Trends and plans of the US Armed Forces

By: Alan King

Transformation is one of the big buzzwords in the US military establishment. This is probably most well known in discussions of the Army. The Army is converting from a force intended to fight WWIII against the Soviet Union into a more agile, lighter force which is intended to deal with lower intensity combat and non-combat operations around the world.

The Cold War Army was built around heavy divisions of armor and mechanized forces. The new force will be built around lighter brigade combat teams. The number of active combat brigades will climb from 33 to 42, and with reserve forces included there will be 70 combat brigades. This includes conversion of forces which are not as needed with the changing situations into types of forces which are in short supply, and the process is about half complete at this point.

There will still be heavy combat brigades of armor and mechanized forces, which are heavy and expensive but which also have unparalleled combat power. There will still be infantry brigades which are light and cheap and easy to move around the world, but which are not mobile or powerful once operations begin. The new forces include Stryker brigades, which are mounted on wheeled armored vehicles and which intend to use agility and situational awareness to reduce the need for firepower, and help from the Air Force and remaining heavy forces when raw slugging power is required.

This is not restricted to the Army. The USAF is also undergoing transformation. Older aircraft types are being removed from service by the new F-22 and the future F-35. Cold War era organizations, which were larger and relatively homogenous in aircraft types, are being replaced by smaller, more integrated forces. These are intended to be more capable of expeditionary deployment and will already own the components needed for operations instead of requiring reorganization before deployment.

The Navy is still in the midst of dealing with the Peace Dividend cuts after the Cold War. The long lag time to build new warships means the navy is still trying to achieve a desired mix of ship numbers and types. The carriers are slowly converting to newer technologies, with designs strongly influenced by lessons learned over the last 15 years and advances in electronics. The surface warfare fleet is slowly purchasing new ships and transitioning to future designs for greater utility close to shore, in contrast to the traditional deep blue sea focus of the navy. The submarine forces are also switching to new designs.

The Marines are not conducting the same total makeover as the Army, but forces are being moved from bases in Japan where they have lived for half a century to Guam. New types of amphibious warfare ships are slowly replacing the older types and older gear is slowly being replaced, often by excess Army stocks of gear intended to support units that were shut down after the Cold War ended.

Even the tiny Coast Guard is faced with a transformation issue with the restructuring of Homeland Defense.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

For more information on the US military please check out the author's site at usmilitary.com

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated