U.S. Army Deploys New Missile Launcher to The Philippines

The U.S. Army’s new ground-based launcher, capable of supporting Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6, appeared for the first time in the Indo-Pacific in a deployment to the Northern Philippines for military drills.

Mid-Range Capability, also known as the Typhon Weapons System, is a Lockheed Martin design that takes the naval Mk.41 vertical launch system and modifies it for land-based operations. These launchers form a core component of the U.S. Army’s new Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTF), which were created to address the wide range of threats faced by Russia and China. The Typhon battery, composed of four launchers, a command center, and associated logistical vehicles, is assigned to the task force’s Strategic Fires Battalion, further comprised of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and Dark Eagle Hypersonic batteries.

In this first-ever deployment, the 1st MDTF stationed out of the continental United States at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington deployed Typhon on a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster.  Over 8,000 miles and 15 hours later, America’s first ground-based cruise missile launcher since the Cold War rolled onto Philippine soil at an unidentified airfield in Northern Luzon for the bilateral U.S.-Philippine ground forces exercise Salaknib 2024. In recent years, activities in Salaknib have shifted to include higher-end drills, such as coastal defense, amid the Philippine military’s shift from internal security operations to archipelagic coastal defense.

Last summer, then-Philippine Army chief Romeo Brawner announced that the Philippines would acquire HIMARS, another U.S. missile system, to bolster its territorial defense capabilities. These acquisitions and modernization plans come amid increased tensions and a series of spats between Manila and Beijing in their territorial disputes South China Sea, particularly on Chinese activities within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.  These defense system of the Philippines are purposely for self-protection against any nation that planned to harm the country.