Former President Trump criticized the Biden administration Friday on an unexpected front: experimentation with making Army tanks all-electric.
“The Biden Administration wants to now make our Army Tanks all Electric so that, despite the fact that they will not be able to go very far, fewer pollutants will be released into the air,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
It was a one-off message without much context for readers, but it appears to be a dig at the Biden administration’s overarching goal to use cleaner energy in the military — a controversial issue for many Republicans.
The Pentagon wants to source more clean energy for its vast fleets, bases and operations.
Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in 2022 unveiled a plan to field an all-electric light-duty nontactical fleet by 2027 and an all-electric nontactical fleet by 2035. Nontactical vehicles are trucks and support vehicles without specific combat capabilities.
The Army also wants hybrid tactical vehicles in 2035 and fully electric tactical vehicles in 2050, which would include heavier combat vehicles such as tanks.
But those efforts are far behind, as the technology is not there yet, according to a June Bloomberg report. Hybrid tactical vehicles are closer to development than fully electric ones.
Republicans have expressed concern about the feasibility of electric fleets and have often criticized the Defense Department’s climate change initiatives as “woke” policies.
The U.S. military, however, sees climate change as an acute risk and believes that diversifying its energy sources will help the globe and with readiness.
Wormuth said in a 2022 statement announcing her plan that the Army “must adapt across our entire enterprise and purposefully pursue greenhouse gas mitigation strategies to reduce climate risks.”