The live-fire event, which took place in Poland, Germany and Arizona on May 11-27, was led by the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force under 56th Artillery Command and included international allies.

Maj. Gen. John Rafferty, commanding general of 56th Artillery Command, called it a “premier training event” that tested the task force’s ability to operate across all domains, find targets “at depth” and strike those targets with kinetic and non-kinetic effects.

In U.S. military parlance, the term “kinetic effects” generally refers to munitions or other projectiles, while non-kinetic effects include things like electronic warfare, directed energy and cyber capabilities.

The Multi-Domain Task Force is “improving and refining the technology and the tactics, techniques and procedures. Our soldiers, our sergeants and our lieutenants are the ones who have their hands on this equipment, who are determining the best way to employ it, to get the effects and find the targets that we’re asking them to. And we are putting that feedback right back into the system to improve the capability and optimize not just the equipment that we have, but the way that in which we’re employing it,” Rafferty told reporters Friday during a teleconference.

The results of the exercise are also setting the conditions for the evolution of Rafferty’s command into a multi-domain command in Europe that’s going to take place over the next few months, he noted.

Unmanned systems of various types were key components of the latest iteration of Arcane Thunder, part of an effort to demonstrate the ability to “fight with live data” across a large-scale combat theater.

The Army teamed up with the Navy in the employment of unmanned surface vessels to test out the multi-domain ops concept — which fits in with the Pentagon’s vision for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) to better connect the sensors, shooters and information networks of the U.S. military services and allies and partners.

“It’s really trying to perfect the ability to transition from the littoral domain to the land domain, and … how does the MDTF, as part of the joint force, gather data from our joint partners and also share data with our joint partners,” Col. Patrick Moffett, commander of the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force, told reporters about the use of unmanned surface vessels during Arcane Thunder. “Working with the USVs, we worked the joint kill chain where the Navy vessels would identify a target, that target would get passed to the second MDTF all-domain operations center, and then we would pass that target to really, for this exercise, to our Polish partners. So that was the tie-in.”

As a land-based force, the Army’s understanding of littorals is often limited, but those USVs gave the task force the ability to better understand what was going on in the sea domain, he noted.

The robo-boats were also used to haul Army equipment in a contested logistics scenario, where the military might need to push that type of gear forward to “isolated elements,” Moffett explained.

But USVs weren’t the only uncrewed systems involved in Arcane Thunder. Drones, high-altitude balloons (HAB) and unattended ground sensors were also part of the mix.

Lt. Col. Aaron Ritzema, commander of the 2nd Multi-Domain Effects Battalion, noted that soldiers used sensor data to inform the employment of so-called “launched effects” — such as loitering munitions — to strike targets.

“For us, as we kind of, you know, fought through the scenario-based portion of this exercise, it was using … the micro HAB to provide that geolocation. And then that would trigger battalion- and company-level decision points on if and when … we launched the launched effect to actually close the kill chain on that,” he told reporters.

Stitching together the different technologies involved in the exercise and enabling interoperability between platforms and payloads were some of the biggest challenges the Army had to tackle, he noted.

Rafferty emphasized the importance of being able to pass live data through mission command systems — which in the case of Arcane Thunder, involved forces in both Europe and the continental United States.

He noted that the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force under Moffett’s command demonstrated the ability “to make sense of the information and generate enough fidelity to produce targets that then, in some cases, were passed back to the 56th multi-domain headquarters … to work through the process of assigning, you know, the right shooter to those particular targets. So there was a whole range of possibilities and scenarios there.”

Rafferty added: “Really the breakthrough, like I said, was getting that data in virtually real-time from a micro HAB, refined by another platform, made sense of by [Moffett’s team in Poland] and Aaron Ritzema’s soldiers at Fort Huachuca [in Arizona] … and then, in seconds, back here to Wiesbaden and Mainz-Kastel in Germany for, you know, additional analysis and assigning to the right shooter. So really taking that kill chain and taking what was once, you know, hours to really into minutes, essentially … That live data part is probably the biggest breakthrough for us, from my standpoint.”

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While the MDTF was created, in part, to provide the Army long-range fires capabilities, the service’s secretary said their non-kinetic weapons are sometimes overlooked and can be an important facilitator. In U.S. military parlance, the term “kinetic” generally refers to missiles or other traditional types of weapon systems that physically engage targets, whereas non-kinetic tools can include cyber, electronic warfare and other means of attack.

“What I think is starting to come together, from what I saw, is the possibility of using the non-kinetic effects to be able to sort of open up windows in time in a very anti-access, area-denial environment where we can then use kinetic fires. That was sort of a connection that I hadn’t seen us make up until recently,” Christine Wormuth said Tuesday during an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, describing observations from this summer’s Talisman Sabre exercise. “There’s a tendency to focus on the fires function of the Multi-Domain Task Force — thinking about the battalion that will have [the Precision Strike Missile], for example, or the long-range hypersonic weapon. And I think sometimes that comes at the expense of the non-kinetic capabilities that the Multi-Domain Task Force has.”

The MDTF was created in 2017. There are now three in existence with one focused on Europe and two on the Pacific. The organization was designed to be in constant contact with adversaries during the so-called competition phase of conflict. It is capable of deep sensing and long-range precision fires and focused primarily on the strategic level.

The task force has a non-kinetic unit that possesses cyber, electronic warfare, information and space capabilities. It was formerly called the I2CEWS because it included intelligence, information, cyber, electronic warfare and space capabilities and personnel. It’s now known as the Multi-Domain Effects Battalion.

Wormuth noted that these non-kinetic capabilities can help obscure friendly units.

“What I am talking about is, speaking of sensing, for example, so obviously, if an adversary is out there trying to sense where we are to presumably target us, for example — if we are able to use cyber capabilities or EW capabilities or space capabilities, for example, or some combination to be able to block that view of what we’re doing, that can then open up a window in time for us to launch a kinetic effect,” she said. “That’s, I think, what we’re trying to get to. Given how contested the environment is going to be, we can’t assume that we’re going to have an open window all the time. We have to find ways to open those windows so that we can bring our fires capability.”

Previously, officials have noted that the MDTF will play a key role for the joint force when it comes to targeting — both with kinetic and non-kinetic weapons – by using its deep sensing capabilities, which can also extend into kinetic and non-kinetic spaces.

For example, long-range electronic warfare and sensing capabilities can help cue forces to be able to locate enemy assets.

“The Multi-Domain Task Force is the task force that is going to continue to do the target development for the joint force. And it’s going to be able to fuse together information at speeds and then be able to share that with other joint assets and other joint capabilities, which puts the Army and the Multi-domain Task Force as a central and critical role in joint targeting,” Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of Army Pacific, said last year.  “The joint advances that are made by the Multi-Domain Task Force are critical in land contributions to the joint force for targeting.”

Sources have indicated in the past that the Army’s Pacific-focused Multi-Domain Task Forces will work to enable its sister services to poke holes in adversary defenses, commonly referred to in military parlance as anti-access, area denial— which refers to the combination of long-range sensors and weapons that threaten friendly forces and force them to operate from farther away.

Capabilities they’ll possess, once fully developed and fielded, include the Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool, a command-and-control planning capability that allows forces to visualize the potential effects of these types of weapons and chart courses of action to prevent their forces and systems from being jammed during operations; Multi-Function Electronic Warfare, an airborne pod that’s designed as the first brigade-organic airborne electronic attack asset and can provide limited cyberattack capability; and the Terrestrial Layer System-Echelons Above Brigade, a capability that will be designed for higher echelons that will need to monitor and sense the battlefield across greater distances.

Gen. Randy George, the Army’s vice chief of staff and acting chief of staff, noted that beyond cyber and electronic warfare, the Army is looking at directed energy as a non-kinetic enabler.

“These are things that we’re experimenting with and trying to move forward. But again, if you get to a way where you have magazine depths with that, at a much cheaper for cost per round, so to speak, I think that will help as well,” he said at the CSIS conference.

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The task forces are designed to be in constant contact with adversaries during the so-called competition phase of conflict. They are capable of deep sensing and long-range precision fires. The so-called backbone of these task forces are their Multi-Domain Effects Battalions, formerly called I2CEWS because they include intelligence, information, cyber, electronic warfare and space capabilities and personnel.

The first MDTF was created in 2017 while the 3^rd MDTF, also located in the Pacific, was just activated in late September. The other MDTF, activated last year, is based in Europe and focuses on that region. The fact that two of the Army’s three MDTFs are focused on the Pacific is reflective of the Defense Department’s prioritization of that region as it seeks to compete with China, which DOD views as the top military threat to the U.S.

“The Multi-Domain Task Force is the task force that is going to continue to do the target development for the joint force and it’s going to be able to fuse together information at speeds and then be able to share that with other joint assets and other joint capabilities, which puts the Army and the Multi-domain Task Force as a central and critical role in joint targeting,” Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of Army Pacific, said Wednesday during a presentation at AUSA’s annual convention in Washington. “The joint advances that are made by the Multi-Domain Task Force are critical in land contributions to the joint force for targeting.”

Others explained how the task forces seek to provide the maximum amount of dilemmas for the enemy while providing maximum capabilities for the joint force commander.

“We are inherently joint working for that joint force commander to neutralize portions of that into [the anti-access/area denial] network to enable that joint freedom of action,” said Brig. Gen. Bernard Harrington, commander of 1^st MDTF.

The task forces provide additional tools to the joint force along with the other services.

“We bring increased capacity and complementary capability to the joint force in the Pacific. The analogy I think of is a collection of archers and a quiver of arrows,” Col. David Zinn, commander of 3^rd MDTF, said. “The Navy archers, they have some Navy arrows, they can choose to release those arrows. Then the Air Force archers, well, they have some Air Force arrows. Our 1^st Multi-Domain Task Force, they have some Army arrows in that quiver. What we bring, we bring our additional arrows to the quiver, that’s the increased capacity. And then our arrows have different effects and that’s the complementary capability that we bring.”

Flynn explained that the first task force was instrumental in allowing the Army to transform through its new doctrine — multi-domain operations — which became official this week. A complete rewrite to how the Army conducts ops — replacing Air-Land Battle that stemmed from the Vietnam War — the new doctrine describes combining and integrating land, air, maritime, space and cyber in all facets of operations.

“The important part here is that for the Army, it allows us an organization, the signature organization that is applying new capabilities against concepts, with doctrine and the combination of the organization, the capabilities, the process. And then the inclusion of the advanced type of capabilities that we have coming, is going to give us an edge globally,” Flynn said. “That’s particularly true, I think, in the Indo-Pacific because the geometry of that geography out there is part of the landscape that we have to deal with.”

Officials said that if an MDTF isn’t able to meet a need or requirement, they can pull in other organizations to augment their ability to achieve an effect at a certain time.

“What the Army has done, in this case, is package these capabilities in a single headquarters, single task force with space, cyber electromagnetic activities, all under the headquarters of a Multi-Domain Task Force, which is a little bit different than in some ways how any one of the organizations you talked about might operate,” Zinn told reporters at the conference.

As an ever present organization, the MDTF is constantly looking to break the networks of adversary systems and capabilities by using intelligence assets, long-range sensing, and kinetic and non-kinetic effects.

“As we look at our intelligence collection, we start looking at what elements of that A2/AD network can we potentially target in order to create a window of opportunity for the joint force commander to have freedom of action,” Harrington said.

For example, if an opponent’s surface vessel is operating somewhere in the South or East China Seas, “we do a detailed assessment of that adversary vessel and we look at what are those access vectors that we can use some of our long-range precision effects and look to disconnect that vessel from the rest of its A2/AD network, and seek to neutralize its capability of conducting the mission that it was given,” he said.

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These units are designed to be in constant contact with adversaries during the so-called competition phase of conflict. They are capable of deep sensing and long-range precision fires. The so-called backbone of these task forces are their Multi-Domain Effects Battalions, formerly called I2CEWS because they include intelligence, information, cyber, electronic warfare and space capabilities and personnel.

The first MDTF is also located in the Pacific with the second in Europe. With the creation of another MDTF under U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the Army is making clear China remains the pacing threat.

“We think that’s significant because … it clearly shows the prioritization that the Department of Army is placing on the Indo-Pacom theater by giving this theater a second MDTF,” Lt. Gen. James Jarrard, deputy commanding general of Army Pacific, told reporters the day before the activation ceremony.

Jarrard stressed that this unit will be a key contributor to the joint force in the Indo-Pacific region.

“It’s bringing even more capacity and complementary capability to the U.S. joint force … The MDTF has multiple capabilities inherent in the organization that enable joint force commanders to make decisions and to achieve positions of advantage,” he said. “It’s also a great enabler of integrated deterrence … It provides a joint capability, and in the future we’re looking to incorporate some of our key allies and partners into this capability.”

Sources have indicated that the Army’s Pacific-focused Multi-Domain Task Forces will work to enable its sister services to poke holes in adversary defenses, commonly referred to in military parlance as anti-access/area denial — which refers to the combination of long-range sensors and weapons that threaten friendly forces and force them to operate from farther away.

Moreover, while the task forces in the Pacific and European theaters will have similar capabilities, their mission sets will differ.

The 1st MDTF has been equipped with the Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool, a capability that allows forces to visualize and plan operations in the invisible electromagnetic spectrum. It has also experimented with and shown a desire in using the Multi-Function Electronic Warfare Air Large platform (MFEW), a pod capable of serving as the first brigade-organic airborne electronic attack asset and providing limited cyberattack capability.

Army officials have said they hope to receive an operational needs statement for MFEW in order to do early fielding. The task force has asked for it and they’re experimenting with it on an RC-12 Guardrail aircraft. The system was initially designed to be mounted to an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone, but has now shifted to a platform-agnostic pod.  

The Multi-Domain Task Forces are also slated to use the Terrestrial Layer System-Echelons Above Brigade — a signals intelligence, electronic warfare and cyber platform — once it’s built. This system, which is still in development, is designed to provide higher echelons a deep-sensing capability.

The new MDTF will have to plug into the joint structures already in place at Indo-Pacom.

“Our real value comes from us providing options to the joint force here, providing options to the joint force commander,” Col. David Zinn, commander of 3^rd MDTF, said. “It’s not optional for us to decide that we’re only going to function as an Army unit. The capabilities that we bring need to be integrated. It needs to be part of a joint force.”

Officials said there won’t be any major differences between the two Pacific-based MDTFs, but noted that 3^rd MDTF plans to take lessons from its predecessors to get stood up faster.

“The good thing about doing this once or now twice, really, with the first and second MDTF is that we’ve learned a lot of lessons,” Jarrard said. “We should be able to form the organization much quicker with the third and get it to [full operational capability] much quicker than we were with the first and second.”

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