U.S. will be challenged by new global rival: General

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The United States expects a new rival to emerge in the next decade that will challenge America both economically and militarily around the globe.

Maj.-Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr., commandant of the U.S. Army War College, said the United States must prepare for such a rival in 2010 after nearly two decades of global dominance.

"We believe that sometime beyond the year 2010, we will face a major competitor that can challenge us in the global sphere," Scales told a U.S.-Israel conference on military doctrine on Sunday night. "This competitor will be powerful and will have disposable income."

"We're in a period of strategic pause," Scales added. "The post Cold War portends the normal chaotic conditions that came before the Cold War."

Scales did not identify the rival. But in recent hearings in the U.S. Congress, officials have pointed to China as the next military and economic competitor.

In another decade, Scales said, the United States will face a serious deterioration of its military equipment. The aging of the military, he said, will require a modernization effort in all services of the armed forces.

The current dialogue includes U.S. and Israeli military commanders and scholars. It is being sponsored by Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Infowar.com Group and the National Defense University.

Regarded as the army's futurist, Scales said the military is facing a revolution in precision technology that will allow it to obtain a full intelligence picture of the enemy as well as the ability to launch precision strikes.

But, Scales said, the U.S. lead in information and precision warfare will not guarantee victory for Washington by 2010. He said enemy nations will have a decade to learn the weaknesses of modern U.S. systems.

"What's the best way to counter U.S. precision advantage?" Scales asked. "It's to build a force that can absorb a precision strike and still operate. To take on the United States in a future war, an enemy doesn't have to win. He just has to avoid losing."

Scales called for U.S. ground and armored forces to develop the ability to deploy rapidly and move quickly in enemy territory. He said such forces will have to be smaller and far more mobile than anything yet seen.

"We have to be able to increase our ability to maneuver in a sizable combat space," Scales said. "We have to build our forces that moves not 20 but 200 kilometers an hour."

At the conference, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz said Israel's military is undergoing a revolution to vastly increase firepower and maneuverability. He said the military will reorganize and spend more resources on air power, intelligence and technology.

Mofaz said low-intensity conflict has eclipsed the threat of conventional warfare. But he said the military still regards Syria as the main enemy in a future war.

"We have been preparing for this throughout our history," Mofaz said. "The Syrians are acquiring a large arsenal of ground-to-ground missiles as well as acquiring chemical weapons capability."