Third Multi-Domain Task Force will be at full operating capacity by May

The Army's Third Multi-Domain Task Force will be at full operating capacity by May, Gen. Charles Flynn, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, said Monday.

The Third Multi-Domain Task Force, based at Ft. Shafter in Hawaii, was activated in September 2022 as the Army’s second specialty unit operating in the Indo-Pacific.

The Army’s multidomain task forces are theater-specific units that feature long-range precision effects such as cyber, electronic warfare, intelligence and long-range fires. The task forces use lethal and non-lethal capabilities across the domains of air, land, water, space and cyber.

The Army stood up the First Multi-Domain Task Force, which also focuses on the Indo-Pacific, in 2017 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, and in 2021 the Second Multi-Domain Task Force was activated in Germany.

Flynn told reporters Monday that the First MDTF has been deployed on all exercises for Operation Pathways since 2021 -- exercises in which U.S. Army Pacific forces and partner nations work to build readiness and interoperability. Elements of the First MDTF have operated in Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and Thailand, Flynn said.

The Third MDTF will “complement the positional advantage” that the First MDTF has gained since 2021, Flynn said Monday.

“They are full up in the region and operating and learning from the growth of the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, and I’m really encouraged at the speed and the pace that the 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force is building itself in full operational capabilities,” he said.

Flynn said that having two MDTFs operating in the region allows them to increase the joint force’s “depth and scale.”

“What we’re looking to do is rotationally, dynamically employ them in the region on Operation Pathways as part of our campaigning in the region so that we can fulfill the three pillars of the National Defense Strategy of integrated deterrence, building enduring advantage and campaigning in the Pacific,” he said.

Flynn also said on Monday that the First and Third MDTFs will join the Third Marine Littoral Regiment in training together at the new Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Schofield Barracks, HI.