GOTEMBA, JAPAN — U.S. Marines test-fired a dozen rockets from mobile High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers at a range in the foothills of Mount Fuji in Gotemba, Japan. The live-fire exercise at the Camp Fuji east maneuver area lasted only a few minutes and was conducted in close coordination with Japanese military forces.

The first rocket fired by the Marines produced a burst of flame and a thunderclap boom, followed by another five rockets in rapid succession. A second HIMARS truck then emerged from a concealed position, fired six rockets, and retreated back to cover. The exercise involved only dummy projectiles, and a public road between the firing point and the impact area was closed as a precaution.

The HIMARS is a launcher mounted on the back of a military truck that can be rapidly brought out from concealment, fire rockets, and then move quickly to a new location to avoid counter-battery fire. The system employs "shoot and scoot" tactics that are becoming increasingly important with the proliferation of drones over the battlefield.

"They're much quicker, much faster, and much easier to hide than, say, traditional cannon artillery, and obviously having the precision fire weapons and having the ability to hide easier is why so many countries, and why it's important for us, to have the HIMARS," said Lt. Col. Ryan Anness, commander of the 3rd Battalion.

Sgt. Kevin Alvarez, section chief of one of the Fox Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, described the speed at which crews can reposition the launcher. "It depends on the crew, but it can get as fast as four minutes, even two minutes sometimes," he said.

Introduced about 20 years ago, the HIMARS has been used by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and was largely unknown to the general public until Ukraine used it successfully against Russia. The Precision Strike Missile can reach targets at ranges greater than 500 kilometers, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin. HIMARS systems equipped with the latest missiles could reach targets in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and mainland China if deployed on Japanese or other nearby islands.

The exercise was a demonstration to Pacific allies of American capabilities aimed at deterring possible Chinese aggression against Taiwan, as the U.S. has shifted tactics in the Pacific in response to China's rapid military modernization.

"The U.S. does not want China to invade Taiwan, but it would not be relying on the traditional aircraft carrier-based attack wings of the past," said Euan Graham, senior defense analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. "In Iran, with the U.S. conflict there, there were over 40 U.S. aircraft, manned and unmanned, either destroyed or damaged against a much less capable adversary, so in the case of conflict with China that vulnerability would be much greater."

Graham said mobile systems would be central to any Taiwan contingency. "In advance of a conflict around Taiwan, there would likely be a large-scale outflux of U.S. assets within the envelope of China's missile capabilities," he said. "All that would be left is submarines, which are more survivable, and small units based on rugged survivability — mobile systems like the HIMARS."