The US military might lose a future war against Russia, China, and other autocratic countries unless significant changes and investments are made to the national defense strategy, according to a congressional commission report.
The Commission of the National Defense Strategy presented their findings in a 312-page report to the Senate Armed Services committee on Tuesday, saying the United States faces the “most challenging and most dangerous international security environment” since World War II.
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“A bipartisan call to arms is urgently needed so that the United States can make the major changes and significant investments now rather than wait for the next Pearl Harbor or 9/11,” the report wrote. “The support and resolve of the American public are indispensable.”
The commission found that China is outpacing the United States in terms of the strengths of its military and economy, indicating that the latter is no longer the sole international superpower.
It estimated that Beijing is spending as much as $711 billion annually on defense, with the Chinese government announcing four months ago it will raise its annual defense budget by 7.2 percent.
Beijing’s spending is slowly outpacing Washington’s, which spent approximately $820 billion on national defense during the fiscal year 2023, according to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
The commission warned that the balance of power will shift in China’s favor unless the United States makes significant changes in their military defense in the Western Pacific.
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Rapid modernization reforms have sparked significant concerns across the Western Pacific in recent years as Beijing intensifies its military coercive campaign against the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan.
Beijing views Taiwan, with which the US has an unofficial relationship with and swore to defend in an event of an invasion, as part of its territory and has been threatening to unify it by force if necessary.
Beijing has also been at odds with the Phillippines over its disputed maritime claims of the South China Sea.
The report noted the US military “lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat,” especially against a growing alliance between China and other autocratic powers, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which could threaten Washington in the event of a multi-theater or global war.
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“We also believe that this partnership increases the likelihood that a conflict with one would expand to multiple fronts, causing simultaneous demands on U.S. and allied resources.”
The report also advocated for the Department of Defense to modernize its “business practices, byzantine research and development and procurement systems” which are said to be not suited for today’s strategic environment.
“The Commission finds that the U.S. military lacks both the capabilities and the capacity required to be confident it can deter and prevail in combat,” the report wrote.
“It needs to do a better job of incorporating new technology at scale; field more and higher-capability platforms, software, and munitions; and deploy innovative operational concepts to employ them together better.”
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In recent months, the House had passed a series of bi-partisan foreign aid bills that allocate billions of dollars to Ukraine, to Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific allies, and Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.
* Original Article:
https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/144720/us-not-prepared-to-fight-russia-china-commission-report/amp