Pentagon brass universally support the US developing a new generation of conventional intermediate long-range missiles, and the Army is rushing to meet the challenge as the INF Treaty approaches its likely Aug. 2 demise.

The US could develop more than a dozen different land-based weapons for $7 to $12 billion, thinktank CSBA estimates.

WASHINGTON: At least a dozen major Army weapons programs face big decisions in 2019. The service will launch a competition for new armored vehicles; award development contracts for scout aircraft and helicopter engines; conduct key tests of long-range missiles, anti-aircraft defenses, rifles, targeting goggles, and multiple battlefield networks; and field new electronics for command posts.

“Long-range precision fires… would provide us the capability (to) either, for example, support the Air Force by suppressing enemy air defenses at hundreds upon hundreds of miles or support the Navy by engaging enemy surface ships at great distances as well,” said Army Secretary Mark Esper. But those examples are two distinctly different missions, each most relevant to a different theater of war.

There are loopholes in the 1987 accord that newer technologies like hypersonics might shoot through, independent arms control experts told me. But, they warned, you might end up nitpicking the treaty to death.

Looking to spend billions more on its top modernization programs, the Army is changing things up by spending those dollars in places that might come as a bit of a surprise.