The American website Breaking Defense reported that, according to the U.S. Congressional report, the United States needs to expand its military industry and acquire more aircraft, ships, and submarines. The website states that the Pentagon's current national defense strategy is outdated, the U.S. military is inadequately structured, and the American industrial base is insufficient to address the dual threat of Russia and China, according to a new, powerful formal review.
"The U.S. public are largely unaware of the dangers the United States faces or the costs (financial and otherwise) required to adequately prepare" for a global conflict, reads an early page from the final report of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, published today. "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 support and resolve of the American public are indispensable."
According to Breaking Defense, the commission was established by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 to review that year's national defense strategy. Beyond presenting a troubling picture of America's national security, the 114-page report offers several recommendations for policymakers in the White House, strategists at the Pentagon, and legislators—primarily advocating for an aggressive approach. The boldest suggestion is a call for the creation of a "multi-domain force" to address the current "outdated" version.
"he Commission believes the United States needs a force-planning approach that is both global and prioritized. … An exclusive focus on a single adversary or single region, as some have suggested, is a fundamentally flawed response to the global nature of challenges posed by such adversaries as China and Russia and to the growing cooperation between adversaries across regions," the report stated. "That said, the United States' force-planning approach must be prioritized to effectively and efficiently allocate finite resources, address threats of varying scope and scale, and ensure a mix of U.S. instruments of national power that are tailored to specific strategic objectives."
Breaking Defense notes that the report describes changes needed in the U.S. defense system, including acquiring more ships and shipbuilding infrastructure for the Navy and more satellites for the Space Force. It also supports the Air Force's effort to acquire a next-generation air superiority aircraft, a project currently facing an uncertain future.
Regarding the Indo-Pacific theater, the commission calls for more underwater assets - "eparticularly Virginia-class submarines but also large, uncrewed underwater vessels" - as well as more long-range bombers and long-range munitions.
In Europe, the report says that the National Defense Strategy has underestimated the Russian threat. "Ultimately," it states, "the goal is for Europe to take on a larger role in providing for its defense, with assured and critical support of the United States. In light of the potential for simultaneous conflicts, capability targets apportioned to European allies through the NATO Defense Planning Process should be intentionally selected to reduce overreliance on the United States for key capabilities enablers."
