The Army already plans to convert one of its infantry brigade combat teams to an armored unit and would transition another brigade if funding became available, several three-star generals recently testified on Capitol Hill.
“We plan to convert one of our Infantry brigade combat teams (BCT) to an Armored BCT (ABCT), giving us a total of 15 ABCTs across the Total Force,” Lt. Gens. Joseph Anderson, Aundre Piggee and Gwen Bingham, told a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee last Wednesday. “This restructuring, enabled by additional manning, will alleviate stress on the force caused by the high demand for ABCTs. We would pursue a 16th ABCT with additional resources.”
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But that work, aimed at meeting the near-term threat of high-end adversaries, must compete for funding with modernization requirements for the Army’s desire to preserve readiness, its need to modernize, and failing infrastructure that has been put on the back burner to pay for the wars of the last 15 years.
Anderson is the deputy chief of staff for Operations, Plans and Training. Piggee is deputy chief of staff for Logistics. Bingham is deputy chief of staff for Installation Management. The three officers were on the Hill March 8 testifying on Army readiness before the HASC Subcommittee on Readiness.
“The Army’s initiatives to regain and sustain readiness have come at a cost to modernization. Of particular note is our current plan to reduce aviation modernization,” the generals said in a joint statement to the subcommittee. “Our Army requires modernized equipment and sufficient, trained manpower to win decisively. Today, we risk being outmanned, outranged, outgunned, and outdated.”
Piggee said, given more money, the Army would first invest in its prepositioned stocks, used by geographic combatant commanders as strategic supplies for early-response forces in times of conflict. Filling prepositioned stocks in Europe are a major and immediate concern, he said.
Behind that, the next priority is replenishing munitions, he said. The Army is short of munitions used for the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems, as well as Hellfire missiles and Excalibur guided artillery rounds.
Several capability gaps were mentioned specifically, including long-range precision fire, missile defense, armor brigades and aviation. The Army also needs to harness new and emerging technologies, the generals said. But those goals run up against the near-term goal of improving readiness to fight a high-end conflict and a general lack of modernization dollars.
“As a mitigation strategy, the Army is prioritizing critical equipment modernization and infrastructure upgrades while proceeding with acquisition reform initiatives to deliver an acceptable level of near term military risk,” the generals said. “This plan will reduce manpower shortages while generating selected formations and modernizing the Army in key areas such as fires, air and missile defense, and armor.”
The officers also made a pitch to strengthen and maintain the U.S. defense industrial base, which is seen as a key enabler of readiness and sustainment of the force, its weapons, equipment and vehicles. Industrial base stability is best achieved through consistent, predictable funding.
“We need a viable industrial base to sustain readiness and to enable the reconstitution of combat losses at an acceptable rate,” the generals said. “The longer the Army operates in an unpredictable fiscal environment or under continuing resolutions, the more difficult it is to sustain production and workforce skill sets.”
As deputy chief for Installation Management, Bingham said that the relentless pace of war and other global missions has resulted in the neglect of the service’s facilities and physical infrastructure. Around 22 percent, or 33,000 facilities are in poor or failed condition, according to Bingham. Deferred maintenance on those facilities equals $10.8 billion, she said.