Defense

The top U.S. military officer in the Pacific, Adm. Phil Davidson, warned last week that China could undertake a military attack against Taiwan within the next six years. To convince Beijing that it cannot achieve its political objectives in Taiwan or elsewhere with military force, the Pentagon is sprinting to transform ongoing research and development programs into fielded combat capabilities as…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is nearing the selection of an existing Field Artillery Battalion that will get the first set of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) system, according to Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of the service’s Long-Range Precision Fires modernization efforts. Fielding will take place in 2023, but the Army will have to announce the unit with enough time…

WASHINGTON — Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said, if the budget top line in future years either stays the same or falls, he doesn’t see the service’s end-strength numbers dropping, but he also doesn’t see them growing. “When it comes to what chiefs have to grapple with in a budget, it’s end-strength and structure, it’s readiness and it’s modernization. Those are the…

WASHINGTON — The Army is expected to release its new doctrine, one that describes how the service will operate in the future across air, land, sea, space and cyberspace, in summer 2022, Lt. Gen. D. Scott McKean, the director of the Army Futures and Concepts Center under Army Futures Command, told Defense News in a March 15 virtual event. The doctrine cements the Army’s developing…