• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

OPENING STATEMENT OF
 LIEUTENANT GENERAL JAMES CARTWRIGHT
DIRECTOR FOR FORCE STRUCTURE, RESOURCES, AND ASSESSMENT DIRECTORATE (J-8) THE JOINT STAFF

PREPARED FOR
THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
PROJECTION FORCES SUBCOMMITTEE

REGARDING CONVENTIONAL LONG-RANGE
STRIKE CAPABILITIES

MARCH 03, 2004
 

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today to discuss the U.S. military's role in conventional long-range strike capabilities.  I'd like to first thank you for the continued bipartisan support that you give to the men and women of our armed forces.  That support is appreciated, and it is critical to our operational success.

Today we remain ready to support the President's National Security Strategy to assure our allies, while we dissuade, deter and defeat any adversary.

Our challenge for the coming year and beyond is captured in three priorities: winning the War on Terrorism, enhancing joint war fighting, and transforming for the future.

Our continued success in the area of conventional long-range strike is a vital component of each of these priorities and requires a well-integrated military, interagency and coalition effort which leverages the capabilities of our Naval Strike Groups, land-based long-range bombers, tactical strike aircraft, and their key enablers, the tanking, electronic warfare and surveillance aircraft.

To aid the Joint Requirements Oversight Council in determining warfighting needs with a capabilities-based approach, we are developing joint integrating concepts.  These concepts are far more focused than functional and operating concepts, and define specific tasks to be conducted.  They are designed to bridge the gap between how we want to fight and the capabilities we need.  Key to our discussion today is the Joint Integrating Concept for Global Strike.

To that end, US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has reported significant progress in their new mission area of Global Strike, and they are on schedule to achieve full operational capability this year.  Global Strike will enable us to hold at risk emerging target sets not included in a deliberate plan, where timeliness is critical.

Looking into the future, we are drawing on analysis in many forms.  With the support of this committee, studies, like the alternative future fleet platform architectures, will examine traditional and alternative roles and missions, including long-range conventional strike, and the impact of evolving technology on future forces. 

In enhancing our conventional long range strike capability, we seek to increase our persistence over the battlefield and our ability to range key targets in denied territory.  Our enhanced capabilities will enable us to respond to the commander's needs in a timely fashion, achieving strategic and operational effects with lethal and non-lethal means.

In seeking these attributes, Some of the future technologies we are pursuing with the services, NASA and DARPA include high-speed missile systems, hypersonics, high-speed turbines, advanced thermal protection systems for common aerial vehicles, scram jet technologies and high temperature materials for low observables.

In short, the conventional long-range strike capabilities of today's military forces have demonstrated speed, flexibility and precision in Iraq and the ongoing Global War on Terrorism.  Maintaining our unchallenged military superiority requires investment to ensure the current readiness of deployed forces while continuing to transform military capabilities for the future.  Thank you.