A specialized Army artillery unit focused on operations in Europe has conducted its first test fire of a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile from the Typhon missile system. The milestone gave the soldiers direct experience with one of the Army’s emerging long range strike capabilities.

Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment carried out the test nearly a year after the long range fires battalion was formally established. It was the first time the unit had fired a Tomahawk from Typhon.

The battalion is one of a handful of Army units assigned the Typhon system. The test placed the Europe focused formation behind the controls of a weapon designed to extend the reach available to Army commanders.

The launch occurred Sept. 28 at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California. The Army did not publicly announce the test until this past week.

The live fire event was conducted during a five week training program at the naval station. That program was intended to familiarize the soldiers with Typhon, which is also known as the Mid-Range Capability system.

Typhon can fire two kinds of long range munitions fielded by the Navy, the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile. Those weapons give the Army the ability to conduct land attack missile strikes against targets as far as 1,000 miles away.

That reach substantially exceeds the range of another weapon used by the battalion. The unit also operates the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, commonly known as HIMARS, which has a shorter range of up to roughly 186 miles.

Lt. Col. Derek Bartlett, the battalion commander, said Typhon allows the unit to “get that range for that combatant commander to give them options and capabilities where they really haven’t had it before from the land force.”

Bartlett said the system opens additional firepower for soldiers without requiring them to call for support from other portions of the joint force. Typhon therefore provides the battalion with its own much longer reach.

The battalion belongs to the Army’s 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force, which is based in Germany. The unit was scheduled to deploy to Europe this year, but that planned movement was canceled in May as part of a broader curtailment of Army movements to Europe.

The United States and NATO had previously characterized the planned movement as part of “episodic deployments of the long-range fires capabilities.” The 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment was formally established in late 2025, although plans to send it to Europe had been in development for several months before that.

Army multi domain task forces are intended to operate within range of enemy forces. Their mission centers on quickly detecting and disrupting adversary surveillance and targeting capabilities through cyber operations, electronic warfare capabilities, and long range missile strikes.

Units such as 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment provide the missile strike portion of that mission. The combination gives a task force multiple ways to interfere with adversary systems while delivering precision fires from land.

Multi-Domain Command-Europe describes the battalion as United States Army Europe and Africa’s “primary kinetic long‑range precision fires unit.” It also says the unit “extends U.S. operational reach and lethality, reinforces commitments to NATO allies, and contributes to deterrence and regional stability.”

The Sept. 28 event marked the first time an Army formation focused on Europe had fired the Mid-Range Capability system, even though the launch took place in the United States. That makes the California test a notable step for the Europe aligned battalion.

The Army has already fielded Typhon in the Pacific during the past two years, including deployments to the Philippines and Japan. Maj. Gen. Bernard Harrington discussed lessons from a 30 month Pacific deployment during the Association of the United States Army conference this past week.

Harrington said the Army had learned from the system’s deployment, including its recent participation in the Balikatan exercise in the Philippines. Separately, the Army established its fourth multi domain task force at Fort Carson, Colorado, earlier in October.