Army Steals a March in Adjusting to Change

the Pacific demands a new focus

With any Great Pacific War that may be in the offer west of the International Date Line, unless we have claw back some of the larger green bits on the map or make the mistake of putting the land component ashore in new places on the Asian mainland, the fight will play to our competitive advantage in the maritime and aerospace arena.

As we follow through with a decade-plus old “Pacific Pivot”, it will be an Army—habitualized to European concerns and imperial policing actions in Central and Southwest Asia, that will need to adapt the most.

Every new administration that comes in wants to re-orient things. I wasn’t too impressed when the last new team came in in 2021, so it is time for me to hope again.

The simple fact that the new team is clearly set on prioritizing the Pacific is why it didn’t surprise me at the end of last month, that the SECDEF issued some direction and guidance to the Army first. As you’ll see below, they were ready for it.

I’m itching to see the Navy’s plans, but that will have to wait. I thought there might be something to chew on with Friday’s announcements about the $1 trillion for Defense in 2026. However, it was kind of a letdown, to be blunt. I like details, but sadly, there wasn’t much. Even the $1 trillion is a bit of a round-up.

Noah Robertson over at Defense News lays it out well:

The Trump administration is requesting a $892.6 billion base defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year, an overall cut when adjusted for inflation and far below the $1 trillion figure President Donald Trump promised last month.

The administration framed the number as a large increase in the defense budget, or $961 billion for the Pentagon. That said, a footnote in the White House’s request explains the total assumes Congress will pass a separate party-line spending package under debate right now.

…

That bill includes $150 billion for defense, including many of Trump’s priorities, such as shipbuilding and missile defense. The administration could spend a large share of that money up front, but the bill hasn’t passed yet and includes funding available for the next several years, not in the upcoming fiscal year alone.

In a letter to Sen. Collins (R-ME), the OMB outlined where the additional spend in the $150 billion would come from.

I was still itching for budget numbers for the 2026 proposal from the President, but no joy.

The big navalist news last week was the Ships for America Act being brought back from the previous Congress. There is a good summary by Mike Schuler over at gCaptain if in the unlucky event you missed it. I think I need to dig into the details, so maybe I’ll do that later this week.

About the only forward-looking itch that I could get scratched over the weekend was from the Army of all things.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy A. George put out a letter on May 1st that kept popping into my head during Sunday’s Midrats with TX Hammes.

Of course, it coined another acronym.

…the Army is implementing a comprehensive transformation strategy — the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI). This initiative will reexamine all requirements and eliminate unnecessary ones, ruthlessly prioritize fighting formations to directly contribute to lethality, and empower leaders at echelon to make hard calls to ensure resources align with strategic objectives. To achieve this, ATI comprises three lines of effort: deliver critical warfighting capabilities, optimize our force structure, and eliminate waste and obsolete programs.

Well, net one-below for the non-ironic use of the discredited “T” word…but here we are. Sigh.

Cautious but optimistic, let’s look at it anyway.

What is the Army learning from the conflicts we have seen since 2021 that we will need in a coming fight in the Pacific? What are we prioritizing? What are we bringing in? What are we leaving to history? Give it a read, but here is what popped out to me.

• We will introduce long-range missiles and modernized UAS into formations, field the M1E3 tank, develop the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, and close the C-sUAS capability gap

• We are eliminating 1,000 staff positions at HQDA. To further optimize force structure, Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command will merge into a single command that aligns force generation, force design, and force development under a single headquarters. Forces Command will transform into Western Hemisphere Command through the consolidation of Army North and Army South. Multi-Domain Task Forces will align with theater headquarters to operate under relevant authorities.

• We will trim general officer positions to streamline command structures and revise civilian talent management policies to prioritize performance.

• …reducing one Aerial Cavalry Squadron per Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) in the Active Component... We will convert all Infantry Brigade Combat Teams to Mobile Brigade Combat Teams to improve mobility and lethality in a leaner formation. We are trading weight for speed, and mass for decisive force.

• We will cancel procurement of outdated crewed attack aircraft such as the AH-64D, excess ground vehicles like the HMMWV and JLTV, and obsolete UAVs like the Gray Eagle. We will also continue to cancel programs that deliver dated, late-to-need, overpriced, or difficult-to-maintain capabilities.

Though anyone, including me, could pic a nit here and there, I think this is a solid start from both a streamlining and a force-shaping move towards what we need the Army to do for the big fight in the Pacific.

Now, where is the Navy’s version of this?