US military shifts focus to rivals’ new weapons

From individual targets to national rivals

The U.S. military is changing how it prepares for conflict after the war on terror placed sustained attention on finding and fighting individual terrorists. Experts say that focus left the military behind rival nations in military technology.

The two challenges require different kinds of preparation. Counterterrorism concentrates on particular people and the organizations around them. Competition with other nations requires the military to account for weapons and technology developed across entire national defense systems.

That shift changes the basic problem facing the force. Instead of organizing primarily around how to locate and defeat an individual target, the military must also understand how another country’s weapons could affect a wider conflict and how U.S. forces would respond.

Rebuilding a technology focus

Learning to meet those weapons means redirecting attention toward the technology gap identified by experts. The task is not limited to recognizing that rival nations have developed new tools; it also involves preparing U.S. forces to operate against them.

The adjustment reflects the lasting effect of the war on terror on military priorities. The skills built for campaigns against individual terrorists do not by themselves answer the demands created by technologically capable national rivals.

The central test is whether the military can turn that new focus into preparation for conflict involving those weapons. That means treating technological adaptation as a core military requirement rather than viewing new weapons through the narrower framework used to pursue individual terrorists.