The US Army and its allies recently pulled off a rapid missile launcher deployment to a remote Pacific island. It was a high-speed test of fire-and-move tactics and how they would bring long-range firepower to a future fight in the region.
The test occurred last week and built on US military efforts to boost range, flexibility, and survivability for HIMARS and other weaponry in the region.
During Talisman Sabre 2025, a joint exercise in Australia, a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft flew a US Army M142 High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and Australian soldiers to Christmas Island for the test.
The HIMARS launcher, along with a supporting communications vehicle, was flown to a forward airfield — extending the range of the munitions carried — and then driven to the simulated strike location. Afterwards, the vehicles were quickly packed up and flown out.
Christmas Island, a strategic Australian territory in the northeastern Indian Ocean, sits near maritime routes that have grown more consequential as China expands its naval and military activities in the region. That buildup has raised concerns for regional powers like Australia and India, among other nations, watching China’s presence in the Indian Ocean with increasing attention.
Per the Australian Ministry of Defense, last week’s operation demonstrated how the US and its allies can rapidly deploy and use land-based, long-range precision fires for deterrence. One key element is getting the weapon out of the position before an enemy can target it and conduct counter-battery fire.
The US military and its allies and partners have been focused on this capability, prioritizing rapid deployment of HIMARS and other weapons to dispersed sites so that enemy forces would have a harder time tracking them than at fixed locations.
HIMARS, as a flexible rocket artillery and missile platform, have value in the Pacific. They fire Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS), and new Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The latter is for land targets; however, it’s been tested against sea targets.
PrSM has a range of about 310 miles and is deemed more precise than its predecessor, the MGM-140 ATACMS. GMLRS have a standard range of about 43 miles; however, the extended one reaches out to 93 miles.
Being able to rapidly deploy these weapons and others to island environments in the region offers the Army and its allies flexible strike options, including against naval targets.
In June 2024, the Army tested the PrSM against a moving ship target off the coast of Palau in the Pacific. And earlier this month, the Army fired a Standard Missile-6 from the Mid-Range Capability, or Typhon, missile system in Australia toward a maritime target, sinking it.
US military officials have said that being mobile and rapidly relocatable is crucial in the Indo-Pacific, where US forces are bracing for potential conflict with China, recognized by the Pentagon as a premier threat and pacing challenge for the department.
After last week’s HIMARS test, Lt. Col. Ed Guelfi, of the US Army’s 17th Field Artillery Brigade, said: “Collectively, we have rapidly deployed a HIMARS to demonstrate our ability to put combat power anywhere, at any time of our choosing.”
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