Adding this modernization and reform. This is an hour. Good afternoon, and welcome to the National Press club. Worlds leading organization for journalists. My name is Michael Friedman and i am the 113th president of the National Press club. Im a journalist in residence at university of maryland grover. An executive producer of the public broadcasting series the report. The an Excellent Program ahead. We invite you to listen watch or follow along on twitter using the mpc life. For cspan and public radio viewers andd listeners, pleasee aware that in the audience today, members of the general public so any clause or reaction you mean here, is not necessarily from the working press. Lets begin by introducing our head table. We ask thatuc you please hold yr applause until all the head table guess have been announced. Beginning to my far left, john oshea, col. U. S. Army retired, and number of American Legion post 20 which is based here at the National Press club. Kevin, captain u. S. Navy, retired member of the National Press club Headliners Team. National security reporter for the associated press. And stephanie, Strategic Initiatives advisor for the secretary of the army. John donnelly, Senior Writer essie q roll call and president of the military reporters and editors association. To my immediate right, donna, president of dc media strategi strategies, former National PressClub President and cochair of the him pete steve Headliners Team. We will meet our speaker, the honorable ryan mccarthy, secretary of the United States army in just a moment. Then we have jen justin, land warfare reporter at the defense news and chair of the National Press club board of governors. Anthony, pentagon reporter at bloomberg news. Lt. Col. Harris, Communications Advisor for the secretary of the United States army. Yasmin, Senior Editor at National Defense magazine. In luke kennedy, senior director of communications and partnerships at the mccain institute. I would also like to acknowledge the members of our Headliners Team responsible for organizing todays luncheon, coleaders of Stanton Communications and once again, of Dc Media Strategies as well as National Press clubs staff liaison lindsay underwood, chef susan dubberly, an executive director bill mccarron, i thanks to our head table, and thee team that put todays lunch together. [applause]. U. S. Army faces many challenges here and abroad. In addition to ongoing operations, and afghanistan, and the security and stability around the world,un keeping pace with adversaries including russia and china, the army is confronting domestic issues including highis rated suicide. Of our military help under the Defense Health agency, and quality of life for our military families. President trumps fiscal 2021 budget request submitteded to congress on february 10th, lifted his fist spending essentially flat compared with the previous year. Charged with these challenges is secretary of the United States army, ryan mccarthy. Who comes to the job with a distinguished military Service Background and the pentagon duty and private sector experience. Secretary mccarthy assumes his current post in september of 2019. U. S. Army combat veteran has been the previous two years as a 33rd undersecretary of the army. He has served at the pentagon for both republican and democratic administrations. As a special assistant to then defense secretary robert gates. Before his return to the pentagon in 2017, secretary mccarthy worked for martin on Global Security and the defense contractors act 35 joint Strike Fighter program. In recent weeks, secretary mccarthy has spoken about the need to bolster the u. S. Military presence in the Indo Pacific Region in keeping with the National Defense strategy. As a counter to the chinese presence through its initiative and the importance of continuing to test militaries multi Domain Operations a system for countering and defeating an adversary with similar m capabilities in lan see space and cyberspace now in his third year. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the National Press club, u. S. Army secretary, ryan mccarthy. [applause]. [background sounds]. Good afternoon and is going to be here. Thank you for inviting me to lunch. Its really great to get out of the pentagon. Its healthy for the mind and spirit. I appreciate the intense pressure, the tight timelines and the kind of information that journal slid by. No doubt the dc is profession. A busy city in fact is a busy country. Innovation americans dna. Americans are extremely busy people. Therefore each d day, time becae a math problem. Your work ensures that the army story becomes part of that daily equation. Your Work Services for the touch point between the military and the public. Highlighting the opportunity to that the army also americans youth. Courage continues conveying the important work of our deployed forces. Engaging violent extremist on a daily basis. In places like iraqq and afghanistan in particular. Totaling two decades of continued operations in each. Works preserver army animations legacy. Conflict and the subsequent assumed peace. Tsur work helps us preserve the accounts of our heroes, and more are fallen. Our face them by name and ultimately all those accountab accountable. It is because of the free press, the nation knows thats the last line of defense for the freedoms they enjoy. Finally, i can commiserate with only being as good as your last story. With that in mind lets getet started. Some people resist change because they focus on what theyre going to lose instead of what they are going to gain. So today, i would like to highlight with the army is in the transformational change structurally, and what we are going to gain from artist modernization been messes. When the National Defense strategy was published in 2018, if at the Defense Department on a new path. Pulling us out of a singular focus on encounter in terrorism. In the middle east, and expanding our priorities towards a near peer competitors such as russia and china. In the world, such as north korea and iran. What we quickly realizes that the major changes were needed. Ff we do not rapidly monitors, we would lose our match and deterrence within the next ten years. Ultimately, we can risk losing the next work. So, we changed. We change our priorities to treat clear distinct categories. Readiness, modernization and reform. Readiness focus to include deployment any army unit rapidly. Where needed across the globe. We are calling strategic readiness. And change the metrics to that. We change the way in which we align and manage our budget. Putting every dollar against our priorities. Wewe make clear that the peoplen the foundation of these. 3 priorities and all that we do. The army has and always will be a people organization. The fy 21 budget of 178 billion, will ensure that the army remains the most lethal round fighting force in the world. Now, and in the future. We treat expired dollars like we treat our ammunition. Every vote counts. And its aimed at a target. Today i would like to find an update on two main w topics. As of the armys approach to strategic competition. Our investment portfolio. First, and competition. The army plays a key role in building relationships with allies and partners worldwide. Which has direct impact on near peer competitors. We are operating in europe, and africa and in the middle east and in the pacific regions. Where persistent presence with formations in the strategic regions killing over 180,000 soldiers committed number 140 countries. With our allies and partners in order to achieve our national objectives. Where 60 percent of Combatant Commanders requirements worldwide. In her budget has remained flat for the past three years. Army operations are providing thear huge dividend from our portion of the budget. Making the army Dynamic Force and sound investment in the arsenal. There is no other service is more relevant than u. S. Army. In the indo pacific, and anywhere else, we are partnered within where it matters most. On planned, where people live. There is no one else that has to staying power consistency for deterrence in the u. S. Army. No one on earth. The sun never sets on the u. S. Army. Having the army routine in the region, partnered with militaries and fences conditions the ground. And ultimately, this serves as a deterrent by creating dilemmas for potential adversaries. Our presence and influence in the region, strengthens americas position to conduct local commerce. Build confidence with investors. And enables america to compete economically. The armys persistent presence, Standing Shoulder to shoulder with her allies and partners changes the calculus in her adversary decisionmaking process. Our Security Cooperation compares with otherde armies. Most prestigious institutions in our foundational our country dynamically. Pivotal professional relations. In leaders with significant influence. For example, in the Indo Pacific Region, over 70 percent of jobs, are army officers. This is why the u. S. Army engages with the army every day. As a people business, build relationships from the ground up. Efforts span from training partner forces, to military student exchanges. For military sales and security collaborations. In dedicated at the United States colleges. When the army sells equipment, countries dont just get a box of goods, symbols and a bill. Country gets a program and strong relationship, and a steadfast partner they can rely on. Countries receive training from experts, liable in modern weapons. S. Assistance developing their doctrine. In previous supply chain of support. For example, the army has close partnerships with poland. When we habitually train together every year multiple weeks. And in defense of their sovereign nations. Another example. Purchase 60 strikers, the army is helping the entire army to set up the first units for the first wave of strikers featured in the kings coronation paradee and were so wellliked that another hundred have been ordered. Armies are helping the philippines, train 72 battalions as they upgrade their equipment and evolve the doctrine. This is a force of choice. And committed to remaining self. We build our partners up rather than manipulate them. To be able to compete in todays environment, we have to be a presence and show our commitment. This is why were emphasizing strategic readiness. And adjusting our force process so that we can deploy trying to ready forces into the right place at the right time. The armys ability to rapidly mobilize, deploy and sustain comment forces. Or strategic readiness gives us the advantage of the threats, and potential adversaries. Strategic readiness was elevate our new concepts. Exercise our new formations. And provide an understanding of the logistical framework needed to sustain our forces. We will remain operationally dynamic, fast and legal. Take for example, this on new years eve, we deployed soldiers from the 82nd airborne division. Cold start, no notice, to conduct an emergency deployment. The soldiers were literally at with their families gatherings and within hours they were on an airplane. Within days, 500 soldiers were on the ground, nine time zones away. Weapons ready to go in the middle east. The speed in which we can project power, is unprecedented. We were using exercises such as emergency deployed readiness exercises, and getting more repetitions and therefore increasing our speed. We deployed 1300 soldiers on the division. Injury and were alongside their polish counterparts. In terms of leveraging exercises to hone our gills, and fy 20, the armys allocating funding for the defender exercises in europe. We will push and division sized unit of 20000 troops. In john 13000 pieces of equipment. To be ready with a Contingency Operation and to respond in any crisis. Additionally, exercises in the indo pacific, will further test and demonstrate our power digestion. To the pacific pathways. With her allies and partners, the fy 21 exercises is expanding indo pacific will deliver three or million dollars. Divided towards the strategic exercises. Our truth operating countries like thailand and philippines, indonesia, below just to name a few. Originally lowlight security brigades, but their advisory capability continued to prevail worth is in the common new offorce. They send messages like boots on the ground, standing sidebyside with partner forces. The army 21, that they have six regionally aligned fully meant trying. Another element of competition and deterrence, is having the highly lethal combat credible course. This is why we established six modernization Investment Priorities. And they restructured the Army Enterprise with future command. Which brought all of this to modernization continual together and reduce the spent time in decisionmaking. If this changes taken years off of the acquisitions process and give us a laser focus on modernizing for the future. The complexity of the battlefield, of the future referred that we transform our 45 yearold fleet and two new equipment portfolios in the formations today. So we can stay relevant and deep team over match, and allow us to win decisively our next war. Our skills modernization takes time and patience. When continue to prioritize the army budget, towards her six priorities and 31 signature systems. These ranging from new squad level weapons and aircraft and hypersonic missiles. Prototypes and began in 18 and 19 are maturing. Their real capability leading fy 21 and 22. In the fiscal year though be an increase of test shots capability demonstrations, and validations of the prototypes. This will all be tied together with cloud technology. And the club will be the foundation of the entire modernization enterprise. Because of the clouds importance, investing 800 million of the next five fiscal years. And to cloud architecture and migrate other forms of data. By increasing our investment across of modernization portfolios. Increasing by 2. 2 million in fy 21, and 21, which is 26 percent increase yearoveryear. With stable budgets and prioritized requirements, weth have signal an industry that we are committed to our modernization efforts. The demand for army forces, parenting is a flat budget, as forced decisions. So, why to finance this and implement reform. To build and maintain readiness and modernization and support realworld operations, the army conducted this program. Now known as night ports. Two years wrote. B21 weve identified an additional 80 programs for elimination. And generated 7. 4 billion in savings for investment. In priorities for the army. I would like to highlight some of our investments out of the 31 systems. Longrange precision is our number one modernization. We are investing over 800 million and hypersonic alone. To support accelerated development, flight testing, and Field Training in order to lower our first hypersonic capable unit. Ready to deploy on fy 23. With regards to future political lives, our future longrange aircraft, the blackhawk replacements. Demonstrations have multiple competitors. With numerous flight hours logged already. 160 hours and over 70 hours respectively. Industry is meeting us at the table and in this case the companies are investing 41. Short for future attack. My teammate, two step of the army, the most senior aviator in the army, general james. He likes to say the working flight before we buy it. We will select the two competitors on both florida next month. Again, pretty exciting time in a disciplined approach to these investments are moving towards real capability. We can see it, we touch it and we can test it. Soldiers individual kit, we are developing visual augmentation systems. The microsoft corporations. Is our headsup displaces, that will serve as the center for the integrated squad combat system. Simply put, making multiple shooters with multiple sensors and multiple notes. This allows the soldier to understand in realtime, during day and nighttime operations. Reduces competition time for minutes down the seconds. Speed and quality decisionmaking increases our soldiers survivability. And mortality. In the army transfer modernization efforts continue to build on consistent priorities and ruthlessly aligned budget. We are committed to our moderate position priorities and 31 signature systems. No be the next of weaponry for the u. S. Army to win decisively the future fights. When pairing an industry setbacks, prototype shortcuts coming to failure are inevitable part of innovation. However, when failure occurs, were committed to making critical decisions early in the process and use the knowledge gained fourth capabilities it says. This is the case with our optionally man fighting vehicle. As the bradley replacement vehicle. Its a capability the army requires rated when taking hard Lessons Learned in terms of requirements, costsharing and industry informed timelines. And therefore the acquisition strategy. Mary is incredibly busy and responding to a wide range of contingencies. We will respond to natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. And humanitarian crises. This is in addition