Five Reasons The U.S. Army Must Modernize Faster To Avoid Catastrophe (From Forbes)

The U.S. Army hates begging Congress for money, but its new management team has figured out that begging is a lot better than being unprepared when the next war begins.  So Army Secretary Mark Esper and Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy are stepping up efforts to explain to the political system why the Army must modernize its equipment faster.  The core of their message comes down to this: (1) Army equipment budgets were starved during the Obama years; (2) likely enemies are catching up with U.S. warfighting technology; (3) new technology allows foes to leapfrog Army capabilities; (4) enemies have figured out that soldiers are vulnerable; and (5) the Army has a limited window of time to get moving on modernization.  The Army knows what capabilities it most needs and understands it must reform its internal processes.  But none of that will matter in the next war if Congress doesn’t give the Army enough money to arm America’s soldiers adequately.  I have written a commentary for Forbes here.