WASHINGTON: The creation of a new Texas-based Army command focused on thefuture will help the soldier service adapt to the emerging threats frompowers such as China and Russia after years of counterinsurgency warfare,Army leaders said Friday.Gen. Mark Milley, the Army’s chief of staff, told reporters the militaryrecognized that China and Russia have improved their military capabilitieswhile the US has been fighting insurgents in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere forthe past 16 years or more.

“We are in the midst of a change in the very character of war,” saidMilley, adding that the Army set aside major modernization programs inorder to fight the current fight. “No one was solely dedicated to lookinginto the deep future and determining the implications to the United StatesArmy and the conduct of ground combat of this changing character of warthat we’re coming to grips with.”

In response, the Army announced it will launch the Futures Command inAustin, Texas, aimed at insuring the service is ready for future wars.Army Secretary Mark Esper said the command is the Army’s most significantreorganization in decades and will help provide soldiers with the weaponsand equipment they need when they need it.

The Army laid out plans to create the command last October, marking thefirst time since 1973 that the service has added such a high-level newheadquarters.The command is expected to have a staff of about 500 people, led by afour-star general. Ryan McCarthy, the undersecretary of the Army, said theincentive package offered by the city of Austin is still under discussion,and there are no final costs yet for the command.Initially, 15 cities were in contention, but the Army narrowed down thelist to five finalists last month: Austin, Boston, Minneapolis,Philadelphia and Raleigh, North Carolina.

McCarthy said Austin outscored all the other cities on the key criteria,including access to universities with high-quality engineering schools,academic talent, flourishing incubators for high-tech startups, goodquality of life and reasonable cost of living.

Tech-savvy Austin is about an hour’s drive from Fort Hood, one of thelargest military installations in the country. Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley said atan Austin news conference that the head of a startup hub told the Army itneeded to step outside those installations and start “smashing into youngkids with laptops that hangout in Starbucks.”

Regents for the University of Texas System voted Friday to provide spacefor the command in a building the system owns in downtown Austin. Detailsof the agreement are still being discussed, the system said in a statementFriday.

“One thing I know the Army is looking for is the brain power than can beharnessed from this region,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.

An advance team is already heading to Austin to begin setting up thecommand, which the Army said should be fully operational in about a year.