Military

Army rolls out new plan to modernize communications networks and weapons

One of the priorities is to equip the Army with a “mobile and expeditionary” communications and command network, McCarthy said. Other items on the list: air and missile defense, long-range precision fires, next-generation combat vehicles and helicopters, and more lethal weapons for individual soldiers.

Officials are taking another stab at fixing the Army’s longtime modernization problems, which are now coming to a head. In its new guidelines to commanders, known as “Field Manual 3.0,” the Army warns that major regional powers like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are “fielding capabilities to deny long-held U.S. freedom of action in the air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace domains and reduce U.S. influence in critical areas of the world.” In some areas they already have “overmatch or parity,” a challenge that U.S. forces have not faced in decades.