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1st Multi-Domain Task Force deploys the Army’s first Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon system

By 1st Lt. Richard ParlatoMarch 30, 2023

A U.S Army Soldier lifts the hydraulic launching system on the new Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) during Operation Thunderbolt Strike at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, March 3, 2023. During the LRHW system development, the Army’s Rapid Capabilities & Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) implemented a Soldier-centered design concept which uses formal and informal Soldier touch points to obtain early feedback to influence design, speed up development, and ensure an operationally effective weapon system.
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A U.S Army Soldier lifts the hydraulic launching system on the new Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) during Operation Thunderbolt Strike at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, March 3, 2023. During the LRHW system development, the Army’s Rapid Capabilities & Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) implemented a Soldier-centered design concept which uses formal and informal Soldier touch points to obtain early feedback to influence design, speed up development, and ensure an operationally effective weapon system. (Photo Credit: Spc. Chandler Coats, U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to a multi-domain artillery battery practice operating the new Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) during Thunderbolt Strike at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, March 3, 2023. In Fall 2021, the multi-domain expert Soldiers received the first prototype hypersonic hardware at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to a multi-domain artillery battery practice operating the new Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) during Thunderbolt Strike at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, March 3, 2023. In Fall 2021, the multi-domain expert Soldiers received the first prototype hypersonic hardware at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. (Photo Credit: Spc. Chandler Coats, U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — In her keynote address at the 2021 annual meeting and exposition of the Association of the United States Army, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth predicted that “fiscal year 23 will be the year of long-range precision fires.”

In February, the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force long-range fires battalion, 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, deployed the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon — or LRHW — system over 3,100 miles from Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Cape Canaveral, Florida during Thunderbolt Strike, a full rehearsal of expeditionary hypersonic launch capabilities.

The deployment exercised critical command and control linkages between U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Army Pacific, Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office — known as RCCTO, and 1st MDTF.

Soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment conducted training and practice drills with the LRHW system in Cape Canaveral.

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to a multi-domain artillery battery within USARPAC are recognized by LT. Gen. Rasch of the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) for their work. The Army worked in close collaboration with private contractors to develop its first hypersonic system—which can travel at speeds of Mach 5 or higher. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Chandler Coats)
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to a multi-domain artillery battery within USARPAC are recognized by LT. Gen. Rasch of the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) for their work. The Army worked in close collaboration with private contractors to develop its first hypersonic system—which can travel at speeds of Mach 5 or higher. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Chandler Coats) (Photo Credit: Spc. Chandler Coats, U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

“Our Soldiers processed real missions, with real data, in real time, to produce real effects to learn lessons and generate readiness. We’re training the way we will fight, and our Soldiers are ready to deploy and employ this critical capability forward,” said Brig. Gen. Bernard Harrington, the 1st MDTF commander.

Thunderbolt Strike marks a new milestone between the 1st MDTF, RCCTO, industry and numerous Army partners that generated immediate feedback from stakeholders on the complex system.

Col. Ian Humphrey, RCCTO’s hypersonic weapon integration project manager, highlighted 1st MDTF’s rapid progress in building the technical and procedural capacity to integrate the LRHW system’s capabilities into the Defense Department’s Joint Force. “This unit is fully trained and has proven that they can be deployed away from home station and go right into whatever mission they’re given.”

“Thunderbolt Strike proved the power of interagency cooperation to build the multi-domain force of the future,” said Harrington. “The second half of the Army’s year of long-range precision fires will continue to represent groundbreaking strides toward integrated deterrence in the Pacific.”

“Our first battery of Long-Range Hypersonic Weapons is training with their ground equipment at JBLM, and by this fall we will have our first battery of Long-Range Hypersonic Weapons, and that element will be part of our 1st Multi-Domain Task Force,” Wormuth said recently in an article in Defense Daily.

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