Eric Fanning, nominee for the U.S. Army secretary post, said he plans to explore strategies to ensure military personnel readiness and reverse a proposed brigade size reduction at the Army if confirmed, Defense News reported Thursday.
Jen Judson writes Fanning also vowed to maximize the Army’s combat power during his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We need to make sure the soldiers we are sending into harms way, into combat, are ready, fully trained and fully equipped,” he told SASC members Thursday, adding that he would encourage the Army to think creatively about how the military branch operates as a total force going forward.
If confirmed, Fanning said he will review a proposal to convert two of the Army’s 32 brigade combat teams into battalion task forces and downsize those units from 4,000 soldiers to 1,050.
His goals also include the formation of a rapid acquisition office focused on navigation, timing, electronic warfare, cyber and platform survivability technologies, Judson reports.