Army's Shift Towards Strategic Rivalry
In a recent episode of the Social Science of War podcast, General James C. McConville, the current chief of staff of the U.S. Army, and Professor Peter Roberts, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, discussed the Army's critical role in great power competition.
The podcast, produced by the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, focuses on two white papers released by the chief of staff of the U.S. Army - one on competition and the second on multi-domain operations.
General McConville and Professor Roberts highlighted the importance of the U.S. Army adapting to integrated land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains to prevail against rivals like China and Russia. They emphasized the necessity for the Army to develop new capabilities, such as deep sensing and leveraging big data, to gain intelligence superiority and maneuver effectively in highly contested environments.
The Army sees great power competition defined by persistent strategic rivalry, especially with China and Russia, requiring a shift towards multidomain operations. This involves combining efforts across multiple domains and dimensions—physical, information, and human—to create operational advantages.
The podcast episode, published in July of 2021 as an episode of the Irregular Warfare Podcast, also discussed the challenges the U.S. Army faces in shifting focus towards great power competition while maintaining the ability to counter threats on the fringes. Specifically, Season 1, Episode 9 of the Social Science of War podcast explores the role of land forces within great power competition.
For those interested in learning more, the original episode and all other Irregular Warfare Podcast episodes can be found on the podcast's website. Additionally, the Irregular Warfare Initiative website provides further information. The image credit for this article is Justin Connaher, US Air Force.
It is important to note that the article does not contain any advertisements and the podcast itself was not directly available in the search results. However, the context from official Army and Department of Defense sources aligns closely with the themes McConville and Roberts discuss: the importance of innovation in operations, cross-domain integration, and intelligence capabilities for the U.S. Army’s role in great power competition.
This approach ensures the Army remains a decisive land power component within the U.S. joint force framework confronting complex global adversaries.
- The U.S. Army, in its strategic approach, recognizes the importance of adapting to integrated land, air, sea, space, and cyber domains for countering rivals like China and Russia, emphasizing the need for innovation in operations and cross-domain integration.
- The Army's role in great power competition, as discussed by General McConville and Professor Roberts, involves developing new capabilities, such as deep sensing and leveraging big data, to ensure intelligence superiority and maneuver effectively in contested environments.
- In the context of great power competition, the Army sees the need for a shift towards multidomain operations, combining efforts across multiple domains (physical, information, and human) to create operational advantages against strategic rivals like China and Russia.
- The podcast episode, focusing on the role of land forces within great power competition, also addresses the challenges the U.S. Army faces in balancing its focus on great power competition with the need to counter threats on the fringes, an issue that highlights the role of politics and general-news in military strategy and warfare.
