Compass Points -- Sinking Feeling
The New Multi-Domain Task Force
Compass Points -- Sinking Feeling
The New Multi-Domain Task Force
June 26, 2024
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One of the secrets to US military power is joint military power. It takes capabilities from all the US military services to keep the US and the world safe.
While Marine aircraft participated in the recent SINKEX, it was primarily a test of the Army's new Multi-Domain Task Force. The War Zone is reporting, "Army’s New PRsM Ballistic Missile Hits Moving Ship For The First Time In Pacific Test."
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The U.S. Army’s new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missile has, for the first time, been successfully employed against a moving target at sea. Taking place during the Valiant Shield 24 Sink Exercise (SINKEX), the engagement also involved high-altitude balloons, equipped with “electromagnetic spectrum sensors and radio networking equipment,” and an ultra-long-endurance aerial drone, which were part of the kill chain. The scenario is very much indicative of the kind of distributed sensor/shooter network the Army has been working on for years now and which is seen as particularly relevant in the Pacific theater.
Two PrSM missiles were fired during the SINKEX, from the Army’s Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (AML), in Palau, Micronesia, on June 16. This was, according to the Army, the first time that PrSM and AML had been employed outside of the United States. The units responsible for operating these systems were the Army’s 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force (3MDTF) and 1-181 Artillery Regiment of the Tennessee National Guard.
-- The War Zone
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The Army has even practiced how to get their Multi-Domain Task Force missiles in position and then how to relocate them. The method they have practiced is using a C-130. The whole process of moving the Army missile unit from one location to another is not stealthy and it is not fast, but at least the Army has a method. In addition, the Army is focusing on acquiring hypersonic missiles while the Marine Corps is still buying nothing but a few subsonic missiles.
A Congressional Research Report explains the Army's Multi-Domain Task Force.
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What Is a Multi-Domain Task Force?
. . . MDTFs are designed to support freedom of action of U.S. forces. MDTFs are to be scalable from operational to strategic level and can be modified to support the needs of individual commanders. MDTFs also provide supported commanders the ability to plan, integrate, control, track, and assess the effectiveness of joint counter-A2/AD activities.
—CRS Report - The Army's Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF)
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The Army's Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) is designed, "to support freedom of action of U.S. forces." This is a capability that helps the Marine Corps. When the Marine Corps is moving quickly toward a crisis shore, the MDTF can provide intel and assistance. What the MDTF cannot do is replace the traditional crisis response capability of the Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps should be focused primarily on being the first to fight force, the Nation's shock troops. When a global crisis or contingency erupts, the Marine Corps must be in position nearby, ready to arrive quickly and deter, assist, and fight. Not only is it important that the Navy and Marine Corps' ARG-MEU arrives quickly, but it is also just as important that it can be quickly reinforced, augmented, and expanded. The always ready, global Marine Corps crisis response force is a powerful tool for US decision makers.
One of the secrets to US military power is joint military power. It takes capabilities from all the US military services to keep the US and the world safe. In particular, all four major military branches must relentlessly focus on what they each do best. The Marine Corps can never do as well what other services already do better. And other services can never do what the Marine Corps does best.
Compass Points salutes the Army's Multi-Domain Task Force and also salutes all those Marines on active duty today and those once on active duty, who are working to upgrade, restore, and enhance Marine capabilities needed for Devil Dog global crisis response.
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CRS Report - 04/19/2024
The Army's Mult-Domain Task Force (MDTF)
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11797
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Army.mil - 06/21/2024
3d MDTF demonstrates ability to operate in the Indo-Pacific
By Major Stephen Page
https://www.army.mil/article/277487/3d_mdtf_demonstrates_ability_to_operate_in_the_indo_pacific
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The War Zone - 06/24/2024
Army’s New PRsM Ballistic Missile Hits Moving Ship For The First Time In Pacific Test
During the Valiant Shield exercise, the missile was fired from an unmanned launcher against a ship with the help of a high-endurance balloon and drone.
By Thomas Newdick
The question no one is asking is where was the Marine Littoral Regiment’s NSM anti-ship missile in the SINKEX (Marine F/A-18Cs did participate). My guess is the Marines still don’t have an initial operational capability (IOC) after almost 5 years.
The anti-ship missile fired by the Army was the PrSM, a supersonic missile with a range of about 310NM. Planned future upgrades will extend the range to 400NM and then to about 600NM. The PrSM can be fired from HIMARS, which begs the second question. Why didn’t the Marines pursue the PrSM instead of the subsonic NSM with a range of about 115NM. My guess is because the Marines circumvented the combat development process in their rush to boast relevancy in the Western Pacific.
Each of the Army’s Multi-Domain Task Forces has a strategic fires battalion, which consists of a sort range battery (PrSM missile); a mid-range battery (TLAM w/range of over 1,000NM); and a long range battery (Long Range Hypersonic Weapon w/range of 1,800NM and speed of Mach 5).
The 38th and 39th Commandant have destroyed the global response capability of the Marine Corps to fund a duplicative, inferior, and largely ineffective missile force. Go figure?
Since the Army has the largest budget and the most resources, why does the Marine Corps want to eliminate its most unique contribution to National Defense, that as a combined arms naval expeditionary force, and duplicate what the Army is doing? Former Commandant Berger was appointed in 2019. As early as 2017, Admiral Harry Harris, then Commander, U.S. Pacific Command, suggested that the Army should begin work to sink enemy ships. The 1st Multi Domain Task Force of the US Army stood up in 2017 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. So, Admiral Harris' request for the Army to sink enemy ships was almost two years prior to CMC Berger's concept to scrap the time tested combined arms naval expeditionary Marine Corps, and turn it into a missile force. If the Army was requested to do this, why was the Marine Corps giving up its one mission which no other service could do?? Admiral Harris did not request this of the Marine Corps. He specifically requested the Army. This makes no sense. Its not like the Marine Corps was just adding a few anti-ship missile batteries to its T/O. This turned the Marine Corps on its head, and created a new organization and eliminated the one thing the Marine Corps did and no other service can duplicate. With many hot spots brewing up over the world, the United States now has no credible combined arms naval expeditionary force to meet the requirement for a "globally responsive" (to use General McAbee's phrase) Marine Corps.