According to research, “big powers” like China and Russia have emerged as “top threats” to the United States, with China “outpacing” the country in military might. Consequently, the United States’ military lacks the necessary equipment to participate in a major conflict.
While the United States is currently facing some of “the most serious and most challenging” threats since 1945, the Commission on the National Defense Strategy’s July report reveals that a number of issues are preventing the U.S. military from being able to address threats from China or Russia.
According to reports, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) “business procedures, byzantine research,” and its “dependence on decades-old military gear,” which “reflects an age of unchallenged military superiority,” are among the issues impeding the U.S. military from dealing with challenges from China and Russia. “Such procedures” are “not appropriate to today’s strategic context,” the paper continues.
The U.S. military has had “recent recruiting difficulties,” according to the study, which has caused a decline in “the size of the Army, Air Force, and Navy.”
“The United States faces the most significant and daunting dangers the nation has experienced since 1945, including the prospect for massive conflict in the near future,” the study reads. The last major war in which the United States participated was World War II, which came to a conclusion about 80 years ago. The last time the country was ready for a conflict like this was 35 years ago, during the Cold War. It’s not ready for use today.
Russia and China are characterized as powerful nations that are attempting “to undercut” American dominance, with China “outpacing the United States.”
“The Commission concludes that after 20 years of concentrated military expenditure, China is outpacing the US in several areas and has almost eliminated the US military edge in the Western Pacific. China will continue to gain influence in the balance of power if the US does not make a major adjustment. The Chinese government announced a 7.2% increase in defense spending in March 2024, bringing the country’s total annual defense spending to an estimated $711 billion.”
The article also states that since February 2022, China and Russia have maintained a “no-limits” alliance that has “only intensified and widened to encompass a military and economic relationship with Iran and North Korea.”
According to the research, there is a genuine danger, if not an actual probability, that a conflict in any region could escalate into a global war or multitheater conflict. To counter this, the U.S. must adopt a comprehensive strategy that is commensurate with, or better than, that of its adversaries.
The defense industrial base (DIB) in the United States “is unable to satisfy the equipment, technology, and ammunition demands of the United States and its allies and partners,” according to the research.
The Commission goes on to say that because the American industrial base is unable to supply “everything needed,” the United States “should cooperate and work with its allies” in order to “grow industrial capacity.”
Congress, the Department of Defense, and “other agencies” must collaborate to “rewrite rules and regulations” in order to “eliminate needless hurdles to embracing innovation, budgeting, and procurement,” the study continues.
According to the paper, additional authorities may be required to develop DoD personnel, encourage cooperation, and enhance the national security authority of other agencies. “Removing obstacles to exports, coproduction, and information sharing is necessary for integration with allies.”
A “major long-term danger” to the United States, China’s expanding economic, diplomatic, and military might in recent years have caused many to worry that China would surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent nation.
Reports provided the most current information on Russian and Chinese aircraft flying together off Alaska’s coast. It is the first time Chinese bomber planes have flown within Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone, and the first time aircraft from both nations have taken off from the same base in Russia, even though the bombers were apparently not considered a danger.
