The Army is taking big steps toward having critical new air and missile defense capabilities, with an eye on a collection of interconnected systems that provide scalable, mobile and revolutionary protection against current and future threats.

No single system will be able to accomplish what the Army and the nation need, the commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command said March 12 during a one-day event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. 

Moving forward is important. “We understand that our potential adversaries have made technological advances in nearly every capability in the past few decades,” said Lt. Gen. James H. Dickinson, who also commands Army Forces Strategic Command. “China, Russia and other competitors are working every day to develop and field air and missile defense capabilities with greater mobility, range, speed and precision.”

“In the future, we can expect to see a mix of capabilities integrated at all echelons,” Dickinson said, warning that there is no easy fix because no single system will have the capability to match every threat.

“There is no one silver bullet,” he said.

He was optimistic, however. “We are nearing completion of an updated vision,” he said. It is based on some simple concepts of having the right capabilities to meet multidomain threats, with the right capacity, with trained and qualified people, and a system that is interoperable and integrated with partners and allies.

“We cannot continue to do the same thing and the same way at the same pace and expect to maintain and increase our technological advantage,” Dickinson said.

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