ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

China’s recent test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile demonstrates an advanced space capability that challenges the Army command responsible for defending the U.S. against such threats, according to the author of a new paper. 

Retired Col. Larry Wortzel asserts in his paper that the burden of defending against the new threat posed “by what appear to be maneuvering, hypersonic warheads orbiting in space” belongs to the Army Space and Missile Defense Command. 

As the military’s largest user of space, the Army must be able to fight and win not only on the terrestrial sphere but in the space domain as well, the commanding general of Army Space and Missile Defense Command said.

This need is made more urgent by the rapid advancement of technological capabilities at home and abroad, and “increasingly in the laboratories and field tests of our competitors,” Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler said.

Army space leaders are trying to educate soldiers about how the force heavily relies on space-enabled capabilities.

Non-space soldiers may not realize how much of their equipment relies on space-enabled capabilities and how those capabilities enhance Army combat operations, said Robert Marquez, space training division chief for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Soldiers not in space jobs also may not realize how adversaries are already trying to take advance of space.

The Army’s new acquisition chief wants to speed up the process of getting soldiers what they need, bolster software talent in the workforce and encourage innovation across the enterprise.

Doug Bush, the new assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said he plans to continue responsible use of the “new authorities we have” to enable a faster acquisition process. He said there is a demand from Army leadership and from Congress that soldiers get what they need as they confront the evolving demands of combat.

Faced with rising threats from Russia, China and Iran, the U.S. must prepare to respond to irregular forms of warfare, a national security expert said.

Army medical researchers are working to develop new capabilities as the force prepares for a more lethal but austere future battlefield, a senior medical officer said.

Working with the expectation that battlefield casualties will need life-saving care farther forward for longer periods of time, the Army is looking for new capabilities suited for use in austere environments and will leverage emerging capabilities such as unmanned vehicles. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has had an impact on the 2022 defense budget, finally pushing lawmakers to complete work on funding programs for the fiscal year that started last October.

The Army is preparing to field 24 of its 35 signature modernization systems in 2023, as it pushes ahead with its largest transformation effort in decades.

“Being ready today is not good enough,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said March 8. “We must also make sure we’re ready tomorrow.”

More than four years ago, the Army established six modernization priorities, he said.