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Army Details New Fort Drum Artillery Battalion for Europe Long-Range Deterrence

The battalion underscores the Army’s push for long-range deterrence in Europe with deployment timelines still unannounced.

Overview

  • Third Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment was activated Oct. 17 under the 56th Theater Multi-Domain Command and is operationally controlled by the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force.
  • The unit is administratively aligned to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, for home-station support.
  • Military Times reports the battalion fields more than 500 soldiers with HIMARS launchers and Mid-Range Capability systems designed to strike beyond HIMARS’ roughly 186-mile range.
  • The Army has not disclosed when soldiers or long-range munitions from the unit will deploy to Europe, and U.S. Army Europe and Africa did not provide timing details.
  • The formation aligns with a 2024 White House plan to rotate SM-6, Tomahawk and developmental hypersonic systems to Germany in 2026, even as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz questions U.S. reliability and U.S. strategists debate Europe versus Pacific priorities.