Continuing Resolution is ‘biggest challenge’ for Army Pacific Command

Gen. Ronald P. Clark Commanding General United States Army Pacific (USARPAC), delivers a presentation on "Land Forces: The Foundation of Pacific Stability" during the first day of the annual Maneuver Warfighter Conference Sept. 15, 2026, in Marshall Auditorium at Fort Benning, Georgia. The annual Maneuver Warfighter Conference gathers U.S. Army senior leaders and subject-matter experts from across the globe to discuss the way forward for maneuver forces. (U.S. Army photo by Daniel Marble)

WASHINGTON — The current continuing resolution (CR) is the “biggest challenge” the Army’s Pacific Command (USARPAC) is facing, as it prevents the force from getting new capabilities for its unified network and long-range precision fires, its four-star commander said.

“That’s the biggest challenge. It’s plans for new starts and being able to fund some of the programs that we know are going to yield benefit to the soldier on the ground,” Gen. Ronald Clark told re porters Tuesday w hen asked how the delayed passing of the fiscal 2027 budget is affecting operations in the region.

Clark did not mention specific new start programs that would be affected, but said many of the programs relate to “some of the experimentation that we’re doing” with the Mission Partner Network (MPN). MPN is what the Army describes as a “unified system” where the joint force, partners and allies can share information. He added that one of the new start programs for the MPN is a “piece of equipment,” but declined to comment further.

Clark also said that there are additional capabilities that are “currently” in development and need to continue to develop “specific to long-range precision fires” that are cheaper and can be built more quickly than current capabilities. Such fires capabilities are something the command needs “in order to remain the most lethal land force on [the] face of the Earth,” Clark said.

The Defense Department as a whole has more than 150 new start programs in its 2027 budget, with at least 29 of those deriving from the Army, Breaking Defense reported . To reach this number, Breaking Defense searched both the procurement budget and research, development, test and evaluation budget documents for the phrase “new start.”

Breaking Defense reached out to the Pentagon and the serv ices at the time to a sk for details on new starts that will be impacted by the CR, but a list was not provided.

Though Clark would not provide specifics about which new start pertaining to long range precision fires USARPAC was waiting on, the service included a new start of $921.9 million for Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense along with $132.1 million for the AN/TPY-2 sensor, which serves as the “brain and eyes” for the THAAD system, in its budget request. Breaking Defense could not identify any MPN programs in the 2027 budget documents.

“It’s a challenge, again, we have to overcome, but it’s part of the fiscal environment,” Clark said. “We have more experience operating under CR than we do with an appropriation.”

美国太平洋陆军司令罗纳德·P·克拉克将军于2026年9月15日在佐治亚州本宁堡马歇尔礼堂举行的年度机动作战人员大会首日发表了题为“陆军：太平洋稳定的基石”的演讲。年度机动作战人员大会汇聚​​了来自世界各地的美国陆军高级领导人和相关领域专家，共同探讨机动部队的未来发展方向。（美国陆军照片，摄影：丹尼尔·马布尔）

华盛顿——美国陆军太平洋司令部（USARPAC）四星上将司令表示，目前的持续拨款决议（CR）是该司令部面临的“最大挑战”，因为它阻止了该部队获得统一网络和远程精确火力方面的新能力。

“这是最大的挑战。我们需要制定新的计划，并为一些我们知道将对一线士兵有益的项目提供资金，”罗纳德·克拉克将军周二告诉记者，当被问及2027财年预算的延迟通过对该地区的行动有何影响时。

克拉克没有提及具体哪些新启动项目会受到影响，但他表示，许多项目都与我们正在进行的“任务伙伴网络”（MPN）实验有关。MPN是陆军所称的“统一系统”，联合部队、伙伴和盟友可以通过该系统共享信息。他还补充说，MPN的新启动项目之一是“一件装备”，但他拒绝进一步置评。

克拉克还表示，目前还有一些其他能力正在研发中，需要继续开发，这些能力“专门针对远程精确火力”，成本更低，建造速度也比现有能力更快。克拉克说，为了“继续保持地球上最致命的陆军力量”，该司令部需要这样的火力能力。

据Breaking Defense报道，美国国防部2027财年预算中共有超过150个“新启动”项目，其中至少29个来自陆军。为了得出这一数字，Breaking Defense在采购预算和研发、测试与评估预算文件中搜索了“新启动”一词。

Breaking Defense当时联系了五角大楼和各军种，询问受CR影响的新项目详情，但没有提供清单。

尽管克拉克没有具体说明美国陆军太平洋司令部正在等待哪项与远程精确火力相关的新项目启动，但该司令部在其预算申请中已列入一项9.219亿美元的“末段高空防空系统”（THAAD）新项目，以及一项1.321亿美元的AN/TPY-2传感器项目，该传感器是THAAD系统的“大脑和眼睛”。《防务新闻》未能从2027财年预算文件中找到任何MPN项目。

克拉克说：“这又是一个挑战，我们必须克服，但这是财政环境的一部分。我们在持续拨款机制下运作的经验比在拨款机制下运作的经验更丰富。”