The U.S. Army has announced its plan to add long-range missiles to its arsenal here in Hawaiʻi.
In a media briefing Tuesday morning, the military talked about the need to add the capacity of the high mobility rocket launchers to strengthen its defenses in the Indo-Pacific, with the threat from China and North Korea.
Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, the 25th Infantry Division commander at Schofield Barracks, said the move is part of the Army’s transformation initiative — an effort to train troops to compete on a modern battlefield.
"We are integrating in long-range precision fires that increases the ability to extend our operational reach," he said during the briefing. "And as many of us have discussed with you all before, it also provides us a platform that we can better protect ourselves with, because we can shoot and then we can rapidly displace or move to an area that affords us better protection."
We are told that the high mobility rocket launchers are currently being used in Ukraine and are expected to help soldiers see and strike at a faster rate than their current training allows.
Evans said that over the course of the next several months, troops will be training with the new equipment at Schofield Barracks on Oʻahu and at Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawaiʻi Island. Beginning in February 2026, Evans said they plan to train in the Philippines.
The Army plans to acquire a total of 16 of these launchers. They will have a range of 250 miles compared to the 25 to 40-mile range of howitzer cannons.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 15, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
