U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, I Corps commander, speaks to reporters during the Land Forces Pacific, or LANPAC, symposium in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, May 13, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
WAIKIKI BEACH, Hawaii — The U.S. Army next month will redesignate the 7th Infantry Division as Multi-Domain Command-Pacific, part of a broader push to reorganize forces in the region for modern, high-tech warfare.
The new two-star headquarters will combine 7th ID and the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, both based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., into a formation capable of coordinating ground maneuvers, long-range fires, cyber operations, space capabilities, electronic warfare and intelligence.
“We are transforming at the speed of need,” I Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, said Tuesday during the Land Forces Pacific, or LANPAC, symposium hosted by the Association of the United States Army.
The new command is intended to synchronize multidomain operations across the Indo-Pacific theater, U.S. Army Pacific said in a news release Thursday.
McFarlane said the Army is moving ahead with the restructuring before finalizing all organizational details or fully validating every capability.
“We’re still working through the details of what the organization looks like,” he told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday during a LANPAC media roundtable. The Army is “keeping an agile posture” regarding organizational changes, he added.
The command grew out of an operational experiment conducted in December 2024 that tested whether 7th ID and 1st MDTF could integrate at the theater level, the Army said in a separate release.
Maj. Gen. Bernard Harrington, who leads 7th ID, is listed in his official biography as commander of MDC-PAC.
Units already operating under the MDC-PAC designation participated in last month’s Balikatan exercise in the Philippines, including a HIMARS live-fire drill in Palawan involving U.S., Philippine and Australian forces.
McFarlane said the command will include two Stryker infantry brigades and a combat aviation brigade, though some aviation assets may eventually move to Alaska within the next 18 months.
The redesignation will also expand intelligence analysis, targeting and operational planning capabilities, allowing the command to integrate more effectively with other forces, including Pacific Fleet, I Corps and Marine expeditionary units, McFarlane said.
“The Stryker brigades obviously provide security on the ground for the different things that are in a [multidomain task force], he said. “And so it really becomes a long-range ‘sense and strike’ division.”
Before the transition is complete, soldiers assigned to 1st MDTF will adopt the 7th ID patch, McFarlane said.
