Next National Defense Strategy Should Return to Two-War Force Construct
June 15, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak
As the Biden administration updates the National Defense Strategy, it should return to the force-sizing construct of preparing to fight two major theater wars, and not just one; and selectively increasing the kinds of forces most urgently needed for more demanding future fights, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Failure to prepare for two wars—one in the Indo-Pacific and one in Europe—“sends the exact wrong message” to America’s adversaries, Mitchell’s Mark Gunzinger, director of future concepts and capability assessments, said during a livestream release of the new paper. He and Lukas Autenreid are the authors of “Building a Force That Wins: Recommendations for the National Defense Strategy.”
Failure to prepare for two wars may actually “invite” China and Russia to take advantage of a conflict in the other’s sphere of influence, Gunzinger said, and strike before the U.S. has time to build the wonder weapons envisioned in the research and development-heavy fiscal 2022 budget. The danger exists that China may perceive an opportunity for a fait accompli invasion of Taiwan while Russia might capitalize on the situation to move on Ukraine or the Baltics, Gunzinger said.
https://www.airforcemag.com/next-national-defense-strategy-should-return-to-two-war-force-construct/
