The Army’s main long-range missile battery in Europe fires new weapon for the first time

A specialized Army artillery battery focused on the European theater carried out its first test fire of a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile from a Typhon missile system in recent weeks.

Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, a long-range fires battalion, test fired the Typhon missile system almost a year after it was formally established. It was the first time the unit, one of a handful of Army batteries assigned the Typhon, had fired a Tomahawk.

The test took place on Sept. 28 at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California but the Army did not announce it until this past week. The live-fire event was part of a five-week training program at the naval station to familiarize soldiers with the Typhon, also known as the Mid-Range Capability system.

The Typhon is able to fire two types of long-range munitions fielded by the Navy: the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, giving the Army the ability to carry out long-range land-attack missiles at targets as far as 1,000 miles away. The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, that the battalion also uses, has a shorter range of up to roughly 186 miles. 

Lt. Col. Derek Bartlett, the commander of the battalion, said in the Army’s announcement that the Typhon system lets the unit “get that range for that combatant commander to give them options and capabilities where they really haven’t had it before from the land force.” It opens up greater firepower for soldiers, instead of having to call in support from other parts of the joint force, he said.

The battalion is part of the Army’s 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force, which is based in Germany.  The unit was supposed to deploy to Europe this year, but that scheduled deployment was canceled in May, part of a wider curtailing of Army movements to Europe.  The U.S. and NATO had previously described the battalion’s deployment as part of “episodic deployments of the long-range fires capabilities.” 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment was formally stood up in late 2025, although plans for sending it to Europe preceded it by several months.

Multi-domain task forces are meant to operate within range of enemy forces, with the mission of quickly detecting and disrupting adversaries’ surveillance and targeting capabilities. It does so through a mix of cyber and electronic warfare capabilities and long-range missile strikes, carried out by units like 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment. 

Multi-Domain Command-Europe describes the battalion as United States Army Europe and Africa’s “primary kinetic long‑range precision fires unit” and says that it “extends U.S. operational reach and lethality, reinforces commitments to NATO allies, and contributes to deterrence and regional stability.”

The test is notable as its the first time an Army force focused on Europe has fired the Mid-Range Capability system, even if it happened stateside. The Army has fielded the weapons platform in the Pacific over the last two years, including sending it to the Philippines and Japan. Speaking at the Association of the United States Army conference this past week, Maj. Gen. Bernard Harrington, commanding general of 7th Infantry Division / Multi-Domain Command – Pacific, noted that the Army has learned from a 30-month deployment of the Typhon system in the Pacific, including from its recent participation in the Balikatan exercise in the Philippines.

The Army stood up its fourth multi-domain task force at Fort Carson, Colorado, earlier in October.