The outgoing civilian leader of the U.S. Army is warning that his service will face a major equipment shortfall in the next decade if it does not receive more money for modernization.

Due to funding constraints over the past decade, the Army has been forced to upgrade existing weapons systems instead of buying new ones. But those legacy platforms are running out of service life and could be sidelined before replacements become available, Army Secretary Eric Fanning said Jan. 13.

Eric K. Fanning, Secretary of the Army. (U.S. Army photo by Alfredo Barraza/Released)
Eric K. Fanning, Secretary of the Army. (U.S. Army photo by Alfredo Barraza/Released)

“There’s a gap there in the 2020s that we need to get at [by pulling] some modernization forward,” Fanning said at a Washington, D.C., event sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association. “That’s going to take resources.”

Fanning advocated modernizing both ground combat vehicles and helicopters. He said that if he had more funding, he would rather spend it on modernization, infrastructure or readiness than on making the Army larger.

“If you gave me another dollar for the Army, I wouldn’t necessarily put it into force structure by increasing the size of the Army,” he said. “I think it would benefit the Army to have more soldiers than it has now, but there are other areas in the budget that concern me.”

For now, Fanning believes the Army is adequately equipped to handle any potential adversary that tries to challenge the United States during the change in administrations.

“We are an incredibly lethal force,” he said. “We can reach around the world. Anybody who wants to take us on today is going to realize quickly that they made a mistake.”

Fanning, whose Army tenure ends Jan. 20, has been service secretary since May. He was previously acting Army secretary.