The Current And Future Force

This book provides the reader with a unique opportunity to understand the basic and applied research and technology areas that support applications to enable Transformational capabilities for US Soldiers. The research papers are in line with the theme of the 24th Army Science Conference: “Transformational Science and Technology for the Current and Future Force,” emphasizing the critical role of Science and Technology in addressing the significant challenges posed by Global War On Terrorism while simultaneously developing Transformational capabilities for the Future Force.

Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Army asked the National Research Council (NRC) for a series of reports on how science and technology could assist the Army meet its Homeland defense obligations. The first report, Science and Technology for Army Homeland Securityâ€"Report 1, presented a survey of a road range of technologies and recommended applying Future Force technologies to homeland security wherever possible. In particular, the report noted that the Army should play a major role in providing emergency command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities and that the technology and architecture needed for homeland security C4ISR was compatible with that of the Army's Future Force. This second report focuses on C4ISR and how it can facilitate the Army's efforts to assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and emergency responders meet a catastrophic event.

This research paper will explore the acquisition strategy, process, and structure as necessary components to successfully transform the Army. The last major Army transformation was in the 1980s during the "Big 5" programs that implemented a platform centric acquisition approach. The Brigade Combat Team (BCT) program, started in 2000, concentrated on building a family of vehicles with off-the-shelf technology. The BCT program implemented innovative changes to their strategy for synergy and unity of effort that streamlined the acquisition process. The BCT changes are helping to mold and develop the Future Combat System (FCS) strategy. However, the Army's Future Force "system of systems" concept is a holistic environment that requires extensive integration and embedded advanced technology systems. The FCS is the materiel enabler to achieve transformation and is an aggregate of systems coming together and fielded as a "unit of action." This paper will evaluate the Current and Future Force acquisition, strategy, process, and structure. I will analyze the pros and cons, identify challenges and present recommendations for change. If it is done right, Army Acquisition will break the stovepipe organizational and platform centric culture.

Predicting the friture is almost always fraught with uncertainty. How- ever, Army force developers working to plan a force capable of meet- ing the challenges of the 2025 timeframe (the Future Force era) face more uncertainty than most. Today's world, especially in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Iraq war, exhibits a level of dynamism and change not seen during the comparatively static decades of the Cold War-times when the drivers of U.S. secu- rity policy were relatively fixed and their demands upon the Army easily identified. This study has attempted to help the Army deal with the task of long-term force planning by using the tool of alternative futures analysis. Rather than positing a single point estimate of the 2025 fli- ture and trying to defend it, we chose to help the Army bound the future by laying out a representative spectrum of different "future worlds" in the hope that they would illustrate the complete universe of future missions.

The mission of the United States Army is to fight and win our nation's wars by providing prompt, sustained land dominance across the full range of military operations and spectrum of conflict in support of combatant commanders. Accomplishing this mission rests on the ability of the Army to equip and move its forces to the battle and sustain them while they are engaged. Logistics provides the backbone for Army combat operations. Without fuel, ammunition, rations, and other supplies, the Army would grind to a halt. The U.S. military must be prepared to fight anywhere on the globe and, in an era of coalition warfare, to logistically support its allies. While aircraft can move large amounts of supplies, the vast majority must be carried on ocean going vessels and unloaded at ports that may be at a great distance from the battlefield. As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown, the costs of convoying vast quantities of supplies is tallied not only in economic terms but also in terms of lives lost in the movement of the materiel. As the ability of potential enemies to interdict movement to the battlefield and interdict movements in the battlespace increases, the challenge of logistics grows even larger. No matter how the nature of battle develops, logistics will remain a key factor. Force Multiplying Technologies for Logistics Support to Military Operations explores Army logistics in a global, complex environment that includes the increasing use of antiaccess and area-denial tactics and technologies by potential adversaries. This report describes new technologies and systems that would reduce the demand for logistics and meet the demand at the point of need, make maintenance more efficient, improve inter- and intratheater mobility, and improve near-real-time, in-transit visibility. Force Multiplying Technologies also explores options for the Army to operate with the other services and improve its support of Special Operations Forces. This report provides a logistics-centric research and development investment strategy and illustrative examples of how improved logistics could look in the future.

As the global environment becomes increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, the military must transform the manner in which it develops, manages, coordinates, synchronizes, and employs capabilities to create effects in cyberspace and the information environment. In the 21st century environment of globalization, the current approach by the U.S. military is inappropriate to meet the challenges posed by nation-states and non-state actors pursuing and protecting national, socio-demographic, and niche interests. Increasing budgetary constraints necessitate changes to the means of applying informational power if the military force is to remain a viable element of national power. This book examines the evolution of the information environment, cyberspace, Information Operations and Strategic Communication and how the military leverages and applies information in the pursuit of national objectives, and recommends changes in cyber and communication capabilities necessary for the future force to meet the strategic needs of our nations.

As the global environment becomes increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, the military must transform the manner in which it develops, manages, coordinates, synchronizes, and employs capabilities to create effects in cyberspace and the information environment. In the 21st century environment of globalization, the current approach by the U.S. military is inappropriate to meet the challenges posed by nation-states and non-state actors pursuing and protecting national, socio-demographic, and niche interests. Increasing budgetary constraints necessitate changes to the means of applying informational power if the military force is to remain a viable element of national power. This paper examines the evolution of the information environment, cyberspace, Information Operations and Strategic Communication and how the military leverages and applies information in the pursuit of national objectives, and recommends changes in cyber and communication capabilities necessary for the future force to meet the strategic needs of our nations.