As the U.S. Army emerged from the Battlefield in the Middle East, which had been at war with guerrilla warfare rivals for decades, its officials were setting their sights on the future of war, according to the U.S. Military website. Despite the rapid development of cyberweapons, drones and artificial intelligence, they stressed that the next war will still be a bloody close-quarters battle.
Ted Martin, commander of the U.S. Army Joint Arms Center, said Thursday: "All of this technology is great, but it will (ultimately) boil down to urban engagements where grenades are thrown over and over again." ”
In the past few battles, the United States has mainly fought against enemies who do not have much advanced technology, but this is not the case in the case of conflict with Russia or China. Martin said the next war would be more than just "pushing the buttons", with U.S. troops on the ground having to quickly approach and destroy enemy troops equipped with aircraft cannons coming to battle.
U.S. troops during the War in Afghanistan. Image source: Visual China
Gone are the days of the War in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops often held positions in rudimentary forward combat positions and used radio and ordinary rifles to strike the Taliban from the ridgeline. Martin said: "We are not going to fight like we did in 2003, when we had air superiority and dominance. ”
After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached their peak in the early 2000s, the Pentagon made great efforts to modernize the U.S. military. The Pentagon's so-called "Third Offset Strategy," a development plan that pushes military technology forward, means that the U.S. military's services will focus on investing in emerging technologies, meaning creating new offices focused on innovation and development capabilities in artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles, and cyber warfare.
U.S. Military Infographic. Image source: Visual China
Last week, a report from the Congressional Research Service to lawmakers highlighted that the United States is still technologically more advanced than China and Russia, but that competitive advantage could shrink rapidly. "While the United States is leading the way in developing many of these technologies, China and Russia, seen as major strategic competitors, are making steady progress in developing advanced military technologies," the report said. When they are integrated into the military and deployed, these technologies could have a significant impact on the future of international security. ”
The U.S. Army is experimenting with a dichotomy balance, and while new technology could be a key factor in the next war, Army leaders emphasized that traditional ground combat would remain the primary approach.