APRIL 23, 2026 – On April 17, Lt. Col. Edward Guelfi gave the command to his battalion to fire at a simulated target within the Idaho Army National Guard’s Camp Orchard. Standing just south of Boise, he watched eight M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems fire two rounds each 800 meters in front of him.
What he couldn’t see was three other HIMARS crews conducting the same firing mission at the Yakima Training Center in Yakima, Washington, and another HIMARS crew firing at its own target at the Dugway Proving Ground, located southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah.
All 12 HIMARS fired simultaneously, despite being located nearly 700 miles apart from each other.
“The ability for us to power project with this weapon system provides us the unique ability to place long range fires in the operations environment at any time and any place of our commander’s choosing,” said Guelfi.
The distance tested the unit’s ability to deliver precision strike capabilities in conditions that replicate the Indo-Pacific environment, where units may be distributed across multiple islands.
Guelfi, the battalion commander for the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade, is one of 300 Soldiers who trained at Camp Orchard throughout April as part of I Corps’ Courage Lethality exercise.
“Courage Lethality is designed to validate how America’s First Corps would deploy, integrate and win the first fight alongside our multinational partners,” said Guelfi. “Long-range fires are fundamental to any decisive operation. They enable us to shape the battlefield, create windows of advantage and extend the reach of the joint force.”
The HIMARS uses a three-Soldier crew to fire precision-guided munitions more than 180 miles.
Soldiers spent two weeks in April training at Camp Orchard and the Yakima Training Center. On the morning of April 17, a HIMARS and crew traveled from Yakima to the Dugway Proving Ground via a C-130 Hercules. The crew and weapon platform returned to Yakima following the successful fires mission.
“Operating in a distributed environment introduces challenges that can’t be solved through traditional methods or proximity-based command and control,” Guelfi said. “We’re learning how to leverage next-generation command and control systems to enable distributed fires without requiring physical co-location. That requires us to operate beyond line-of-sight and integrate new capabilities into our architecture. The gains we’re seeing are significant and they’re worth the friction required to refine and scale them.”
In addition to the battalion’s three locations, the 17th Field Artillery Brigade supported the exercise from the Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center in Oregon and at its headquarters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
“This exercise is not about simply employing our equipment,” Guelfi said. “It’s about testing systems, leaders and formations under combat-credible conditions that reflect how we expect to fight.”
To stimulate combat conditions, the 1-94th Field Artillery Battalion provided simulated opposing forces, and the unit trained alongside an international partner, the Australian Army’s 14th Regiment,10th Brigade, which began fielding HIMARs in 2025.
“By virtue of HIMARS being a new piece of equipment for the Australian Army, the ongoing relationship between the 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment and the 14th Regiment has been exceptionally valuable and has provided us with excellent development opportunities,” said Maj. Nathan Imber of the 14th Regiment.
The 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment returned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord April 22.
Story by Maj. Robert Taylor
Idaho Army National Guard