It will not be run by the ministries of defense.. How is the US military preparing for future wars?

Washington

- The national security strategies issued by successive US administrations focus on the future threats to the continued economic and military hegemony of the United States in the future.

The Chinese challenge comes on top of these threats, with Beijing's rapid and unprecedented progress in several areas, including artificial intelligence or the design of robots that perform many human and non-human tasks, especially military.

From here, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, asked the batch of newly graduated officers from West Point Military Academy to be ready to fight future wars that do not resemble today's wars, stressing that the next 25 years will not be like the previous ones.

Milley painted a bleak picture of a more turbulent world with rival great powers bent on changing the global order and its stable rules.

US Navy forces in a joint amphibious landing exercise with their Philippine counterparts (Associated Press)

The nature of future wars

Unlike today's battles, future wars will not be managed by ministries of defense, staff, or traditional military commands, but will be run by company heads, program developers and CEOs, and will focus on information management, patents and control of the global technological arena at its various levels.

And future wars that have already begun silently between the two great rivals focus on attracting minds, ideas, innovations, and penetration to provide strategic services in the rest of the world.

From here, General Milley painted a bleak picture of a world becoming more turbulent, telling the students - graduates of the most important and best US military academies - that they had a responsibility to make sure America was ready for this future.

With the change that will be witnessed by the nature of war and its weapons in the next three decades.

Milley pointed out that the US military cannot cling to old concepts and weapons, and must modernize and develop force and equipment that can deter or achieve victory in a global conflict if necessary.

He said graduating officers will have to change the way US forces think, how they train, and how they fight.

General Milley stressed that the officers and soldiers of the US Army will fight tomorrow through tanks, ships and robotic planes, as they will rely on artificial intelligence, artificial fuel, devices manufactured with "3D" technologies, human engineering, and combat robots.

Milley considered that the development in the field of artificial intelligence in its military aspects "is the most profound change ever in human history," and "whatever advantages the United States has enjoyed militarily over the past 70 years, it is already facing challenges in every field of war in the world." Space, cyber, air, sea, and of course on land battlefields.”

Regarding the lessons learned from the ongoing Ukraine war, Milley said a future war will be very complex, with elusive enemies and urban warfare with precision, long-range weapons, and new advanced technologies.

Rescue workers work at the site of a missile attack in the coastal city of Odessa, southern Ukraine (European)

What is required to prepare for these wars?

With uncertainty about the way to end the ongoing Ukrainian war, or the future of the regime within Russia, and with European countries such as Germany seeking to invest in their armaments and defense systems, military experts have many factors to consider when planning future wars.

In addition, America is no longer the undisputed global power, as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asserts that - instead - America's ability is tested today in Europe by the Russian war on Ukraine, and in Asia by China's massive economic and military growth, as well as threats North Korea's nuclear and missile attacks, and the Middle East and Africa through instability "by terrorists".

In his speech to the new officers, Milley indicated that "the future that you will be assigned to confront is a future that may witness the outbreak of a major international conflict between the great powers, at a time when military capabilities and capabilities converge between them. Whatever the size of the American leadership, the gap between us and our opponents decreases."

Milley acknowledged that, at the present time, there is a fundamental change in the nature of the war itself, saying, "We are now facing two world powers, China and Russia, each with great military capabilities, and both of them fully intend to change the current system based on the old rules."

He said that the Russian attack on Ukraine teaches the world that "aggression that is left unanswered only serves to encourage the aggressor."

Milley pointed out that the technology of weapons will also change dramatically in the coming decades, and the transformation will be as radical as the change from the sword to the rifle, or from the rifle to the machine gun, noting that the automatic technological superiority in the interest of America will not last long.

However, the general assured the newly graduated officers that "your generation will bear the burden and bear the responsibility of maintaining peace by preventing the outbreak of war between the great powers."