"The Pacific Deterrence Initiative has failed to transition into a real tool of budgetary change at the Pentagon: We have made minimal progress in bolstering deterrence in the Eastern Pacific," Wicker told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
The US alliance structure in the Pacific needs further modernization and it should include command and control and joint planning operations, Wicker noted.
"The available infrastructure is not expanding fast enough to support distributed military operations in the near future. We have barely begun building contested logistics plans," Wicker said.
The window for the United States to build up sufficient military force in the Pacific to deter war with China was rapidly closing, Wicker added.