BREAKING New Army Long-Range Units Head To Germany

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BREAKING New Army Long-Range Units Head To Germany
By: SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. - Breaking Defense News 04-13-21
Re: https://breakingdefense.com/2021/04/...ng-to-germany/

The Army will create two new units to coordinate long-range warfare in Eastern Europe: a Multi-Domain Task Force and a Theater Fires Command.

Photo link: https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uplo...77-768x587.jpg
Lockheed’s prototype Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) fires from an Army HIMARS launcher truck

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is reversing Trump’s planned withdrawals from Germany and instead beefing up the Army’s capability to wage long-range, high-tech warfare, the Army announced this morning. The long-awaited announcement comes as 40,000 Russian troops mass along the border with Ukraine.

The Trump Administration had planned to pull 12,000 troops out of Germany to punish Berlin for not meeting the NATO goal of spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense. In February, the Biden Administration promptly put that plan on hold. Now comes today’s announcement from US Army Europe & Africa (the HQs for the two continents were recently merged): Not only will the Army retain three sites in Germany it had been slated to pull out of, but it will add “approximately 500 Soldiers, 35 local national positions and 750 Family members to U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden.”

The 500 soldiers will man two new units. Both are new kinds of formations the Army is using to experiment with new tactics, technologies, and organizations for long-range, high-tech operations using missiles, artificial intelligence, and cyber/electronic warfare.

The Multi-Domain Task Force-Europe, standing up on Sept. 16, will be the Army’s second MDTF. The first one was created at Fort Lewis three years ago, built around an existing rocket artillery brigade but augmented extensively with high-tech assets. It has participated in numerous exercises in the Pacific and won accolades from Army leaders for its “game-changing” capabilities.

2nd photo link: https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uplo...PM-768x606.png
A notional organization for a future Multi-Domain Task Force, with weapons ranging from hypersonic missiles to electronic warfare.

The Army has long promised to build a second MDTF in Europe and more recently said it would ultimately create five: two in the Pacific, one in Europe, one in the Arctic, and a fifth for “global response.”

“The Multi-Domain Task Force-Europe will be comprised of field artillery; composite air and missile defense; intelligence, cyberspace, electronic warfare and space; aviation and a brigade support element,” the release says. It’s likely that most of these forces are already in Europe, but the new personnel will likely fill out the MDTF headquarters and its highly specialized, highly technical Intelligence, Information, Cyber/Electronic Warfare & Space (I2CEWS) battalion.

While the MDTF is a combat unit, the other formation is a new kind of headquarters: the Army’s first Theater Fires Command, standing up on Oct. 16. Why is this necessary? To coordinate long-range missile strikes over distances far exceeding traditional HQs’ capability to command-and-control.

4th photo link: https://sites.breakingmedia.com/uplo...ad-768x361.png
Approximate ranges in miles between the Russian enclave in Kaliningrad and select NATO capitals. SOURCE: Google Maps

Russia and China have already fielded arsenals of precision-guided missiles with ranges in the hundreds or even thousands of miles. Now the Army is racing to do the same, developing the 300-plus-mile PrSM, the 1,000-mile MRC, and the hypersonic LRHW, whose range is classified but is probably intercontinental. (PrSM will fire from existing HIMARS launchers, MRC and LRHW from specialized and larger ones). All these weapons will enter service, in prototype form, in 2023 and become part of the Multi-Domain Task Forces’ arsenal, while the Theater Fires Command will orchestrate the far-reaching strikes.

While some in the Air Force and friendly thinktanks argue that the Army’s long-range strike efforts needlessly duplicate what bombers already do better, senior joint officers have endorsed the Army efforts as a useful option. That Pentagon officials are letting the Army create its new Theater Fires Command is an implicit vote of confidence in the service’s plans for long-range warfare.

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Personal note: Don't ever rule out the US military!

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