In a major blow to the US, an analytical defense report concluded that the US military is weak and may not be able to win a single war, especially if it is against Russia and China.
The conservative Heritage Foundation – a think tank that analyzes the strength of the armed forces and the threats to America – recently published its annual “Index of U.S. Military Strength” which focuses on the need for readiness in not one, but two wars.
The report offered an assessment of U.S. military power among the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force, looking at the capacity, capability, and readiness of each on a scale of very weak, weak, marginal, strong, and very strong.
The Army scored “marginal,” while the Air Force was ranked “very weak” and the Navy “weak.” Only the Marine Corps ranked “strong” overall, the report noted.
What’s making the US military weak?
According to the report, years of underfunding and “poorly defined priorities” has led the military to become “weak relative to the force needed to defend national interests on the global stage.” The armed forces also have a capacity problem – not having enough personnel, weapons, and other equipment to fight a war.
“The current U.S. military force is at significant risk of not being able to meet the demands of a single major regional conflict,” the report said. “The force would probably not be able to do more and is certainly ill-equipped to handle two nearly simultaneous [major conflicts.]”
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“The Army is aging faster than it is modernizing,” the report also says. “Its modernization programs are still in their developmental phase, and it will be a few years before they are ready for acquisition and fielding.”
This is rather alarming for the US as Russia and China each present “aggressive” behavior and have “formidable” capabilities, as per the report.
To strengthen its might, the US must be willing to invest in military hardware – ships, missiles, and other weaponry – to supply the force with the equipment needed to prepare for future conflict, according to the report.
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Interestingly, a Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the report’s specifics, saying he had not seen it, but called the US military “the strongest fighting force the world has ever known.”