Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a stark warning about the changing character of war, saying the joint force must demonstrate readiness before conflict erupts.

Adversaries are becoming increasingly interconnected while emerging technologies make future battlefields more contested and complex.

Speaking Wednesday during a keynote at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Caine said the force must remain “clear-eyed” about what lies ahead.

Future conflicts, he cautioned, will increasingly resist simple answers.

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“We have to assume from now on that our formations will be hunted by autonomous systems, jammed across the spectrum and tracked in real time,” Caine said in his speech.

That environment will demand sweeping preparation across the services. Caine said the military must deliver the right mix of capabilities to personnel before fighting begins, rather than scrambling after a crisis is already underway.

“We have to transition the joint force to be prepared to fight and win our future wars by generating and delivering lethality at scale with an agile, optimized, high-low mix of combat capabilities to give the young members of the 2.8 million-member all-volunteer joint force the tools that they need before they need them,” he continued.

Caine called the American military and military families the country’s “ultimate insurance policy.”

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He argued that the joint force must be prepared for a fight before that fight starts, placing readiness and timely investment at the center of his message.

Although American adversaries are spread across different regions, Caine said they remain connected through shared technology, intelligence, weapons and economic support.

Military branches studying past and present American battlefields are searching for new ways to challenge the United States’ advantage.

That effort demonstrates the need to invest in a range of military capabilities before a crisis begins.

Waiting for the shooting to start would collide with Caine’s warning that technology, networks and the speed of battlefield decisions are already changing rapidly.

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Russia and Iran have recently deepened their military partnership through a technological feedback loop tied to the Ukraine war and conflict in the Middle East.

Moscow is sending Iran upgraded munitions, satellite imagery and targeting data that have been used against American forces in the Middle East.

Tehran initially supplied Russia with Shahed attack drones for use in Ukraine in 2022.

Iran has since arranged a license allowing the Iranian designed drones to be built on Russian territory, extending the partnership beyond the original deliveries.

“The character of war is changing, and time is of the essence,” Caine said.

He pointed to artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities and autonomous systems as developments altering both how countries fight and how quickly combat unfolds on the modern battlefield.

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Caine described today’s battlefield as stretching from the seabed to cislunar space.

He said the advantage will belong to the learning organization that can see, understand, decide and act before its opponent does.

The chairman cited the June rescue of two Army soldiers through a remotely piloted Navy unmanned surface vessel as one example of military adaptation.

He presented the rescue as evidence of how the force is using artificial intelligence and autonomous tools.

Caine also pointed to the use of such tools in contested electromagnetic interference environments, including Ukraine, where first person view drones are changing the threat.

These examples illustrated how technology is reshaping conditions across very different operating areas.

“Take it together, these examples from the Strait of Hormuz to the front lines in Ukraine show how quickly technology is changing the character of war,” he said.

Young service leaders will command in these environments during future conflicts, Caine said.

They will need to adapt while understanding their surroundings and handling a vast amount of available information under difficult conditions.

Technology, networks and software will continue changing, but Caine said the requirement for capable and lethal leaders will remain.

Autonomy and improved networks can be delivered to the force, yet those systems will not matter without trusted leaders able to perform under pressure.

“We must move together because the window to build the force that we need is closing,” Caine said. “We can buy almost anything in life, but we cannot buy time.”

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