The U.S. Army will be converting its cyber operations into an information warfare command in an effort to counter opponents such as Russia and China, a top U.S. general said.
McConville said the Army now recognizes the importance of information operations and plans to combat “great power” opponents.
“We’re going to use virtual reality, augmented reality, so our soldiers can train on missions before they actually have to go,” McConville said.
By 2028, McConville said he hopes the U.S. Army will move away from an industrial-age army to a digital-age army. However, by spring it is expected that information-related operations will shift to Fort Gordon, Georgia, from Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Soldiers will be made to figure out their opponents’ deceptive tactics by analyzing vast amounts of information in cyberspace.
“There’s that old adage, ‘generals are always trying to fight the last war,’” McConville said. “Well, we’re not. We want to win the next war.”
A Pentagon official also said on Jan. 10 that over the next two years, the Army plans to deploy two specialized task forces to the Pacific capable of conducting information, electronic, cyber, and missile operations against Beijing.
The units, called Multi-Domain Task Forces, would help neutralize some capabilities China and Russia already possess. The units would potentially be equipped with long-range precision weapons, hypersonic missiles, precision strike missiles, electronic warfare, and cyber capabilities, McCarthy said, without citing any locations.
Having “the U.S. Army, with modernized weaponry” in the region “changes the calculus and creates dilemmas for potential adversaries,” McCarthy said.
“China has been miniaturizing the global commons,” he said, referring to China’s fortification of small islands in the South China Sea.
“Nothing comes close to the effects of boots on the ground, standing shoulder to shoulder with our counterparts, huddled over plans, or walking through jungles together,” he added.
