The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said July 7 that the United States needs to be prepared to counter an increasing “diversity” of threats to its national security.
The United States has been battling terrorist groups in multiple foreign countries for 15 years, but that threat “has not gone away,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), who spoke at a Heritage Foundation event in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, other potential adversaries, such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, have been studying American military operations and are developing capabilities specifically designed to defeat U.S. forces. In addition, the United States must continue to sustain its aging nuclear forces to deter a nuclear attack, he added.
“The challenging thing for us is we have to be prepared for it all,” Thornberry said. “If you’ve asked most four-stars what keeps them up at night over the past few years, they would say the one area that worries them the most has been cyber. And, of course, that continues to grow and be complex. We are still not catching up with the threat. But I think it’s the diversity of the threats” that the United States must address.
A day after his committee’s readiness panel held a hearing on shortfalls in military aviation, Thornberry said he used to think that the only way to solve the military’s “readiness crisis” was to provide more money for operation and maintenance (O&M). But while he still believes O&M programs “need more attention,” he has come to realize that one of the best ways to deal with aging, hard-to-maintain aircraft is to replace them.
“There’s only so much you can do for a 30- or 40-year-old helicopter,” Thornberry said. “The only way to fix an F/A-18 that you can’t get parts for … is to get an F-35. Modernization is key to fixing readiness.” Lockheed Martin [LMT] is building the F-35 Lightning II to replace F/A-18 Hornets and other aging aircraft.
Turning to the pending fiscal year 2017 defense authorization legislation, Thornberry said he expects House and Senate negotiators will try to iron out as many differences as possible between their respective bills before the August congressional recess. He said a decision on total funding for defense probably will not be resolved until lawmakers reconvene in September.