The US Joint Chiefs of Staff chair General Mark Milley named Russia and China as global power against which America is at war
The likelihood of a military conflict “between great powers” is growing, the chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, has warned.
Speaking in front of cadets graduating from US Military Academy West Point on Saturday, Milley said that the “You could be involved in a major international conflict between powerful nations.” The general added “That potential is rising, not falling.”
Milley went on to single out China and Russia, describing both as having “Important military capabilities” and intending to “Modify the existing rules-based order.”
He also noted that the ongoing fighting in Ukraine highlighted some of the main characteristics of future battlefields, which will be “highly complex and almost certainly decisive in urban areas against elusive, ambiguous enemies that combine terrorism and warfare alongside conventional capabilities – all embedded within large civilian populations.”
Milley also predicted that there would be a major shift in military technology over the next decades, similar to the substitution of the musket with the rifle and the rifle by the machine gun. Among the hardware dominating the future battlefield are “Automated tanks, planes and ships” according to the general.
He also noted that the technological edge is no longer necessarily in America’s favor.
“This was once the sole domain of the United States Army, but it is now open to all nations with enough money.” Milley warned. He also pointed out that the development of artificial intelligence meant that “The overmatch that the United States has enjoyed militarily in the past 70 years is rapidly closing.” with Washington already being “All domains of war, including cyber, maritime, air, and land, are being challenged.”
Milley called on the US military to be adaptive and resilient while maintaining “Incredible character under intense ground combat pressure.”
Milley made these assessments before. In early April, he told US lawmakers that the “The potential for serious international conflicts is growing, and not decreasing.” He also described Russia’s attack on Ukraine as “They threaten to undermine not only European stability and peace, but the global stability and peace that my parents and many others have worked so hard for.”
China, too, was mentioned in the general’s speech at that time.
Along with Lloyd Austin (Defense Secretary), he argued that perceived threats were the reason for the record breaking $773 billion budget requested by the US Department of Defense.
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