Chairman Wicker Leads SASC Hearing on U.S. Army Posture for Fiscal Year 2027

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today led a hearing to examine the posture of the United States Army amid growing global threats from adversaries, ongoing modernization efforts, and the Army's role in supporting joint operations.

Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll and Acting Chief of Staff of the Army General Christopher C. LaNeve both testified before the committee.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Wicker emphasized the growing importance of land power in deterring and responding to threats from Russia, China, Iran, and other adversaries. The Chairman also highlighted the critical role of the U.S. Army in supporting joint operations, strengthening logistics and sustainment capabilities, and applying lessons learned from ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Read Chairman Wicker's hearing opening statement as delivered.

The Senate Armed Services Committee meets today to receive testimony on the posture of the United States Army. I want to thank our witnesses, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and Acting Chief of Staff of the Army General Chris LaNeve, for being here. Thank you gentlemen.

Today, the Army is being asked to conduct more demanding missions, in more locations against more capable adversaries, than at any time in a generation. Russia's war of choice in Ukraine has underscored the enduring importance of land power in high-intensity conflict. In that theater, the U.S. Army has played a critical role in helping Ukrainians plan for and resource their forces through the Security Assistance Group, Ukraine. Our Army has also harvested many lessons from that partnership to inform our modernization.

At the same time, we are witnessing the Army's essential contributions to ongoing operations in CENTCOM. U.S. Army Soldiers, like those from the 1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, are using Patriot systems to help defend our service members, partners, and allies against persistent missile and drone threats. Similarly, the Arkansas National Guard's 142nd Field Artillery Brigade is employing ground-based missiles to strike enemy targets deep inside Iran. These actions demonstrate both the reach of America's Army only five years since President Trump rightly chose to build new weapons instead of tolerating Vladimir Putin's constant violations of the INF Treaty.

Meanwhile, the pacing challenge posed by China demands that the Army be prepared to support Joint Force operations across vast distances, under persistent threat, and at a tempo we have not seen in decades. Many think of the Western Pacific as a solely naval and air theater, but our two witnesses certainly do not agree with that. Our ground forces continue to make absolutely crucial contributions to security in the First Island Chain, including through massive and growing partnerships with our South Korean, Japanese, and Filipino treaty allies.

All these demands underscore the importance of fielding and sustaining the most advanced and capable systems in the world, from missile defense and long-range strike weapons to resilient command and control systems and new methods of breaching defensive lines. These capabilities are not theoretical. They are being employed today to protect American lives and uphold stability. The Army provides the backbone of our global logistics. This enables joint operations, and it delivers the land combat power that it takes to deter aggression and, if necessary, to win decisively.

The Army must be ready, but our readiness today is frankly, uneven. Modernization efforts have produced promising capabilities, but not at the speed or scale required by the threat. I think our witnesses will agree with that. At the same time, the Army continues to struggle with the operational readiness rates of its primary equipment, its maintenance backlogs, and its munitions stockpiles. All are under extreme strain.

Under Secretary Driscoll, the Army has made very significant strides to prepare for changing combat conditions. So, I commend the Secretary on that. The Army has acted with discipline and foresight to develop a new generation of weapons: the Precision Strike Missile, low-cost munitions, the new MV-75 helicopter, the M1E3 tank, and finally, after 20 years of struggles, a more coherent command and control system. I also appreciate the Army's improved approach to modernization of our organic industrial base.

I remain troubled that the Pentagon is not moving fast enough or has not been moving fast enough to improve the logistics capability and capacity of the joint force. The secretary will want to talk about that certainly, today. Logistics, sustainment, and prepositioning will be decisive in any future conflict. The Army must demonstrate how it will enable the joint force to operate effectively across that theater. This will require additional resources to bring unmanned surface and air vehicles into the force at scale and to purchase next-generation capabilities to sustain U.S. forces in dispersed locations.

I want to also commend the Army, led by U.S. Army Europe, in developing new methods of warfare in response to tactical and operational lessons learned in Ukraine. The Eastern Flank Deterrence Line concept consists of a largely unmanned tripwire combined with layered missile defenses and distributed strike capabilities. It is exactly the direction we need to go, and I hope the Army will field those capabilities to European Command rapidly.

So, I look forward to hearing from Secretary Driscoll and General LaNeve about how to handle these challenges. We will need clear priorities, disciplined execution, and transparent communication as we move forward to secure that the United States Army remains ready, modern, and capable of meeting the moment.