ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The U.S. Army is now on course to field a platoon of laser-armed Stryker vehicles within three years and a full battery in four years, a rapid move to high-energy weapons that helps meet one of the Army’s top modernization priorities.

“The time is now to get directed energy weapons to the battlefield,” said Lt. Gen. L. Neil Thurgood, who heads the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and is director of hypersonics, directed energy, space and rapid acquisition.

Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said the Army has launched some bold changes but that doesn’t mean today’s force is weak. “We are ready for any type of threat today,” he said, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

Esper was introduced by retired Lt. Gen. Guy C. Swan III, the Association of the U.S. Army’s vice president for Education, who said the Army secretary “brings a remarkably wide array of skills and experiences to this position,” at least partly because Esper has “been a soldier with the unique distinction of serving in all three components of the U.S Army.”

The U.S. Army “remains second to none, but while we have been building short-term readiness to remain engaged in counterterrorism and stability operations, our adversaries have made significant gains,” the deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and sustainment told a Senate panel.

The Pentagon’s top enlisted advisor says the nation needs a “larger, more capable and more lethal force as we go forward.”

*Updated 23 May 2:57pm EDT

The Army is seeking $166 billion in fiscal 2018, an amount that includes $28.9 billion in overseas contingency funding.

The base budget proposal that is part of the Trump administration’s first full defense budget is about $4.5 billion more than had been planned by the Obama administration.

About half the increase goes to pay for the higher troop levels authorized by Congress last year as lawmakers not only stopped but slightly reversed the drawdown. The other half of the increase is mostly dedicated to modernization and readiness efforts.

Soldiers on the ground have the best personal protection they’ve ever known, but the price they pay is a load approaching 120 pounds.

To address this burden, the Army is developing a goal and plan to reduce the weight of hard armor plates by 20 percent by identifying and eliminating excess ballistic protection, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report.

April 26, 2017

The Army’s top contracting official is concentrating on two goals: getting new weapons and equipment more quickly into the hands of soldiers, and having a more open and transparent contracting process.

The two goals are linked, said Maj. Gen. James E. Simpson, Army Contracting Command commanding general, because improving the contracting process is a key part of faster delivery to the field.

March 23, 2017

Army leaders warned Congress there is an “urgent need” for modernizing weapons and equipment.

Testifying before the airland subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lt. Gen. John M. Murray, the deputy chief of staff for programs, said the Army has roughly half the money today for readiness and modernization than it had eight years ago, a reduction that has left it incapable of addressing immediate and long-term needs.

A new report by an influential conservative think tank rates the U.S. Army as “weak” for the second consecutive year.

The Heritage Foundation’s 2017 Index of U.S. Military Strength rates the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as having “marginal” military power, a slightly higher rating.

The Army’s goal in creating a fast process for new technologies is getting new equipment into the hands of soldiers as quickly as possible, with speed preferable to perfection, according to Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning.

The goal is to do what adversaries are doing, Fanning said. That means instead of getting a “pristine solution, 100 percent solution out into the field,” the Army wants to get something into the hands of troops “they can use, experiment with and refine in real time.”