MAY 21, 2025 – Military leaders discussed transformation the services face amongst the growth of national security threats yesterday during a Council on Foreign Relations panel in Manhattan, New York.
“The battlefield is changing as fast as the technology in your pocket and we know we have to change,” said Gen. Randy A. George, Army chief of staff.
For example, with the proliferation of drones, there’s no longer any way to hide on the battlefield, he said.
George said part of the Army’s way of transforming, an effort known as “transforming and contact,” is getting innovation advice from junior soldiers, instead of just using the traditional top-down approach.
“Our soldiers have a really good mindset for innovation,” he added.
Some of the other ways the Army is transforming is slimming down its headquarters staff, making smarter investments in systems and weaponry and prepare standing up a mobile brigade combat team, George said.
Gen. Eric M. Smith, Marine Corps commandant, told the panel he is “not interested in going back and fighting the last war.”
Range of weaponry and detection of enemy formations will be paramount in the next fight. That’s why the Marine Corps is heavily investing in drones and sensors, he said.
Adm. James W. Kilby, acting chief of naval operations, said the quality of sailors, Marines and naval vessels is high. However, the quantity of ships and the ability to produce them are real concerns.
“I’m disappointed with our ability as an industrial base to react to that quickly,” Kilby said. “Virtually every one of our shipbuilding classes is behind schedule for a number of reasons.”
The Navy plans to build a hybrid fleet that includes not only traditional ships, but also unmanned surface and undersea ships, as well as aerial vehicles, the admiral said. This approach is needed because the Navy can’t afford to produce the number of ships it needs.
He pointed out that experimentation will occur regarding integrating those manned and unmanned vessels into an efficient and effective strike group.
Gen. David W. Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, said his service is taking a similar approach as the Navy, by building a hybrid fleet of aircraft, to include the unmanned YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A.
He said these are meant to operate in tandem with manned airplanes, in human-machine teaming.
The Air Force has excess infrastructure it hopes to reduce to better allocate that money to those warfighting efforts, Allvin said.
“We’re seeing an increase in threats directly to the homeland, maybe in a way we haven’t faced in a generation,” said Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Space Force chief of space operations. “And, it’s our job to think about the worst day that the United States would face where the adversaries use these exquisite weapons and start to target the homeland.”
The Space Force is invested in building the Golden Dome, a defense system that will be designed to protect the homeland. Saltzman said that’s why it’s worth the cost of building it.
Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, Coast Guard acting commandant, said the U.S. is an Arctic nation and its ability to defend that region is vitally important.
Icebreakers are key to that defense and the Coast Guard is seeking ways to build more of them, as well as its cutter fleet, he said.
By David Vergun, DOD News