Typhon missile launcher conducts first overseas live-fire exercise

The US Army has deployed a Typhon missile launcher in a live-fire exercise outside of the US for the first time, according to a July 23 Department of Defence (DoD) press release. The launch, conducted on July 15, utilised a Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) during the Talisman Sabre 2025 exercise from Shoalwater Bay in Australia.

The US Army’s 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force (3MDTF) deployed its Typhon missile launcher and successfully fired the missile at a naval target, sinking it. This event marks several firsts for the system, as highlighted in a separate US Army press release. “We fired SM6 live, [for the] first time west of the international date line, from land and hit a sea target … at 166 kilometres,” explained Lt. Gen. Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general of US Army Pacific.

During the missile launch, US Marines and Australian forces were responsible for securing the firing zones that the Typhon missile launcher deployed to. And, ahead of the launch, Marine Air-Control Group (MACG) 38 deconflicted the airspace and identified the target: a cargo ship simulating a hostile radar signature. Real-time intelligence from various reconnaissance assets, including US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft and allied special operations forces, was fed to the US Army and Marine forces’ combat operations centres to facilitate the strike, a separate USMC press release explains. 

The exercise also validated the 3MDTF’s ability to forward deploy the Typhon missile launcher, also known as the Mid-Range Capability. Furthermore, it demonstrated the Army’s “ability to execute command and control (C2) of land-based maritime strike from a combined multi-domain C2 node in conjunction with the Australian Army’s emerging multi-domain formations,” the Army press release noted. This C2 interoperability is arguably a more significant aspect of the deployment, which appears to have been tested extensively.

For example, a separate live-fire engagement involved a combined battery of US, Singaporean, and Australian M142 HIMARS launchers. “You had an integrated fires solution with multiple different platforms from three different countries firing simultaneously on a deep target. That has not happened before. [It’s a] big first: Singapore, Australia, U.S., a combined battery HIMARS live fire, with precision, at distances of about 60 kilometres,” Gen. Vowell stated.

Combining C2 and targeting information for distribution among partners and services is considered critical by many Western forces. This has been demonstrated to some extent by the UK’s Project ASGARD, and the Dutch MoD has successfully passed targeting data from an F-35 to a PULS launcher for engagement. However, many of these developments are experimental, aiming to demonstrate capability rather than full integration into service. The more frequently countries can practise complex targeting procedures involving target development by one state or service and joint prosecution by another, the more effective these capabilities will eventually become. 

There are technical aspects to this coordination, which the US is procuring through the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN), vehicles that are designed to stitch reconnaissance information and satellite data together in real time to support a commander’s targeting decisions. TITAN is also designed to help provide access to that data for US allies. 

This practical application is truly key to many of the multi-domain concepts that are currently under consideration. Such concepts typically rely on precision strike capabilities, exemplified by the SM-6 and GMLRS missiles in these exercises, which are unattainable without precision reconnaissance and coordinated command and control.

This development will likely be watched with interest by Germany, which recently issued a request to procure the Typhon missile launcher from the US. Germany is understood to desire the ability to deploy Tomahawk land attack missiles from the land, a capability the Typhon also provides.

Formation profile: 3rd Multi-Domain Task Force

The 3MDTF was established in September 2022 at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, and became operational in May 2023. Command of the formation was held by Col. Michael Rose from June 2023 until June 2025, when it was handed over to Col. Wade Germann. Col. Rose received commendation for the rigorous training serials the 3MDTF conducted under his leadership, which included the first launch of PrSM in the Indo-Pacific theatre and the integration of Australian and United Kingdom personnel, transforming the 3MDTF into a combined headquarters.

The 3MDTF has been involved in ship-sinking exercises previously. For instance, in a 2024 SINKEX, it collaborated with HIMARS launchers from the 1MDTF and Type 12 missile launchers from Japan’s armed forces. Another exercise that same year combined 3MDTF capabilities with the 1-181 Artillery Regiment of the Tennessee National Guard; utilising an Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (AML), the MDTF sank a target using two PrSM missiles. It is clear that the 3MDTF is expected to provide a crucial function in unifying and cohering US allies, alongside an extensive maritime strike capability.

Calibre comment

The US armed forces are actively working to offset the mass advantage that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is developing through its enormous shipbuilding programme. The PLAN has begun to operate more assertively throughout the Indo-Pacific, conducting exercises off the coast of Australia and patrolling areas more typically controlled by the US Navy. Land-based long-range missiles, such as those launched by the Typhon missile launcher and the US Marine Corps’ NMESIS, are hoped to level the playing field by generating dispersed anti-ship capabilities that can engage Chinese vessels from different vectors outside of the traditional maritime domain.

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on July 24, 2025. The lead image shows the SM-6 launch from a Typhon missile launcher. Credit:  Sgt. Perla Alfaro/US Army.