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The combat capabilities of the United States and its regional allies in the Indo-Pacific region can be understood to some extent from the just-concluded 2024 “Shoulder to Shoulder” joint military exercise. The key point is the U.S. Army’s establishment of short- to medium-range strike capabilities close to the Taiwan Strait to implement the forward deployment strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, creating a long-term presence of U.S. land-based strike forces covering the entire Taiwan Strait region.
In the past three weeks, military forces from the Philippines, the United States, Australia, and France conducted the largest “Shoulder to Shoulder” joint military exercise to date in various parts of the Philippines. The exercise aimed to enhance maritime security, joint service capabilities, amphibious operations, air operations, and information and cyberspace combat capabilities.
Major General Michael Cederholm of the U.S. Multi-Domain Task Force said, “As democratic countries, we share common values, and this is no coincidence. We defend freedom, protect our shores from external threats, and are proud to do so.”
The “Shoulder to Shoulder” initiative prepares joint forces to respond to potential sudden conflicts and catastrophic events, enhancing the collective effort of nations to protect Philippine sovereignty and maintain freedom and openness in the Indo-Pacific region.
In this year’s “Shoulder to Shoulder” exercise, the U.S. Marine Corps Pacific Navy and the Philippine Armed Forces conducted a 24-hour maritime critical terrain security operation on the northern islands of the Batanes Group. During the operation, a U.S. Army artillery unit from the Multi-Domain Task Force conducted rapid deployment training of the HIMARS rocket system in the northernmost region of the Philippines. This training showcased the delivery capability of the HIMARS system in a Pacific island environment. This was the second demonstration of the “HIRAIN” operation by the U.S. Army in a few days, where the HIMARS system of the U.S. Army’s First Multi-Domain Task Force arrived at the northern islands of Palawan and Luzon using LCAC hovercraft for rapid beach landing.
It takes 30 minutes to load the HIMARS rocket system onto a C-130 transport aircraft, and only 10 minutes to unload it from the aircraft and prepare for firing. This means that the deployment time of the HIMARS system from the nearest U.S. military base in the Philippines to the northern islands of the Philippines for combat readiness may not exceed 1 hour.
During the HIMARS rapid infiltration operation, the Multi-Domain Task Force rapidly deployed the HIMARS system to designated locations and conducted simulated attacks against hypothetical threats. These exercises enhanced the interoperability between the U.S. and the Philippines in complex coastal and shoreline defense operations. The training included reconnaissance, sonar hydrographic surveys, reconnaissance exercises, amphibious landings, and air assault exercises to ensure the security of critical maritime terrain, establish forward bases, and forward ammunition replenishment points; projecting regional combat power through the rapid transport and entry into firing positions of the HIMARS system.
Units participating in the HIMARS rapid infiltration operation included the Philippine Marine Corps, the U.S. Army’s First Multi-Domain Task Force, the U.S. Marine Corps’ Third Amphibious Assault Battalion, the U.S. Air Force’s 317th Airlift Wing, and the 353rd Special Operations Wing.
In addition to the HIMARS rocket system, the U.S. Army may also deploy the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), a land-based missile with precise ground attack capabilities that will develop a sea attack variant. The first set of Army Precision Strike Missiles was delivered to the U.S. Army last year.
However, the greater highlight of the U.S. Multi-Domain Task Force entering the northernmost islands of the Philippines was that they also carried medium-range missiles. As part of the U.S. Army’s Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) program, the extended-range Typhon medium-range missile system also participated in the Shoulder to Shoulder exercise. The Typhon missile system can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles and Standard-6 (SM-6) ballistic missiles, covering a range of 1,500 to 2,500 kilometers.
On April 7, a medium-range capability (MRC) Typhon missile launcher from the First Multi-Domain Task Force’s long-range fire battalion, carried by a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport aircraft from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, flew 15 hours and traveled 8,000 miles to the northern combat zone of Luzon Island in the Philippines. The main training areas for the joint maritime critical terrain security operation are the islands of Mauriz, Ibajat, and Batan in the northern Batanes Group. These locations are just over 100 kilometers from the southernmost tip of Taiwan, a crucial gateway guarding the Bashi Strait.
Mark Lenzi, the commander of the Missile Battalion of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Third Marine Amphibious Regiment, stated that in northern Luzon, a rifle company of the Third Marine Amphibious Regiment of the U.S. Marine Corps cooperated with the Fourth Navy Marine Brigade of the Philippine Navy, conducting expeditionary forward base combat training to ensure the security of critical maritime terrain, support the coastal defense of the Philippine archipelago, and demonstrate the capabilities of reserve forces to the joint forces.
The landing of the Typhon missile system in the combat zone in northern Luzon, Philippines, marks the first deployment of a land-based cruise missile launcher by the United States outside its mainland since the end of the Cold War. This was made possible by the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at that time.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a military control agreement reached between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, required both parties to destroy short-range missiles with ranges of 500 to 1,000 kilometers and medium-range missiles with ranges of 1,000 to 5,500 kilometers by June 1, 1991. After the end of the Cold War, both parties accused each other of not fulfilling their obligations. At the same time, China took advantage of the situation to develop land-based and sea-based short- to medium-range weapon systems without constraint, posing a rapid threat to the Indo-Pacific region and the entire international order. In February 2019, President Trump announced a suspension of the treaty for 180 days. A month later, Russian President Putin signed a document suspending the INF Treaty.
Although both China and Russia blame the United States as the main reason for the INF Treaty’s dissolution, the INF Treaty, as a “gentleman’s agreement,” seemed to have little constraint on Russia. China and Russia simply wanted to use the INF Treaty to tie the hands and feet of the United States, gaining an advantage over the United States in regional conflicts. The demise of the INF Treaty has freed the United States from the weakness of lacking significant short- to medium-range strike capabilities in regional high-end conflicts. However, the reality of the U.S. falling behind in hypersonic missile technology cannot be attributed solely to the INF Treaty. Fortunately, after the abolition of the INF Treaty, the United States has rapidly caught up in the field of hypersonic missiles and even shown a trend of leading the way.
The Typhon missile system, designed by Lockheed Martin, is a versatile medium-range missile launch system carried by a semi-trailer, developed as a land-based version based on the U.S. Navy’s Mk.41 Vertical Launch System. It consists of four launchers, a command center, and related logistics vehicles, capable of launching two BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles and two RIM-174 missiles (also known as standard-6 missiles) simultaneously.
These launchers form the core of the U.S. Army’s new Multi-Domain Task Force equipment to address a wide range of threats from Russia and China. Equipped with the Army Missile Battalion of the task force, these units also have high-mobility artillery rocket systems and Army Precision Strike Missiles.
This year’s “Shoulder to Shoulder” exercise has more extensively used HIMARS, enhancing the Philippine Armed Forces’ understanding and operational capabilities of HIMARS and similar systems. Currently, HIMARS users in the Pacific region are gradually increasing, with Singapore already in service and Australia planning to acquire 20 sets. The U.S. approved Taiwan’s purchase of 11 HIMARS systems in 2020.
With the Typhon missile system entering the Philippines and the increasing deployment of HIMARS in the region, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is striving to achieve a forward deployment in the Taiwan Strait region through rapid infiltration operations. This represents the entry of various precision strike capabilities of the U.S. Army, ranging from hundreds to over two thousand kilometers, into the northern region of the Philippines, covering the Taiwan Strait, Bashi Strait, Miyako Strait, and the entire Taiwan Strait region, as well as most of mainland China’s coastal areas.
Commander Bernard Harrington of the First Multi-Domain Task Force stated that the U.S. Army emphasizes that Typhon is a joint firepower support for the Army and Marine Corps as well as other naval departments. The system provides reliable land-based sea strike capabilities. “In any case, we will strive to prevent the next battle. But if we fail, I know that this force is ready to provide full sea strike capabilities in the Pacific.”
Written by Charlton (Journalist for the Epoch Times, with over a decade of military experience, mainly engaged in military education and some technical management)
Production: Current Military Production Team
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