Story highlights Dunford: "The competitive advantage that the United States military has long enjoyed is eroding"

Dunford called for 3%-5% increases in military spending

(CNN) The US military risks losing its competitive edge over America's adversaries in five years' time without a major boost in defense spending, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Tuesday.

"The competitive advantage that the United States military has long enjoyed is eroding," Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the Trump administration's defense budget, saying that budget cuts combined with increasingly capable adversaries were both contributing to that erosion.

"In just a few years, if we don't change the trajectory, we will lose our qualitative and our quantitative competitive advantage," Dunford said, warning "the consequences will be profound."

Dunford's warning was specifically focused on the US military's ability to project its power anywhere in the world, something he said was critical to deterring adversaries and reassuring allies that the US can meet its alliance commitments.

Asked to elaborate on the risk by Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Dunford said that competitors like Russia and China have studied US power projection and have invested in assets that could potentially offset the US military's advantages.

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