An Indo-Pacific oriented Multi-Domain Task Force loaded the Typhon Missile System onto a chartered civilian vessel for the first time to validate the ground-based Mk.41 vertical launch system’s ability to be transported via maritime methods for coastal and amphibious operations.
The U.S. Army’s 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, also known as the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force’s Long-Range Fires Battalion, conducted the test last November in the Port of Tacoma using the chartered Seacor Lee. Previously contracted by the service for Pathways 2024, a series of Indo-Pacific exercises, the offshore support vessel provided logistical support to forward-deployed Army units in the region. According to the service, the training event aimed “to reduce risk for potential upcoming deployments of the system via maritime transport.”
Port officials, Lockheed Martin engineers, and Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command personnel assisted the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force during the test.
Lt. Col. Blane in a press release on the test:
“It’s important to note that this battery didn’t even exist a year ago. Now you have qualified crews and systems that just demonstrated new methods to deliver fires and move in theater,”
“This means that we’re building capability faster and more efficiently while providing increasingly lethal options to support commanders in the Indo-Pacific.”
The first deployment of the Typhon Missile System on foreign soil occured last April when the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force arrived in the Philippines with the launcher. A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster delivered the system to Laoag International Airport in Northern Luzon, where it has since remained in an indefinite deployment. During the system’s stay in the Philippines, it has participated in major exercises such as Salaknib and Balikatan, the latter of which saw its virtual employment during an anti-ship drill.
Typhon Missile System procurement by the Philippines when?
While Manila upholds the deployment of the ground-based missile launcher as necessary for its military modernization and security cooperation with Washington, it has also drawn the ire of Beijing. From its location in the Philippine province of Ilocos Norte, the Typhon Missile System’s 450 kilometer SM-6 and 1500 kilometer Tomahawk missiles can reach into the South China Sea, Luzon Strait, and even mainland China. In contrast to calls from China to withdraw the system, Philippine defense officials have voiced their desire to procure the intermediate-ranged system for their own use. U.S. troops have been seen training their Philippine counterparts in the operation of the system during bilateral Army exercise Salaknib.
With Pacific Pathways 2025 set to start soon, it is unclear where or if the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force will deploy the missile system to another country in the region or throughout the Philippines. Described by the U.S. Army as a “credible, land-based maritime strike capability,” the system has been constantly highlighted by the service as a significant contribution to what they can bring to the Indo-Pacific.
