A group of U.S. Army leaders appeared before a Senate Armed Services Committee subpanel Wednesday to testify that the service branch has begun modernization efforts and needs funding to support such initiatives amid threats posed by countries such as Russia and China, Stars and Stripes reported Wednesday.

“The Army has reached an inflection point,” Lt. Gen. John Murray, deputy chief of staff at the Army, told lawmakers.

“We can no longer afford to choose between near-term readiness and modernization.”

Army leaders said the service’s modernization plan will focus on six areas that include the need to build up communication networks; restoration of long-range precision fire systems; development of next-generation combat vehicles; soldier lethality; air and missile defense platforms restoration; and introduction of new aircraft designs.

Murray said the military branch has started to form a new futures and modernization command that is expected to reach initial operational capability by June or July and full operational capability by next year.

The service leaders’ testimony coincided with the Senate’s announcement on Wednesday that they struck a bipartisan agreement that would allocate a defense budget of $700 billion in fiscal year 2018 and $716 billion for FY 2019.

Vice President Mike Pence has said the U.S. intends to remain vigilant and work with its Indo-Pacific allies to heighten pressure on North Korea to abandon the latter country’s nuclear weapon development efforts, DoD News reported Thursday.

He told audience during a speech Wednesday at Yokota Air Base in Japan that North Korean threats have prompted the U.S. to “act with vigilance.”

“Together with our allies and partners, we will continue to strive to peacefully dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program and alleviate the suffering of its people,” Pence added.

He noted that the U.S. will be prepared to defend its homeland and respond to any deployment of conventional or nuclear weapons.

“We will protect our people, we will defend our freedom, and together we will forge a future of security, prosperity and peace for both of our nations for generations to come.”

Christopher Krebs, acting undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security‘s National Protection and Programs Directorate, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to lead NPPD on a full-time basis.

He concurrently serves as assistant secretary in the Office of Infrastructure Protection and leads NPPD’s efforts to prevent complex mass attacks, secure high-risk chemicals and increase resilience of cyber and physical infrastructure across the U.S., the White House said Thursday.

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-Rhode Island) said in a statement published Wednesday that Krebs’ nomination reflects an urgency to reform NPPD.

“I hope the Senate will move quickly to take up the House-passed bill that will allow the organization to continue to evolve,” Langevin added.

Krebs joined the department in March of last year as senior counselor who advised the Homeland Security secretary on matters related to critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity and national resilience.

Before DHS, he served as director of cybersecurity policy within Microsoft‘s U.S. government affairs team, a principal of Obsidian Analysis and a vice president of Dutko.

The U.S. Navy is scheduled to start installing updates on the USS America amphibious assault ship to support the operations of the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft aboard the vessel, The National Interest reported Wednesday.

British defense contractor BAE Systems said USS America will undergo a series of hull, mechanical and electrical repairs as well as receive additional modifications for F-35 integration.

The Navy previously upgraded USS America to align its weapons and sensors with F-35s as well as boost the flight deck’s capacity to handle F-35B vertical take-offs and landings.

The U.S. Marine Corps‘ F-35B short take-off and landing variant have gone through flight tests onboard USS America.

USS America is the lead ship of the America-class amphibious assault ships, which currently includes one other vessel named USS Tripoli.

Navy officials said America-class ships are designed to carry up to 31 aircraft in total, including the MV-22 Osprey, CH-53 Super Stallion, AH-1Z Super Cobra, UH-1Y Huey, F-35B and the MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter.