Putting together a couple of thoughts
CADJC2/PDC2
USAWHC
MDTFs
Trump's version of the Monroe Doctrine sees him building on the concept of US dominance in its home hemisphere.
NORAD has been moving from a bilateral organization focused on the Air Domain to one that is more of a Multi-Domain organization, incorporating Space, Sea and Land elements and in consequence more heavily tied to USNORTHCOM whose commander is also the commander of NORAD.
CADJC2/PDC2 is being implemented in that Northcom-NORAD context.
In support of the Western Hemisphere focus the US Army has been reorganized as Infanteer detailed.
US Forces Command was home to the divisions of XVIII Airborne Corps (3 Inf, 10 Mtn, 82 Abn, 101 Abn), those of III Armored Corps (1 Cav, 1 Armd, 1 Inf, 4 Inf) and those of I Corps (7 Inf, 11 Abn, 25 Inf). It was also responsible for the US Army Reserves and expected to deploy 8 National Guard Divisions as well.
In the Western Hemisphere the US Army supported USNorthcom with US Army Northern Command and USSouthcom with US Army Southern Command.
In keeping with Trump's domestic focus, and employing the US Army to secure national borders and National Guard troops in Aid to the Civil Power roles, the US Army has combined US Army Forces Command with US Army Northern and US Army Southern Commands to produce US Army Western Hemisphere Command which will support the Department of Homeland Security, US Northern and US Southern Commands, joint commands. CJADC2 will apply.
If I am reading Infanteer right then US Army Western Hemisphere Command will be flanked by US Army IndoPacCom on the left, or Western flank, and by US Army EurAfCom on the right, or Eastern flank. The Western flank will face China. The Eastern Flank will face Russia. In both cases Trump expects the locals to assist in keeping themselves and America safe from aggression. He is willing to pay 3.5 % of GDP. He wants his allies to pay 3.5% of GDP as well.
In support of these objectives, while keeping US Army units on American soil, the Army is explicitly tasking I Corps (7 ID, 11 Abn, 25 ID plus 4 ID) to IndoPacCom, III Corps (1 Cav, 1Armd, 1ID) to EurAfCom while retaining XVIII Corps (3 ID, 10 Mtn, 82 Abn, 101 Abn) along with the 8 National Guard Divisions (28 ID, 29 ID, 34 ID, 35 ID, 36 ID, 38 ID, 40 ID, 42 ID) for the Western Hemisphere.
A key element of the US Army's strategy in transition is the Multi Domain Task Force.
Five Task Forces have been authorized
MDTF 1 - tasked to I Corps and the IndoPacCom and based in Washington State
MDTF 2 - tasked to V Corps (III Corps going forwards?) and the EurAFCom and based in New York State
MDTF 3 - tasked to I Corps and the IndoPacCom and based in Washington State
MDTF 4 - tasked to III Corps (originally focused of the IndoPacCom but perhaps it will pivot to join MDTF 2 in support of EurAfCom?)
MDTF 5 - tasked to XVIII Corps.
The MDTFs are supposed to be theatre assets. They are supposed to maintain situational awareness over a theatre as an Area of Interest and also to influence events across their Area of Influence.
What is the size of a theatre?
I believe it is demonstrated by the range of their Long Range Weaponry.
There are three dominant systems:
HIMARS capable of being deployed by C130 and launching PrSM missiles beyond 500 km
Typhon capable of being deployed by C17 and C5 and launching SM6 and Tomahawk missiles beyond 1500 km
LRHW hypersonic missile system with an intended range of 2500 km.
The US has demonstrated the reach of these systems by deploying LRHW systems by air from Seattle to Cape Canaveral, Typhon to Japan and HIMARS to the Phillipines.
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What I think this means for Canada.
Canada is a blind spot in the Western Hemisphere as far as Trump is concerned.
He does not control us.
We stand on a route into the US from both China and Russia.
On his Western, I Corps flank, he has bases in Alaska.
On his Eastern, III Corps flank, he has bases in Greenland that he is pressuring the Danes to beef up.
In the middle, there is us.
A 5500 km gap between Boundary Peak on the Alaska border and Cape Spear on the Atlantic.
My sense is that if we don't close that gap to his satisfaction then he is willing to close it for us.
He could do that a number of ways short of outright invasion.
He can dominate our north with expeditionary capability in Alaska and Greenland.
He can close the border between Canada and the US as he has with the Mexicans.
He can force us to acquiesce through economic and political means.
We have faced this problem in the past and in the past we accommodated.
In return for a chair at the NORAD table we agreed to purchase American missiles, American planes, American Radars and American nuclear devices to take down any foreign intruders coming over our territory. That deal also got us the Autopact which allowed us to sell cars into the US.
In the 1980s reinvesting in the radar system got us the Canada US Free Trade Agreement.
Now we are bargaining for USMCA, tariffs on lumber and steel, cars and our NORAD seat.
To my mind the simple solution is to stand up our own MDTF under our own joint command. We can call it the Canadian Pan Domain Task Force (CPDTF) if we like.
We are being asked to contribute to the Golden Shield Integrated Air Missile Defence. The RCAF has a head start on that - all it needs to do is keep flyable planes in the air and add some useful air launched weapons capable of taking out aerial, terrestrial and marine targets.
Adding a few SM6/ESSM Typhon batteries together with a CUAS capability, would serve both our domestic security needs and the needs of the US. And I do mean the US and not just Trump because it is the whole of the US that is feeling vulnerable.
The key element of the MDTF is its Long Range Fires with a reach extending 2500 km from point of launch. One centrally located LRHW battery could sink ships off Vancouver or St John's in under half an hour. A troop of Typhons in Esquimalt, Halifax and Iqaluit could cover the sea approaches out to 1600 km or 1000 NM in two hours. A ship on those approaches at 20 knots would take 50 hours or two days to cover the same ground. Its missiles and drones might get here a bit sooner. A battery of HIMARs with PrSMs would keep intruders out of our 200 NM Economic Exclusion Zone.
One other option available to us is cheap drones like the 5 MUSD Kratos Valkyrie which is capable of lifting 1800 lbs of munitions and sensors a distance of 5600 km, ie from one side of Canada to the other, from Toronto to Alert. Long Range Precision Fires if a bit slower than the hypersonic missiles.
But all of this needs targeting information and that information comes from Space Command satellites, 22 Wing OTH-R, 14 Wing MQ9Bs, AEWCs and P8s, and RCN and CCG pickets as well as Canadian Ranger Humint and civilian sources.
All of that funnels down to one person with access to all that information deciding whether to launch a missile, a drone, a plane, a ship, a sub, JTF2 or a brigade.
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How close are we to being able to realize that unified command and response?
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Dec. 5, 2025 – The Department of the Army activated the U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Command in a historic transition ceremony today...
www.army.mil
Interesting, US Army stood down three Service Component Commands, FORSCOM, USASOUTHCOM, and USANORTHCOM that belonged to the US Army, US Southern Command, and US Northern Command respectively and created a USA Western Hemisphere Command in its place. A single four star hat for operations in the Americas. FORSCOM was essentially the "Army Force Generator" that owned I Corps, III Corps, and XVIII Airborne Corps and their respective divisions for allocation to COCOMs for operations.
This likely ties to the "Trump Corollary of the Munroe Doctrine" that the recently released US National Defense Strategy references in providing a single ground force employer for the US' new top priority, hemispheric defence.
Also interesting are the
details, which highlight where the Corps (and most of the US Army's combat power) will be assigned. I Corps (7 ID, 25 ID, 11 Abn) will move to USARPAC under INDOPACOM while III Corps (1 Cav, 1 AD, 1 ID) will move to USAREUR-AF under EUCOM/AFRICOM. 4 ID will shift from III Corps to I Corps. XVIII Airborne Corps (82 Abn, 101 AA, 10 Mtn, 3 ID) will be assigned to USAWHC.
Although forces will be allocated to COCOMs as required, the Army has basically split its forces into three, and now has forces assigned to COCOMs on a permanent basis for operations.
Seeing as how I brought it up ---
What is an MDTF or Multi Domain Task Force?
Per the Congressional Research Service
www.everycrsreport.com
And what can it do? - From a pilot exercise during RIMPAC 2018
Recent exercises in the Pacific have given the Army's new Multidomain Operations Task Force Pilot Program a wealth of opportunity to refine its doctrine.
www.defensenews.com
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Why is it important to Canada?
Firstly, because it is important to the US.
Secondly it appears that the US is actively developing and deploying the concept and that the concept will be employed in a Canadian context.
The one in the Arctic Region is the one of particular interest to Canada. Currently it has been tasked as a third Indo-Pacific Command asset along with the two originally planned.
The 1st MDTF is headquartered and based at JLBM in Seattle
The 3rd MDTF is based at JLBM in Seattle but headquartered in Hawaii
The 4th MDTF is headquartered and based at Fort Carson, Colorado
All three of these are focused on the Indo-Pacific
The 1st and 3rd are collocated with I Corps
The 4th is collocated with III Corps
The 2nd MDTF is based at Fort Drum in New York but headquartered at Wiesbaden in Germany
It is focused on Europe with V Corps.
The 5th MDTF is based and headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina.
It shares its base, and global responsibilities with XVIII Corps.
The tasking has left a couple of blanks in the original plans and those blanks concern the US Congress and should concern Canada.
The Arctic "problem" arises from looking at the world on a Mercator Projection with the Americas at the center, the Pacific and Asia to the left and the Atlantic and Europe to the right along with Africa. The Arctic subtends all three of those orange slices. And Canada sits right in its center, on top of the US, with coastal interests in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Arctic.
Canada is already integrated into the US defence plan via NORAD whose commander also commands Northern Command, the command with responsibility for the Continental US, Alaska and Canada and, courtesy of its NORAD focus is north facing through the North Pole to Russia.
The Orange Slice effect that creates the three Command conflict also creates a three Command opportunity. Bases situated in the arctic can profit from the shortening distances between lines of longitude as you go north. Effectively one base located at or close to the North Pole, equipped with suitably long ranged weapons, can protect the flanks of all three commands (Indo-Pac, North and Europe) with protective fires. Russia is actively pursuing that basing capability.
The US is geographically a bit behind the curve because Alaska's most northerly point, the closest point of approach to the North Pole is at 71N or 2100 km south of the Pole. Russia has well developed and permanently inhabited bases as far north as 80N on sovereign territory or 1000 km from the Pole, half the distance of the US's nearest point of approach.
There are three other possible points of exploitation available to the US. One is its airfield on Greenland at Thule (renamed recently) at 77 N or 1400 km from the Pole. The most northerly point on Greenland is at 83 N, or 700 km from the Pole, but there is no developed infrastructure that far north.
Norway has an active community on Svalbard at 78 N and the islands extend to 80 N but they are shared in co-dominium with Russia and is restricted to civil use only. Besides, Russia has its on base on the islands and has invited China to come and visit.
Which leaves Canada.
Our closest point of approach is Alert on Ellesmere Island at 82 N, or 800 km from the Pole. That would put the base about 200 km further north than the Russian bases and, even though it has only rudimentary infrastructure it does have some developed infrastructure. And most importantly, it is sovereign territory with nobody claiming co-dominium rights.
It makes for a useful firing point from which to dominate the northern flanks of the US Indo-Pac Command, North Command and Euro Command.
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So what capabilities does the MDTF bring to the theater commander?
View attachment 88840
First off it is a mobile structure by virtue of its integral Brigade Support Battalion and its Air Defense Battalion which allows it to push forward into the enemy's engagement zones.
Secondly it brings an ability to co-ordinate intelligence and direct its weapons at long ranges against enemy forces, fixed and mobile, to make it harder for the enemy to maintain operations from their advanced bases. It makes it harder to establish a Crimea like base of operations by making Russia's arctic bases less tenable.
Thirdly it brings the ability to sense the environment and enemy operations, conduct military intelligence activities and direct non-kinetic electronic and cyber attacks on the enemy or Operations Other Than War - hybrid operations. That would coincide with a lot of existing and planned Canadian and US capabilities.
Finally, and crucially from my point of view, the MDTF has the ability to fly in to theater, on aircraft ranging from C130s and up, a variety of Long Range Fires.
Those fires are not held in theater, generally speaking, although the Europeans seem to be actively promoting forward basing of the LRF Battalion currently because of the situation in Ukraine. Currently the tendency seems to be to forward base the HQ and the MDEB (Multi Domain Effects Battalion aka I2CEWS Battalion) while holding the actual weaponry, both Long Range and Air Defense, to the rear along with the logistics support.
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It seems that the MDTF, with all its Long Range and Air Defence capabilities is becoming integral to the US way of war and every regional commander, including the North Command commander, is going to expect to have access to those capabilities.
Given that the MDTF is coming to Canada's backyard just as it has come to the Scandinavians, the Japanese and the Australians, as well as the Brits and the Europeans.
Our best plan is to get it incorporated into the NORAD dual command system so that we have some say over how, when and where those long range fires, and air defence, capabilities might be used.
