Jerry Hendrix, Paul Scharre and Elbridge Colby at the Center for New American Security have came up with a new proposal to help the Pentagon deal with future threats.
“Airborne-laser” by US Air Force – http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/090618-F-0000X-101.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia
First of all, the DoD should increase the number of ships and aircraft in its inventory for the next ten years. Instead of spending them all on top-of-the-line hardware, the authors proposed spending the funds to acquire a high-low mix of assets.
And to fund for the new ships and planes, the Pentagon should cancel the Ford-class aircraft carrier and America-class amphibious assault ship programs.
Carriers face increasing difficulties in A2/AD environments and to counter these threats, the U.S. military should focus on more unmanned equipment, the authors argued.
Laser weapons and electromagnetic rail guns should be given more priority, according to the report.