The chairman of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro says DOD declared the United States has an operational reserve, but has not made changes to ensure its sustainability. At a March 1 press briefing unveiling the commission’s second report, Punaro claimed: “The equipment readiness of our Guard and Reserve today is totally unacceptable … for the units that remain here in the continental United States, 88 percent of those units are not ready. If you’re talking about red, yellow, green [readiness ratings] … red would be ‘not ready’ … in the Air Guard it’s 45 percent red. The National Guard has indicated to me this is worse than the worst readiness days of the hollow force in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.”
The Pentagon announced new long-term agreements with four defense companies May 13 to develop and produce large numbers of low-cost cruise missiles. And while the effort will focus mostly on the Army to start, it pairs with Air Force efforts to find more affordable munitions.