AMERICA NEEDS ‘NEW VISION’ TO COUNTER THREATS: PENTAGON CHIEF

HAWAII: In his first major speech as Pentagon chief, Lloyd Austin on Friday called for developing a “new vision” for American defence in the face of emerging cyber and space threats and the prospect of fighting bigger wars.

The US needs to prepare for a potential future conflict bearing little resemblance to “the old wars” that have long consumed the Pentagon, Austin said.

He called for harnessing technological advances and better integrating military operations globally to “understand faster, decide faster and act faster”.

“The way we fight the next major war is going to look very different from the way we fought the last ones,” Austin said during a trip to the Hawaii-based US Pacific Command.