The U.S. Army will merge its 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) into the Multi-Domain Command Pacific (MDC-PAC) from mid-June. This was announced by the Commanding General of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, Lieutenant General Mathew McFarlane, at the 2026 Land Forces of the Pacific Symposium and Exposition in Hawaii. Both formations are stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Despite the new name, in practice the members of the 1st MDTF will wear the shoulder insignia of the 7th Infantry Division. In essence, the two former brigades equipped with armored wheeled Stryker vehicles and the division’s helicopter brigade will be augmented by the MDTF, which is also brigade-level, in order to create a ‘long-range sense and strike division’. This will yield a large, highly mobile formation for the Pacific region, focused on maneuver warfare with reconnaissance and effectors in all dimensions, long-range precision weapons, as well as air-mobile ground and air units.
7th Infantry Division to be Equipped with Hypersonic Medium-Range Weapons
The 1st MDTF includes the 1st Multi-Domain Effects Battalion with reconnaissance and effects capabilities in Electronic Warfare (EloKa) and cyber warfare, including, among other components, the 5th Battalion of the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, equipped with the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) ‘Dark Eagle’ mid-range missile, the 1st Battalion, 51st Air Defense Artillery Regiment with systems to defend against indirect fire, and the 1163rd Task Force Support Battalion.
This is the first of three reconnaissance-and-effects formations that the U.S. Army has to date, which serve as a model for Western armed forces in implementing the concept of future warfare, heavily influenced by the war in Ukraine. According to reports, the Bundeswehr also plans such a Multi-Domain Task Force. Reports indicate that future divisions of the German Army will likewise receive a long-range reconnaissance-and-effects network at brigade level.
In the British Army there exists the 3rd Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade, with numerous tanks and light reconnaissance, gun- and rocket-artillery, as well as EloKa detachments. The future Multi-Domain Command Pacific differs from the previous European approaches by placing reconnaissance and strike assets with ranges of over 2,000 kilometers directly under the division level. This is likely a specific response to the vast distances in the Pacific theater.
