The Army Parade on June 14, 2025, was a rousing and inspiring event. Even more impressive than the Armored Thunder Run down Constitution Avenue was the positive, upbeat, patriotic spirit of the gathering. Townhall commented, “Over at MSNBC, they’re almost SHOCKED the celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday isn’t “tense” and doesn’t have “dark, malevolent energy.”
That’s right, Soldiers love defending America and the American way of life. That derives directly from a Commander in Chief who loves and supports the Soldiers, and they know it – the raucous response of the President’s trip to Ft. Bragg immediately preceding the Army Parade was ample evidence on display.
The Army Parade was also an opportunity to realistically look at the United States Army and start shaping the “greatest, fiercest and bravest fighting force” into the proper size, shape, and structure to focus on the Pacific theater of conflict as its primary mission.
What Role should the Army play in a Pacific focused Department of Defense?
The indicators from the President and his Cabinet is that the National Security priority is the Pacific. President Trump has promised “Peace through Strength” with the largest Defense Budget ever, the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget request exceeds $1 Trillion Dollars.
But this does not mean that the Defense Budget can afford everything for all the Services. Secretary of Defense Hegseth has ordered a “Transformation” of the U.S. Army, the Service he served in. Translation of “Transformation”: the U.S. Army will likely change, divest missions, and shrink to make it fit the Joint missions and Contingency plans for deterring and if necessary, defeating China.
The other Services of Air Force, Navy, Space Force, and the new Department of the Coast Guard may likely grow to address the Pacific mission set. What should a transformed Army look like to be the supporting Service for the Pacific problem set? Here are the basic focus areas for an effective Army oriented toward East Asia:
Long Range Theater Fires
One noticeably absent system in the Army’s 250th Anniversary Parade was one of the Army’s biggest recent acquisition success stories, the Typhon Missile System. The Typhon system arrangement combines the proven and mature Tomahawk Long Range Cruise Missile with the more recent SM-6 Missile in a shipping container pulled by a semi-truck. The Tomahawk is sub-sonic but long-range at around 1,500 miles. The SM-6 is a close to hypersonic speed, triple threat missile that can hit land, sea, and air targets up to about 600 miles away.
Typhon units are rotating to the Philippines and possibly to Japan in the near future to provide deterrence against Chinese moves on Taiwan. From the Philippines launch point, all Chinese airfields and naval bases that would be used to attack Taiwan can be held at risk. The Chinese are concerned about the Typhon and have called for it to be removed from the Philippines. An expanded Typhon force structure would be invaluable to Western Pacific Deterrence and the Tomahawk missile is being re-nuclearized in Navy Service, a re-nuclearized Tomahawk should be considered for the Army Typhon system.
Special Operations
The Biden Team made a bad decision to downsize U.S. Army Special Operations. There was the stench of DEI all over the announcement. The current roster of existing Army Special Operations units should be fully staffed and resourced, and consideration should be made to re-activate a dormant Special Forces Group, add an additional Ranger Battalion, and expand Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations. Special Forces Operational Detachments are rotating through Taiwan to provide training of Taiwanese Forces and conduct other special missions. The overall Army Special Operations Force structure would be one of the most important Army contributions to the Joint Force in the Pacific.
Tactical Aviation
Army Aviation would also add decisive capability to the Western Pacific. This would include a re-capitalized helicopter force (conventional and special operations), but also a greatly expanded drone force to turn the Taiwan Straits into a flaming cauldron. Three capabilities/missions could be re-allocated from other Services to Army Aviation. First, Big Air Force has never fully embraced tactical, fixed wing air transport below the C-130 Hercules size of aircraft.
Second, there is a need for a new generation of advanced amphibious transport aircraft – “flying boats” for the Pacific Mission. Air Force Special Operations has toyed with putting floats on MC-130s, but this initiative appears to be dead in the water. Third, Big Air Force and Big Navy have mostly dispensed with light attack aircraft such as the A-10. They like to focus on fast mover fighters and long-range strike platforms. Consolidating these three underserviced capability areas in Army would be logical.
Decisive Conventional Force
A world class Airborne, Air Assault, Motorized, Cavalry, and Armored force is needed for supporting the decisive phases of a potential conflict in the Pacific. The force may need to be downsized, but what remains should be fully staffed and resourced. Too many existing Army Divisions, Brigades, and Battalions only have one or two subordinate elements, when they should have three or four to be considered full strength. Additional Division Staff units could be established to ensure the nucleus of new units in case of national mobilization and expansion of the Army.
Focused Enablers
The transformed Army will need strong Cyber capabilities to support the Service and Joint Mission. The back to the future return of Tactical Nuclear Power would also reside best in the Army, this would provide contingency power to the Joint Units across the dispersed island chains of the Pacific. Ballistic Missile Defense of the Homeland as part of Golden Dome would be a core Army mission.
What Roles should Army Divest?
After the articulation of the core Army force structure, the hard part is divestiture of missions and units. Some units would be transferred in their entirety to other Services. The first is the Army watercraft force structure that has languished for decades. The Gaza Pier mission in 2024 was the first real mission in years for this Army capability and it did not go well.
This entire force structure, including the Soldiers should be transferred to an expanded Department of the Coast Guard to receive the care and feeding it deserves. Theater level units such as Logistics, Military Police, and Engineers should be transferred in large part to the Navy and Air Force, with small tactical support elements being retained by Army to ensure maneuver support. The Army Bands did a great job in the parade; they are definitely safe from divestiture.
The Transformed Army will likely be smaller, but more focused, and better staffed and equipped for its core missions. Agility to adapt to the requirements of the Department and the needs of the Nation is always a core Army mission.
All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization.
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