A permanent ROK-US Combined Multi-Domain Task Force would unify cyber, space, land, and sea capabilities to deter North Korea.
In the face of growing strategic challenges from North Korea and the broader Asia-Indo-Pacific security environment, the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) must adapt their military posture to deter aggression and preserve regional stability. The time has come to establish a Combined Multi-Domain Task Force (CMDTF) on the Korean Peninsula.
This permanent, integrated US-ROK unit operates across land, air, sea, space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum. Such a force would not only enhance warfighting readiness and deterrence against North Korea but also serve as a model for regional integration and combined or joint operations among US allies throughout the Asia-Pacific.
As USINDOCPACOM and the US Army establish multi-domain commands in the Pacific, it is time to take the concept to the next level with combined task forces. The ideal starting point is with the ROK/US alliance. This unit would be separate from and in addition to the existing 2nd Infantry Division-ROK/US Combined Division (2ID/RUCD).
Why a Combined Multi-Domain Task Force in Korea Is Necessary
North Korea is no longer a conventional-only military threat. Its capabilities span ballistic and cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, underground facilities, cyberattacks, and potentially space-based assets. Additionally, it is gaining combat experience in Putin’s war against Ukraine. These capabilities are designed to operate across multiple domains, achieving surprise, paralysis, and psychological shock. A traditional force posture that relies heavily on segregated domain operations is increasingly insufficient.
A CMDTF would allow the US and ROK to counter these threats with an integrated approach, enabling:
1. Preemptive disruption of North Korean offensive capabilities
2. Integrated intelligence and decision cycles
3. Rapid transition from armistice conditions to conflict
Deterrence is most credible when it is visible, integrated, and demonstrably capable of rapid, decisive action. A CMDTF, learning from the US Army’s Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) model, would be equipped with precision fires, long-range sensors, cyber-electromagnetic capabilities, and space-based integration. When operated as a combined ROK-US unit, it would send a strong strategic message: that the alliance is not only interoperable but indivisible at the most advanced levels of warfare.
What Are the Advantages of a CMDTF?
By fusing advanced US capabilities with ROK advanced technology, military knowledge of terrain, population, and adversary intent, the CMDTF would generate synergies impossible in a single-nation unit. It would function as an elite strike and ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) enabler for both tactical and strategic-level operations.
Embedding cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence-enabled targeting, resilient C2 (command and control), and electronic warfare, within a combined unit would enable these concepts to be integrated into ROK doctrine, training, and acquisition. The CMDTF serves as a vector for combined innovation, much like the US MDTFs do for the US Army Futures Command.
Nothing builds combined capability and strategic trust like fighting together on the same staff, under the same command. By forming a CMDTF, the US, and ROK would take the next step beyond bilateral exercises or rotational units. This is unity in action, preparing for war while sustaining armistice conditions and shaping the peace.
A Korea-based CMDTF could regularly rotate to train with other US allies and partners, such as Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand, thereby serving as a model for other combined task forces. This strengthens allied cohesion, deters regional adversaries, and deepens professional military education and training across the region.
A ROK-US CMDTF complements other regional initiatives such as the Australia-U.K.-US (AUKUS) partnership and the Quad. It provides an army-led, land-centric node in a distributed, multi-domain deterrence architecture, ensuring that Asia-Indo-Pacific security is not confined to maritime approaches alone.
A CMDTF Could Strengthen the US-ROK Alliance
Establishing a permanent, combined task force shows that the US is not merely “present” in Korea; it is deeply committed to “co-fighting, co-leading, and co-developing” with the ROK. It’s a message to both Pyongyang and Beijing that the US will not retreat behind the first island chain.
A CMDTF would be subordinate to the Combined Forces Command (CFC), but its command structure could pioneer distributed leadership models and shared authorities, preparing both nations for fast-moving crises. This institutional integration enhances the alliance’s ability to respond decisively in the most critical moments of conflict. This would be another example of the US Army transforming in contact, this time combined with our ROK ally.
The US and ROK must prepare for the future, not the past. The North Korean threat is multi-domain, and the strategic competition with China increasingly demands integrated, forward-deployed, high-tech, and coalition-capable forces. A Combined Multi-Domain Task Force on the Korean Peninsula is the logical, necessary next step in the evolution of the US-ROK alliance.
It would enhance deterrence, multiply combined capabilities, and radiate strategic influence throughout the Indo-Pacific. Most importantly, it would reaffirm that the US and the Republic of Korea are not merely allies in word, but indeed united across domains, prepared for all scenarios, and committed across generations.
About the Author: David Maxwell
David Maxwell is a retired US Army Special Forces colonel who has spent more than 30 years in the Asia Pacific region (primarily Korea, Japan, and the Philippines) as a practitioner specializing in Northeast Asian security affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He is the vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation (where he focuses on a free and unified Korea). He is a member of the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, the International Council on Korean Studies, and the OSS Society, and on the board of advisers of Spirit of America, the Special Operations Association of America, and is the editor-at-large of Small Wars Journal.
Image Credit: Shutterstock/a katz.
