Pentagon: Military Logistics System Not Ready for War With China or Russia

U.S. Marines participate in a military exercise / Getty Images

 

Defense Science Board warns military supply system ‘decayed’ and needs rapid upgrading

The strategic American military system for moving troops, weapons, and supplies over long distances has decayed significantly and needs rapid upgrading to be ready for any future war with China or Russia, according to a report by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board.

A special task force on survivable logistics evaluated the military’s current airlift, sealift, and prepositioned equipment and supplies and found major problems with supporting forces during a “high-end” conflict.

Heritage Foundation’s Index of Military Strength Finds Weaker U.S. Forces, Increasing Threats

WASHINGTON, NOV. 16, 2016 – None of America’s four military branches rates higher than “marginal” in its ability to protect American interests, and one — the Army — is classified as “weak,” according to the 2017 Index of U.S. Military Strength, released today by The Heritage Foundation.

The current U.S. military force is capable of meeting the demands of a single major regional conflict while also handling its other missions worldwide, Index editors say. But handling two major conflicts simultaneously — a distinct possibility, given the growing threats detailed elsewhere in the Index — is likely beyond the ability of the force given its current condition.

The Pentagon’s controversial plan to hire military leaders off the street

Lateral entry, if approved, could open a door for civilians to join the military’s senior officer ranks. Some leaders want to explore this idea for enlisted military jobs, too.(Photo: John Harman/Staff)

 

Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants to open the door for more “lateral entry” into the military’s upper ranks, clearing the way for lifelong civilians with vital skills and strong résumés to enter the officer corps as high as the O-6 paygrade.

The idea is controversial, to say the very least. For many in the rank-and-file military, it seems absurd, a bewildering cultural change that threatens to upend many assumptions about military life and traditional career paths. But while it’s not universally embraced, there is interest in Congress and among some of the military’s uniformed leaders — even, they say, in exploring how the services could apply this concept to the enlisted force.

This is a key piece of Carter’s “Force of the Future” personnel reform. Unveiled June 9, it aims to help the military bring in more top talent, especially for high-tech career fields focused on cyber warfare and space. Advocates say it will help the military fill important manpower shortfalls with highly skilled professionals and, more broadly, create greater “permeability” between the active-duty military and the civilian sector.

U.S. military decimated under Obama, only ‘marginally able’ to defend nation

As a result of the ongoing purge, all four branches of the U.S. military are showing signs of cracking and fracturing. At this pace of suicidal disintegration it might not even be able to defend the homeland by 2017.

 

The U.S. military is shedding so many troops and weapons it is only “marginally able” to defend the nation and falls short of the Obama administration’s national security strategy, according to a new report by The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday.

“The U.S. military itself is aging. It’s shrinking in size,” said Dakota Wood, a Heritage analyst. “And it’s quickly becoming problematic in terms of being able to address more than one major conflict.”

President Obama’s latest strategy is to size the armed forces pledged in 2014 so that the four military branches have sufficient troops, ships, tanks and aircraft to win a large war, while simultaneously acting to “deny the objectives of — or impose unacceptable costs on — another aggressor in another region.”