By
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
on February 18, 2021 at 4:50 PM
Gen. James McConville
WASHINGTON: As budget battles intensify in the face of COVID relief and the shift to the Pacific, Army Chief of Staff James McConville argues that the Army’s new missiles, aircraft, & networks can help the other services in long-range, fast-paced, high-tech combat.
“The future is all about range and speed,” Gen. McConville declared, and longtime Army watchers perked up. With the other services circling for a prophesied budgetary “bloodletting”, the Army really needs a clear and catchy argument for its modernization program.
Yes, Army leaders have previously touted the range and speed of specific weapons systems they’re developing – especially hypersonic & other long-range missiles, manned and unmanned Future Vertical Lift aircraft, and command networks capable of transmitting targeting data in seconds. But yesterday’s remarks by McConville were the first time the four-star Army Chief of Staff himself has clearly tied all those technologies together into a single argument for the Army’s relevance in future wars.