Dear Members and Friends,

Yesterday, Patrick J. Murphy, the Acting Secretary of the U.S. Army, and General Mark A. Milley, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, testified on “The Posture of the Department of the Army” before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in its review of President Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2017.

In their written testimony to the committee, Secretary Murphy and General Milley stated,

“While rebalancing readiness and modernization in the mid-term, from 2020 to 2029, the Army will not have the resources to equip and sustain the entire force with the most modern equipment. Informed by the Army Warfighting experiments, the Army will invest in programs with the highest operational return and we build new only by exception. We will delay procurement of our next generation platforms and accept risk to mission in the mid-term. The Army Equipment Modernization Strategy focuses on the five capability areas of Aviation, the Network, Integrated Air Missile Defense, Combat Vehicles, and Emerging Threats.”

In brief, the Army Command is stating that the U.S. Army is strategically ready to fight counterterrorism today, but needs to be strategically ready for high-end conflict against other major powers to preserve peace through strength of readiness. General Milley said the current planned total force strength of 980,000 Soldiers for the U.S. Army, was a “high risk” to meet the imminent threats that we have around the world. When asked by Senator Manchin, “What would it take for us not to be high risk?” General Milley stated, “If we operate under our current national security strategy, the current defense planning guidance, in order to reduce significant risk or moderate risk, it would take roughly speaking about a 1.2 million-person Army.”

Secretary of the Army Murphy, in his opening statement, said,

“Finally, readiness prepares our force for potential future conflicts. We cannot fight the last fight. Our Army must be prepared to face the high-end and advanced combat power of an aggressive Russia. Or more likely, Russian aggression employed by surrogate actors. The budget, this budget, dedicates resources to develop solutions for this, to allow our forces to develop new concepts, informed by the recommendations of the National Commission on the Future of the Army. Our formations must first be ready to execute against current and emerging threats. The choice though, to invest in near term readiness, does come with risk. Smaller modernization investments risks our ability to fight and win in the future. We have no new modernization programs this decade. Smaller investments in end-strength risk our ability to conduct multiple operations for sustained periods of time.”

In their written testimony to the committee, Secretary Murphy and General Milley also stated,

“The Army will invest in the third capability area, Integrated Air Missile Defense, to defeat a large portfolio of threats, ranging from micro unmanned aerial vehicles and mortars to cruise missiles and medium range ballistic missiles. The Army will support this priority by investing in an Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, an Indirect Fire Protection Capability, and the Patriot missile system.”

Increasing the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System to enable force multiplication of the integrated air and missile defense capability from the limited existing capacity is critical, as is increasing end strength of soldiers in the Army Air Defense Branch, which would enable relief on the current 12 month ADA solider deployments down to 9 month deployments, as is the standard for U.S. Army. Increasing the end strength, by about 3,000 Army soldiers for the Air Defense Branch, provides the critical manning of a new Patriot Battalion, additional THADD Batteries, a new ADA Brigade in the Pacific, multiple Indirect Fire Protection Capability Batteries, and a General Officer led 10^th AAMDC Command in Europe.

Hooah!
Click here to watch the full hearing.

Respectfully, Riki Ellison Chairman and Founder Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance