🔺 In 2017, the Pentagon established a new type of operational unit—the Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF), consisting of four battalions:
▪️ An air defense missile battalion;
▪️ A strategic weapons battalion;
▪️ A logistics support battalion;
▪️ A multi-domain effects battalion.
🔺 Let’s take a closer look at the composition of the Strategic Fires Battalion (SFB) and the Multi-Domain Effects Battalion (MDEB):
▪️ The Strategic Fires Battalion includes:
🔹 A HIMARS battery:
▫️ 8 M142 HIMARS launchers;
▫️ 8 transport vehicles;
▫️ A data preparation vehicle.
🔹 A Mid-Range Capability (Typhoon) battery with the following composition:
▫️ 4 ground-based Tomahawk cruise missile launchers (4 missiles each) in universal Mk. 41 launch canisters;
▫️ A battle operations center (BOC);
▫️ A BOC support vehicle;
▫️ A transporter-loader vehicle.
🔹 A long-range hypersonic weapons battery:
▫️ 4 launchers (2 missiles each);
▫️ A command and control suite.
▪️ The Multi-Domain Effects Battalion consists of four companies:
🔹 1st Military Intelligence Company (weapons and airspace);
🔹 2nd Military Intelligence Company (space domain);
🔹 A signals company;
🔹 A strategic UAV company;
🔹 An information warfare company.
▪️ The air defense missile battalion will be armed with naval SM-6 missiles, deployed in universal Mk. 41 launch canisters. According to developers, these missiles are capable of intercepting hypersonic targets.
🔺 Currently, the headquarters and a Multi-Domain Effects Battalion (MDEF) have been deployed at Lucius D. Clay Kaserne Air Base in Germany. Satellite imagery of the base shows significant changes: new radar stations for space reconnaissance have been installed, fortified structures (likely for storing operational missile stockpiles) are under construction, and buildings to accommodate the headquarters have been erected.
🔺 The continued deployment of such systems and structures, along with the absence of any information about their withdrawal or suspension, indicates the U.S. intention to maintain an aggressive foreign policy course, inevitably leading to an escalation of tensions between nations.