The Pentagon: US military strategy

Néstor García Iturbe

28/04/2014

Opinión

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On March 4, 2014 the US Department of Defense published the Quadrennial Defence Review, in which they propose as their objective to adapt, reorganize and balance the military power of the United States in order to prepare for the strategic challenges and opportunities that they are likely to face over the next ten years.

The main idea, as the document explains, is to dissuade any aggression against the interests and global leadership of the United States, and if dissuasion fails, to be prepared to ensure victory against any adversary.

As part of this reorganization, the Department of Defence proposes to reduce the size of the army, prioritize those means employed in cyber warfare and special operations, finalize some combat missions that are currently on-going and centre their attention in the Pacific, mainly in China which will become one of their primary objectives.

With respect to the reduction of the US army, it has been proposed that over ten years this will go from 570,000 to 450,000 troops. The National Guard will be reduced to 335,000, the army reserve force to 195,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps will have 182,000. The utilization of robotics will help to achieve this goal. At the present time US land forces can deploy a little over 5,000 robots, but by 2015 they plan to deploy some 25,000. This equipment will have as its fundamental mission to penetrate and destroy enemy lines with much fewer casualties than would now be the case.

A robot is much cheaper than a soldier. When it is destroyed, it is reduced to junk, it does not leave a widow or children, it does not get sick, it does not need to eat every day and has low maintenance and operation costs. In addition, it involves new equipment produced by the Military Industrial Complex, so its use brings both economic and political benefits.

This plan will prioritize development of the Navy, in order to enable the United States to maintain the control that they already have over the main world shipping lanes and their military superiority in conflicts that may develop in key zones of the planet.

The emphasis for this development is on concentrating their presence, power and dissuasive force in the Asia-Pacific zone, from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, the China Sea and the Northwest Pacific, as the Pentagon recently announced. The priority for the United States will be the domination of the maritime periphery of Asia, whether or not China and other emerging powers are opposed.

In the other regions of the world their presence will be maintained, in accord with the importance of US interests in these areas. The proposal is to reduce their power in some regions, in particular in Europe, where they can count on allies to occupy combat positions, and reinforce their presence in others.

In the case of Latin America they will continue with the plan to maintain military bases, some with reduced personnel, but with presence on the terrain and developing the Panetta Plan to adequately prepare, organize and arm allied Latin American forces, so that if it be necessary, these can be deployed to intervene in other countries of the region.

The projections of the Department of Defence are directed towards maintaining air superiority, implying the modernization of this through technological development, but without significantly increasing the number of components. The main effort involves fifth-generation aircraft that can resist the most advance anti-aircraft defence systems.

The nuclear weapons capacity of the United States is not excluded from the plan. This will involve budget allotments that will allow for modernizing launching systems and control and alert systems in the face of possible enemy attacks. This includes the development of anti-missile rockets and the installation of surveillance devices in various countries.

Activities against so-called international terrorism will continue as an important aspect of the defence policy of the United States. These activities will involve Special Forces with some 69,700 personnel, in addition to the training and equipment needed, especially with drones capable of destroying enemy targets without serious risks to personnel.

Another mission of the US armed forces, which will involve numerous staff, equipment and resources will be that of cyber warfare. The Command in charge of this mission has broad plans, both defensive and offensive, including the ability to confront asymmetric aggression, and other joint projects with DARPA, to which some dozens of millions of dollars have been assigned. The Cybernetic command will have stations in various continents, in order to make its work more effective.

There are other plans in the Quadrennial Defence Review which are no less important than those already mentioned, such as an increase in capacity for space war, the Military Intelligence budget, which includes the development of the National Security Agency (NSA) and a number of secret DARPA projects such as the experimental climate station in Alaska, which involve hundreds of millions of dollars and occupy an important place in US defence of its National Security.

With all these expenses, it is difficult to see how the United States would have enough money to resolve the problem of food for the sixteen million children who suffer hunger in their country.

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

- Dr. Néstor García Iturbe is the Editor of the electronic bulletin El Heraldo (Cuba)

https://www.alainet.org/pt/node/85146