US Army soldiers reworked a new missile system in the field during a deployment that deeply frustrated China

Troops deployed to the Pacific tinkered with and reworked a missile system in the field, showing the value of soldier-driven design input during a deployment that irritated China, a recent report noted.

Soldiers were in the Philippines and working with the US Army’s new Mid-Range Capability, or Typhon, missile system.

The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, reported last month on the Army’s modernization efforts for its artillery, rocket, and missile systems. Citing conversations with the program’s officials, the GAO said that there were “multiple design changes” made “during development based on user input provided during new equipment training and other exercises.”

The improvements made included reducing the reload time and stress on the system’s components, and they were made by soldiers on the ground during those exercises. “For example, because of the orientation of the launcher, soldiers suggested moving certain access points and panel connections on the trailer to make it easier to reload, operate, and maintain,” the office said.

User input on the system was collected during and after its deployment to the Philippines last year as part of a joint US-Philippine exercise.

In a statement at the time, US Army Pacific called it a “landmark deployment” marking “a significant milestone for the new capability while enhancing interoperability, readiness, and defense capabilities in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.” It marked the system’s first overseas deployment.

The MRC is one of the Army’s newest missile systems. It’s a versatile ground-based missile system capable of firing both the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and designed to fill a key gap in the US arsenal in terms of range and flexibility. While it wasn’t fired during the trainings, its presence angered China, which demanded it be removed.

In September 2024, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said that China had made its opposition to the deployment clear more than once.

“The deployment is a move to turn back the wheel of history,” he said, adding that “it gravely threatens regional countries’ security, incites geopolitical confrontation, and has aroused high vigilance and concerns of countries in the region.” China notably maintains a large arsenal of ballistic missiles.

China has also expressed its frustrations to the Philippines. In August last year, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, had expressed concerns the weapon could destabilize the security and relations of the region, and that when they discussed it, China “made it very dramatic.”

Beijing has said the Philippines, a key US ally, is serving American interests ot the detriment of its own, and China has kept up its complaints amid reports of a coming second MRC deployment to the Philippines, which has expressed great interest in the system’s capabilities.

The MRC’s development came after the 2019 US withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

That withdrawal, which the first Trump administration said was driven by Moscow’s violation of the treaty with its SSC-8/9M729, has opened new doors for the US arsenal.

In the GAO report, the office noted that the effort underway for the MRC has “reflected several attributes of an iterative product development approach as it established a business case with flexible requirements focused on a minimum viable product,” including adapting new capabilities and requesting user feedback on the system.

Iterative, or staged, development with key soldier feedback has been of growing interest for US Army’s transformation and innovation projects. The Army has called these soldier touchpoints, but there are many names for this process within the military. US special operations forces have also been really involved in this approach.

The value of this kind of work in the field has also been seen in the war in Ukraine, where Ukrainian soldiers are often in close contact with and providing feedback to weapons makers, fueling rapid growth in experimental and emerging combat technologies. The Army’s first iteration of the Mid-Range Capability experienced that during the Philippines deployment.

Military leaders have said that companies should be testing their tech on the front lines. Short of that, they’d ideally be getting their systems in the hands of deployed troops in training.

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