February 11, 2022 | Foreign Podicy

The Army and the Indo-Pacific

February 11, 2022 Foreign Podicy

The Army and the Indo-Pacific

About

Beijing is conducting the most ambitious military modernization and expansion effort in the history of the People’s Republic of China. And the more powerful the People’s Liberation Army becomes, the more aggressively Beijing is behaving.

Given the vast distances and expanses of ocean, when Americans think of the Indo-Pacific and the Pentagon’s role there, they may think first of the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Those services will, indeed, play a pivotal role in deterring and defeating aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Fully funding and supporting a modernized, capable, and forward-positioned U.S. Navy and Air Force is vital. 

But what about the U.S. Army? That service plays a vital role in Europe and on the Korean peninsula, for example. But what role does the U.S. Army currently play in the larger Indo-Pacific? And what role could and should the Army play there going forward in terms of defending U.S. interests, building partner capacity, and defeating adversaries?

As Congress allocates finite resources to and within the Pentagon, and as the Department of Defense conducts its own generational modernization effort and develops new operational concepts, these questions are fundamental.

General Charles A. Flynn serves as commander of U.S. Army Pacific. He has served in a variety of important leadership positions, from platoon leader to division commander in operational units and as a deputy chief of staff for Army operations, plans, and training at the Pentagon. He has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and now he focuses on the Indo-Pacific, leading the Army’s largest service component command.

In this special edition of Foreign Podicy, General Flynn joins Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.

December 6, 2021
EVENT: The Growing Missile Threat in the Pacific and American Missile Defense
China conducted an advanced military test this summer featuring a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to evade U.S. missile defenses before delivering a nuclear attack against the American homeland. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley characterized the test as “very close” to a Sputnik moment — referring to the 1957 satellite launch by the Soviet Union that shocked Americans and demonstrated the Kremlin’s military-technology prowess. According to a Pentagon report to Congress released last month, the People's Liberation Army launched more than 250 ballistic missiles for testing and training in 2020 alone, more than the rest of the world combined. Meanwhile, North Korea has also been working to develop a range of new missiles to threaten the U.S. homeland, as well as South Korea and Japan and U.S. forces in those two countries. The CMPP event, moderated by CMPP Senior Director Bradley Bowman, features a conversation with Director of the Missile Defense Agency Vice Adm. Jon A. Hill. The conversation features an introduction by CMPP Advisor LTG (Ret.) Ed Cardon.
August 3, 2021
EVENT: Transforming the Total Army
U.S. Army Chief of Staff General James C. McConville, Chief of the Army Reserve Lieutenant General Jody Daniels, and Director of the Army National Guard Lieutenant General Jon A. Jensen discuss the importance of the Army Reserve and Army National Guard in securing the United States, provide an update on efforts to transform their components, and detail the challenges they confront going forward.

Issues:

China Indo-Pacific Military and Political Power U.S. Defense Policy and Strategy