip the script if you will that land forces can provide access to air and maritime capabilities on the land,' Clark said. Units such as the multidomain task force, or MDTF, of which the Army has two operational in the region and is building a third, are 'not easily targetable,' dispersed, easy to camouflage and dominate in time and space for targeting, Clark said. Paparo pointed specifically to the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, and its recent use in the Valiant Shield military exercise in Palau. PrSM's long-range strike capability, coupled with midrange strike capabilities from maritime assets such as the Tomahawk cruise missile and long-range hypersonic weapons at the strategic layer, creates a deterrence posture across the region. PrSM is being used to give even tactical units a beyond 500-kilometer strike, putting them in the strategic fires ranges, Army Times previously reported. Lockheed Martin is currently fielding the Increment 1 version of the PrSM, which has a range of at least 500 kilometers, according to the company. Increment 2 is a land-based, anti-ship seeker. Increment 3 adds lethal payload options, while Increment 4 seeks to push existing ranges beyond 1,000 kilometers. Meanwhile, the Hawaii-based 3rd MDTF is slated to receive a Typhon midrange missile launcher battery, Defense News reported in March. The Lockheed Martin-built system, consisting of a vertical launcher that uses the Navy's Raytheon-built Standard Missile-6 and Tomahawk missiles, can strike targets between 500 to 2,000 kilometers. The system has a battery operations center, four launchers, prime movers and modified trailers. The 3rd MDTF plans to add hundreds of soldiers to the formation over the next 18 months as it seeks to fill the 2,000-soldier formation. The ultimate configuration will include a headquarters and four battalions, including a long-range precision fires battalion and a sustainment battalion, Defense News previously reported.
Japan Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
U.S. Army looks to deploy agile new unit to Japan for exercises
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.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US Army readies second Typhon battery for Pacific deployment
The U.S. Army's 3rd Multidomain Task Force unit is standing up its long-range fires battalion over the next year, including readying its Typhon battery for deployment in the Pacific theater — marking the Army's second such missile system to enter the region, according to the unit's commander. The Army has two certified and fielded Typhon batteries, also known as Midrange Capability missiles, stationed out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, Col. Michael Rose, the 3rd MDTF commander, told reporters in a media roundtable Friday. The 3rd Multidomain Task Force, or MDTF, headquartered in Hawaii, will officially receive its Typhon battery at JBLM this year, according to Rose. The Lockheed Martin-built system, consisting of a vertical launch system that uses the Navy's Raytheon-built Standard Missile-6 and Tomahawk missiles, can strike targets in the 500- to 2,000-kilometer range. The complete system has a battery operations center, four launchers, prime movers and modified trailers. Defense News first reported the Army's plan to pursue the midrange missile in September 2020. The Army fielded the capability in less than three years. The Army deployed its first Typhon missile launcher to the Philippines in 2024 as part of the joint exercise Salaknib, where the 1st MDTF transported it 8,000 miles via a C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft. The system has remained on the island of Luzon. US, Philippines expand exercise to territorial edges amid tension with China 'We're constantly looking for opportunities to exercise capability like that forward in theater,' Rose said. 'We learn enormous lessons by bringing capability into the theater.' Rose said the Army anticipates the Typhon supporting Operation Pathways, a series of year-round exercises designed to strengthen cooperation with regional allies and deter China. China criticized the first deployment of the Typhon in 2024, warning it could destabilize the region. Officials have yet to fire the missile system in the Philippines. When asked if his unit might conduct a live-fire exercise with the Typhon system, Rose said, 'We're always looking for opportunities to do live-fire with the system. It gives us enormous benefit to be able to do that, so we're looking for the opportunity to do that at any time in our campaigning activities to include the next 12 months.' Meanwhile, the Army is working to field another three batteries to the remaining multidomain task force units between fiscal 2026 and 2028, the service's Program Executive Office Missiles & Space, told Defense News. The Army plans to next field a battery to the 2nd MDTF based in Europe in fiscal 2026. The service is also working to build out its MDTF structure by fiscal 2028. Established at JBLM around 2018, the Army's first MDTF was experimental, but the service has since made it operational and will ultimately build four more. Multidomain task force units have since participated in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command exercises that have helped inform the Army's Multidomain Operations warfighting concept, which has now evolved into doctrine. The Army's fourth MDTF, stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, will focus on the Pacific theater and is anticipated to be established in full by fiscal 2027. The 5th MDTF will be stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where it will concentrate on regions as determined. It will be operational by fiscal 2028.
