US Army’s 7th Infantry Division, 1st MDTF to merge as Multi-Domain Command-Pacific

HONOLULU — The U.S. Army is continuing to tweak its formations to position the service for success in future fights, with the latest move the establishment of the Multi-Domain Command-Pacific, or MDC-PAC.

The new two-star command will combine the 7th Infantry Division and the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, Army leaders announced during the 2026 Land Forces of the Pacific Symposium and Exposition in Hawaii.

Speaking to reporters at the symposium, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane , commanding general of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, where the merging units are headquartered, lauded the change as a forward-looking departure from the days “when we’ve waited till all the equipment was produced and [then] created the formations.”

“We made the formations to test and integrate the equipment, and we’re adjusting,” McFarlane said. “We’re keeping an agile posture with making organizational changes.”

While McFarlane acknowledged the Army is still working through organizational details, he did note that the command would merge the 7th ID’s two Stryker brigades and a combat aviation brigade with a multidomain task force — or “forces,” he said — to share fires, space, electronic warfare, cyber and intelligence capabilities with other commands and services throughout the Indo-Pacific.

As part of the transition, which is slated to begin in mid-June, soldiers with the 1st MDTF will “re-patch” into the 7th ID.

The timing of the move, McFarlane added, is reflective of Corps-level successes during recent exercises and war games that replicated what a two-star merger might look like.

“We have opportunities to make sure we’ve got the right mix of capabilities with a two-star command,” he said. “The Stryker brigades obviously provide security on the ground, so it really becomes long-range sense and strike division. ... That’s important because [this command’s] effects can range the entire joint operational area versus just a corps-level battlespace. That’s exciting for the Army.”

The establishment of the far-reaching MDC-PAC, meanwhile, comes as Army leaders continue to hammer home the importance of Indo-Pacific collaboration to curtail emerging threats out of China and North Korea.

Speaking at LANPAC, Brig. Gen. William Parker, commander of the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command , acknowledged that the U.S. military “can’t do any of what we do today without allies and partners.”

“We don’t fight alone, and we haven’t fought alone for a long time,” he said. “Our partners help us protect our critical assets and critical formations that we have within this theater.”

Days before the start of the symposium, the U.S. military wrapped up the 41st iteration of Exercise Balikatan, the largest annual bilateral exercise between U.S. and Philippine militaries.

This year’s 19-day exercise was also joined by Australia, Japan, New Zealand, France and Canada, the latter four of which put troops on the ground for the first time as part of the exercise.

“Balikatan 2026 marked a strategic evolution from a bilateral exercise to a full-scale, multinational mission rehearsal for the defense of the Philippines,” U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said of the event. “That growth reflects the security environment. It reflects the sovereign choices of free nations.”

J.D. Simkins is Editor-in-Chief of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.

檀香山——美国陆军正在不断调整其编制，以使该部队在未来的战斗中取得成功，最新的举措是成立多域司令部-太平洋（MDC-PAC）。

陆军领导人在夏威夷举行的 2026 年太平洋陆军研讨会暨展览会上宣布，新的两星司令部将合并第 7 步兵师和第 1 多域特遣部队。

美国陆军中将马修·麦克法兰（Matthew McFarlane）是第一军和位于华盛顿州刘易斯-麦科德联合基地的司令，合并部队的总部就设在那里。他在研讨会上对记者说，这一变化是对过去的一种前瞻性的转变，过去“我们总是等到所有装备都生产出来才组建部队”。

麦克法兰说：“我们组建了这些阵型来测试和整合设备，现在正在进行调整。我们在进行组织变革时保持着灵活的姿态。”

麦克法兰承认陆军仍在制定组织细节，但他指出，该司令部将把第 7 步兵师的两个“斯特赖克”旅和一个战斗航空旅与一个多域特遣部队（或他所说的“部队”）合并，以便与整个印太地区的其他司令部和军种共享火力、太空、电子战、网络和情报能力。

作为过渡计划的一部分（该计划将于 6 月中旬开始），第 1 军事发展特遣部队的士兵将“重新加入”第 7 步兵师。

麦克法兰补充说，此举的时机反映了军级在最近的演习和战争游戏中取得的成功，这些演习和战争游戏模拟了二星合并可能的样子。

他说：“我们有机会确保我们拥有合适的能力组合，并配备一名准将级指挥官。‘斯特赖克’旅显然负责地面安全，因此它实际上成为了一个远程侦察和打击师……这一点很重要，因为（该指挥部）的影响范围可以覆盖整个联合作战区域，而不仅仅是军级战场。这对陆军来说令人振奋。”

与此同时，随着影响深远的 MDC-PAC 的成立，陆军领导人继续强调印太地区合作对于遏制来自中国和朝鲜的新兴威胁的重要性。

在 LANPAC 会议上，第 94 陆军航空和导弹防御司令部司令威廉·帕克准将承认，美国军方“如果没有盟友和伙伴，就无法完成我们今天所做的任何事情”。

他说：“我们并非孤军奋战，而且我们已经很久没有孤军奋战了。我们的伙伴帮助我们保护在这个战区内的关键资产和关键部队。”

在研讨会开始前几天，美军结束了第 41 次“肩并肩”联合军演，这是美菲两军之间规模最大的年度双边演习。

今年为期 19 天的演习还有澳大利亚、日本、新西兰、法国和加拿大参加，其中后四个国家首次派兵参加此次演习。

“‘肩并肩2026’标志着战略演习从双边演习演变为保卫菲律宾的大规模多国联合任务演练，”美国印太司令部司令、海军上将塞缪尔·J·帕帕罗在谈到此次演习时表示。“这种发展反映了安全环境的变化，也体现了自由国家的自主选择。”

JD Simkins 是《军事时报》和《防务新闻》的总编辑，也是参加过伊拉克战争的海军陆战队老兵。