US Army Pacific says a continuing resolution is its biggest challenge for fires and networks

The commander of U.S. Army Pacific said a continuing resolution is now the biggest challenge facing the command, because it blocks new-start funding for partner-network experimentation and for cheaper, faster long-range precision fires the force wants in the Indo-Pacific.

Gen. Ronald Clark told reporters on 13 October 2026 that the fiscal 2027 stopgap prevents plans for new starts and programmes that would yield benefit to soldiers on the ground. He linked many of the stalled starts to experimentation with the Mission Partner Network, which the Army describes as a unified information-sharing system for the joint force, partners and allies.

Clark said one Mission Partner Network new start involves a piece of equipment, without naming it. He also said additional long-range precision fires capabilities already in development need to keep moving toward designs that are cheaper and quicker to build than current systems if the command is to stay competitive.

Public reporting on the same remarks notes that a review of fiscal 2027 budget documents found more than 150 Defence Department new starts, including at least 29 Army lines, and identified Army research starts that include large Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and AN/TPY-2 sensor requests.

The same day Clark spoke, Army fires acquisition leaders at the Association of the U.S. Army conference described a parallel budget squeeze on munitions. Gen. Frank Lozano said raising annual Patriot PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement output remains a top priority and that officials are debating whether goals should climb well beyond 2,000 interceptors a year as they hunt for affordable magazine depth.

Brent Ingraham, the Army civilian acquisition chief, told the same panel that daily planning still depends on where the budget lands, including whether reconciliation funding arrives. He said the service has prioritised near-term missions and will have to reprioritise systems if the topline falls short.

Separate reporting on the munitions account said the Army had nearly exhausted fiscal 2026 munitions funds and was seeking a continuing-resolution anomaly to protect priority interceptor production, including PAC-3 MSE and THAAD lines that rely heavily on proposed mandatory fiscal 2027 money.

U.S. Army Pacific is the Army land component for the Indo-Pacific theatre. Clark framed the continuing resolution as freezing precisely the cheaper long-range fires and partner-network tools he said the command needs next, while munitions leaders separately warned that interceptor production goals still hinge on how Congress finishes the fiscal 2027 bill.

Clark did not say the continuing resolution cancels fielded long-range fires already in the Pacific. He cast the new-start freeze as the binding constraint on the next tranche of cheaper fires designs and on Mission Partner Network experimentation the command wants for allied information sharing.

Taken together, the Pacific commander's warning and the munitions panel comments describe a single fiscal bottleneck: new Indo-Pacific fires and network starts cannot begin under the stopgap, while interceptor production ambitions still wait on how Congress finishes mandatory and discretionary funding for fiscal 2027.

Clark called the stopgap part of the fiscal environment the command must overcome, while noting that the Army has more experience operating under continuing resolutions than under full appropriations. He did not list a recovery date for the Mission Partner Network or long-range fires starts while the fiscal 2027 bill remains unfinished.