JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – Soldiers assigned to Boxer Battery, 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade, culminated a multi-day High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) rapid infiltration (HIRAIN) from Yakima Training Center, Wash., to Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, April 17.
The event aimed to validate a concept known as Edge Node, which controls operations using beyond line-of-sight communications at extended distances. The training demonstrated a synchronized and rapidly deployable all-domain effects capability designed to produce decisive results in a contested environment. It was conducted in support of Operation Courage Lethality 26.
Operation Courage Lethality 26 was an exercise designed to validate the ability to plan, synchronize, and execute combined, joint, multi-domain effects let by JBLM’s I Corps and supported by units across the installation April 13-20. Elements from the 17th FAB played a key role in the operation.
“HIRAIN gives I Corps the ability to project long range precision fires at speed and distance, anywhere, at any time of our Commanders choosing,” said 1-3 FAR commander Lt. Col. Edward Guelfi. “In the Indo-Pacific, distance remains one of our largest problems, and HIRAIN is part of the solution.
Guelfi noted that the capability allowed the unit to marshal, combat configure, and project combat power from outside an adversary’s detection and targeting cycle, mass effects rapidly, and displace before they can be fixed.
Key tasks during the operation included rapid deployment of HIMARS assets, demonstrating fire direction center control following the infiltration, and certifying the 1-3 FAR on HIRAIN operations using reduced-range practice rockets.
According to Staff Sgt. Matthew McCoy of the 17th FAB, the HIRAIN mission provided a massive impact for I Corps, enabling the formation to be more lethal and provide long-range fires in a timely manner, proving they can maneuver on ground and strike when necessary.
America’s First Corps, headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, is a globally responsive force and the designated Theater Army for the Indo-Pacific. As the designated Theater Army for the Indo-Pacific, I Corps projects and sustains combat power to deter aggression and, if necessary, fight and win alongside our allies and partners to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific.