At AUSA 2026, Army Generals Stress Land Power Against China, From the Pacific to the Homeland

Two of the U.S. Army’s most senior generals used the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual meeting in Washington, held Oct. 12–14, 2026, to make the case that land forces matter in a potential conflict with China, both across the Pacific and at home. Gen. Ronald P. Clark, commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, stressed land-based troops and equipment in the region, while Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s vice chief of staff and acting chief of staff, warned that “power projection will be contested.”

Clark: The “Tyranny of Distance” in the Pacific

Clark spoke on Oct. 12 during AUSA’s Contemporary Military Forum titled “Decisive Landpower: Deterrence and Partner Integration Against the Pacing Threat,” according to an Army news release. The South China Morning Post reported that Clark said the “tyranny of distance” made it difficult to rely on air and naval forces alone in the region.

The Post described the remarks as part of a broader message from senior U.S. commanders at the meeting about the importance of land-based troops and equipment in any conflict with China, countering the assumption that such a war would be fought mainly at sea and in the air. The newspaper framed the comments as reflecting concerns among U.S. commanders that China’s increasingly sophisticated air and naval forces could stop American forces from operating freely in the region.

In the Army’s account of the same panel, Clark tied deterrence directly to where forces are based. “Our responsibility to deliver warfighting capability at the place and time of our choosing is really tied to posture,” he said. “The only way that we’ve been successful in the business of deterrence is to provide those forces at scale.”

Clark pointed to Operation Pathways, U.S. Army Pacific’s exercise program, which he said includes 54 exercises a year with partner forces on their own territory. He listed the command’s priorities as “people, partnerships, and then our efforts to prevail in competition, crisis, and conflict.” Large allied drills such as Keen Sword 27, the U.S.-Japan island defense exercise that opened this week, are part of that same push to train alongside regional partners.

LaNeve: A Fight That Could Start at Home

LaNeve delivered a related warning about the U.S. homeland. “If we’re going against a pacing threat, power projection will be contested,” he told Fox News Digital during the conference. “Pacing threat” is the Pentagon’s term for China.

Fox News reported that LaNeve said the military is rethinking assumptions from decades of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, when American forces could largely count on secure bases and supply lines at home. “During the Global War on Terror, we took a lot of things for granted, because we could,” LaNeve said at a small-group roundtable at the meeting.

The same report noted that in a potential conflict with China, disruptions to U.S. military bases, transportation networks and communications could delay American forces from reaching the battlefield. It cited the Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military, which warns that Beijing has positioned cyber capabilities inside U.S. critical infrastructure networks that could be used to disrupt mobilization. That cyber warning comes from the Pentagon report, not from LaNeve’s own quoted remarks.

On how units would keep operating, LaNeve said: “I think what you would see inside this command and control capability is the ability to operate disconnected and then reconnect when you have that capability, but to continue to be able to maneuver.” He also pointed to Joint Interagency Task Force 401, which Fox reported is working with federal and local law enforcement on counter-drone defenses around bases and critical infrastructure.

The “How the Army Fights” Framework

Both sets of remarks came as the Army rolls out “How the Army Fights,” a new operational framework that AUSA has published in full. Fox News reported that the guidance puts more emphasis on deploying, communicating and sustaining forces even when bases, supply lines and communications networks are under attack. “It was important to get this document out to provide a direction for our Army, a stake in the ground in where we’re moving,” LaNeve said.

The homeland focus echoes “The Army Azimuth,” LaNeve’s Aug. 19 letter to the force. AUSA reported that the letter names three tasks: defend the homeland, fight and win wars, and project power on and from the land. “We secure our Nation’s borders, protect the American people against attack, and respond to domestic crises—these are our most sacred duties,” LaNeve wrote.

Why It Matters for the Indo-Pacific

Together, the two generals described a ground force that has to be forward in the Pacific before a crisis and able to move from bases at home that may themselves be under pressure. Their remarks came during a busy stretch of regional military activity, including a Chinese combat readiness patrol near Taiwan and Japan’s deployment of the U.S. Army’s Typhon launcher, which drew protests from China and Russia.

Additional Details

• Clark’s command, U.S. Army Pacific, has more than 107,000 soldiers across U.S. Pacific territories and allied nations such as South Korea and Japan, according to the South China Morning Post, with rotational deployments in the Philippines.
• Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, who leads U.S. Forces Korea, joined Clark on the Oct. 12 panel and spoke about posture, protection and sustainment.
• In a separate conference session, Clark told reporters the current continuing resolution is the “biggest challenge” for his command because it blocks new-start programs, Breaking Defense reported.
• LaNeve serves in an acting capacity after the departure of former Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George; he remains the Senate-confirmed vice chief of staff, Fox News reported.
• AUSA 2026’s theme was “America’s Army: The Foundation of the Joint Force,” held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
• Related coverage: our Keen Sword 27 preview and Brunson on North Korea’s lessons from Ukraine.

Sources

• South China Morning Post: How land power could help US forces counter China in the Indo-Pacific
• Fox News: US Army prepares for attacks hitting closer to home in future wars
• U.S. Army: USARPAC integrates allies and partners to strengthen deterrence, deliver decisive landpower
• Breaking Defense: Continuing resolution is ‘biggest challenge’ for Army Pacific Command
• AUSA: Senior Army Leaders Will Headline AUSA 2026
• AUSA: LaNeve Outlines Army’s Focus on Homeland, Warfighting
• AUSA: How the Army Fights (PDF)

Featured image: Gen. Ronald P. Clark at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Nov. 8, 2024. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Carolina Sierra, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.