{"id":46020,"date":"2020-10-11T23:23:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T23:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/11\/conflict-in-the-caucasus-recent-exercise-reinforce-modernization-needs-army-chief-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:25:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:25:46","slug":"conflict-in-the-caucasus-recent-exercise-reinforce-modernization-needs-army-chief-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/home\/left-column\/2020\/10\/11\/conflict-in-the-caucasus-recent-exercise-reinforce-modernization-needs-army-chief-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflict in the Caucasus, recent exercise reinforce modernization needs, Army chief says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

State-produced videos of armored vehicles being devastated by airstrikes during the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan have caused some to wonder whether tanks are too vulnerable<\/a>, slow and expensive for modern warfare<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army leaders don\u2019t think so, but the service\u2019s chief of staff said the conflict does highlight a priority in developing air defense systems to defeat drones \u2014 and maybe even swarms of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt reinforces some of the thoughts we already have,” Gen. James McConville told Army Times during a recent telephone interview. \u201cWhen we take a look at future warfare, we believe that we will be contested in every single domain. \u2026 We\u2019re certainly going to be challenged on the land.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manned and unmanned vehicles on the ground and in the air will up the stakes and \u201cit\u2019s going to be very lethal,” McConville added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To underscore how different this will be for U.S. forces, McConville noted that the last time a U.S. soldier was killed by an enemy aircraft<\/a> was in 1953, during the Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re enjoying air superiority, but we don\u2019t necessarily see that in the future,\u201d he added. \u201cAs we\u2019re seeing in this fight and as we see in other places, [there are] lethal drones that we\u2019re gonna have to deal with.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why one of the Army\u2019s modernization priorities is air and missile defense<\/a>, McConville explained, which includes lines of effort like putting short-range Stinger missiles<\/a> on Stryker vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are developing multiple capabilities to sense swarms of UASs and then defeat them,” McConville said. “Whether it\u2019s with a missile, gun, high-powered microwave or laser, we\u2019ll have multiple \u2018arrows,’ so to speak, that we can use against the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t