2021: Will Army Modernization Survive?
With shrinking budgets and a growing need for new technologies, “the Army will need to make a compelling case to Congress to fund new capabilities and truncate legacy programs,†said CSBA’s Tom Mahnken.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on December 29, 2020 at 3:40 PM
WASHINGTON: The Army may have to slash troop strength and training to save its ambitious modernization program from the likely post-COVID budget crunch.
Painful choices are already painfully familiar to the Army. Even in the flush years of the Trump Administration, the Army largely funded its new weapons by cutting lower-priority programs. In 2021, the service will face Democratic control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and — potentially — the Senate, amidst the national fiscal hangover from trillions in COVID stimulus spending. The Army’s own former Chief of Staff, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, has predicted a “bloodletting†of ground-force programs to fund sea, air, and space technologies more essential to counter to China.
In previous drawdowns, long-term modernization programs have often paid the bill to protect near-term readiness and troop numbers. The head of Army Futures Command, Gen. Mike Murray, has repeatedly and publicly said he’s prioritizing which new weapons to protect. But with an aging inventory on Reagan-era equipment that’s inadequate against the current Russian threat and largely irrelevant against China, Army leaders have promised to protect modernization this time around … somehow.
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/12/2021-will-army-modernization-survive/
