U.S. Army’s newest unit aims to ‘overwhelm’ adversary with drones in Pacific fight

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Nicholas Harrison teaches a class on setting up the Neros Archer during a live-fire range on Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan, May 28, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joaquin Dela Torre)

By Howard Altman • Jun 22, 2026

On Thursday, U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) stood up a new command to speed up reaction times and sustain operations within the anti-access/area denial environments of the Pacific. To help achieve that goal, the commander of this new unit told TWZ he wants to be able to saturate any future adversary with so many drones they have trouble operating.

“We have learned, particularly looking at Ukraine, there really is no sanctuary area that is protected from observation and potential targeting,” Maj. Gen. Bernard J. Harrington told us during a media roundtable to introduce his new command. It’s called the 7th Infantry Division Multi-Domain Command – Pacific (7th ID MDC-PAC). Headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, it combines the 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF). The idea is to merge the maneuver capabilities of the 7th ID’s two Stryker brigades with the long-range sensing, fires, cyber, space, electronic warfare, and information capabilities of the MDTF.

The new unit was created as the U.S. still struggles to be on the leading-edge of modern drone warfare, especially when it comes to the lower-end segment of this broad capability set, a deficit that The War Zone has frequently highlighted. This is a concern top Army officials have acknowledged.