Unit of Action; and the Operational Requirements Document for the Future Additionally, The Army is poised to fill ground maneuver's most critical battlefield deficiency – armed aerial reconnaissance – with Comanche, a capable, survivable, and sustainable aircraft that is a cornerstone of the Objective Force. All along the way, we have tested our concepts in wargames and experiments, checked and rechecked our azimuth to the Objective Force weekly and monthly, and look forward to a successful Future Combat System Milestone B Defense Acquisition Board decision in May of this year. However, we cannot accelerate Army Transformation without transforming the way The Army does business - from transformation of logistics and acquisition to personnel and installation transformation. Revolutionizing Army business management practices achieves the best value for taxpayers' dollars; conserves limited resources for investment in People, Readiness, and Transformation; enhances management of personnel systems, installations and contracting; and augments our potential to accelerate arrival of the Objective Force. Changing The Army is first about changing the way we think, and better business practices represent practical application of common sense initiatives that best serve The Army and our Nation. We are proud of our progress. We are grateful for the strong Congressional support that has helped put The Army on its approach march to the Objective Force. The Army 2003 Posture Statement describes our tremendous progress in Transformation – an orchestrated campaign, synchronized with OSD and Joint Transformation, to achieve the Objective Force and keep America's Army the dominant landpower in the world. THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT – THE REQUIREMENT TO TRANSFORM During the last two decades of the 20th Century, information-age technologies dramatically changed the political, economic, and military landscapes. Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and operations in Kuwait, Bosnia, and Kosovo illustrated the requirement for transforming our forces to meet the evolving, strategic requirements of our Nation. Survivable and extremely lethal, our heavy forces effectively met the requirements for which they were designed; yet, they were slow to deploy and difficult to sustain. Conversely, our light forces were rapidly deployable, but they lacked the protection, lethality, and tactical mobility that we seek across the spectrum of military operations. We were successful in winning the Cold War and, as a result, smaller than we had been in 40 years. The Army no longer had the luxury of specialized forces built to confront a single and narrowly defined threat like the Warsaw Pact countries. Today's challenges are more complex; threats are elusive and unpredictable. The fight against international terrorism has overshadowed, but not eliminated, other potential crises. Tension between India and Pakistan persists; stability between China and Taiwan is tenuous; and concern over North Korea escalates. Threats of transnational terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) – often financed. by organized crime, illicit drug transactions, trafficking in women and children, and the sale of arms further complicate the security environment. Geopolitical trends such as scarce resources, youth population-spike in underdeveloped countries, aging populations in developed countries, and the growth of mega-cities, among others, presage a future strategic environment of diverse and widely distributed threats. Fully appreciating the internal and external difficulties that profound change engenders, we assessed the operational challenges of the new century against the capabilities of our Cold War Army, recognized the opportunity to leverage the inherent combat power of the technological revolution, and set a clear path ahead - The Army Vision. The 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS) reaffirms our military's highest priority - defending the United States. To do this effectively, we assure our allies and friends; dissuade future military competition; deter threats against U.S. interests, allies, and friends; and decisively defeat any adversary, if deterrence fails. The NSS directs the military to transform to a capabilities-based force ready to respond to unpredictable adversaries and security crises. The Objective Force meets these NSS requirements, and Army Transformation will enhance our ability to conduct rapid and precise operations, achieve decisive results at the time and place of our choosing, and safeguard the Nation's ability to exercise our right of self-defense through preemption, when required. The 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review describes a capabilities-based approach to defense planning that provides broader military options across the operational spectrum, from pre- to post-conflict operations. The force-sizing construct-1-4-2-1 - takes into account the number, scope and simultaneity of tasks assigned the military: it sizes the force for defense of the U.S. homeland (1), forward deterrence in four critical regions (4), the conduct of simultaneous warfighting missions in two regions (2) – while preserving the President's option to call for decisive victory in one of those conflicts (1) – and participation in multiple, smaller contingency operations. THE ARMY-SERVING TODAY, BALANCING RISK, MANAGING TRANSFORMATION Soldiers are the most precise and responsive means to strike and then control enemy centers of gravity on the ground - where people live, work, and govern. American Soldiers are disciplined, professional, and trained for success in diverse missions; they are the foundation of a flexible force that accomplishes its missions in the non-linear battlespace by integrating new, innovative technologies and techniques with current systems and doctrine. Our people adapt under the harshest conditions, whether in the deserts of Kuwait and the Sinai, the mountains and rice paddies of Korea, or the tropics of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. These demanding commitments mean we must nurture a balance between current and near-term readiness and our Transformation to meet future challenges. The Army has accepted reasonable operational risk in the mid-term in order to fund our Transformation to the Objective Force. To avoid unacceptable risk, we are monitoring closely the current operational situation as we support the Combatant Commanders in the war against terror, conduct homeland defense, and prosecute the long-term effort to defeat transnational threats. We have designed and implemented the Strategic Readiness System(SRS) to provide a precision, predictive tool with which to monitor The Army and make appropriate adjustments to preserve current readiness. Our surge capacity in the industrial base further reduces current risk by keeping production lines warm and responsive. And our first Stryker Brigade Combat Team will provide the Combatant Commanders with a new capability to further mitigate operational risk – even as we transform to the Objective Force. REALIZING THE ARMY VISION – PEOPLE, READINESS, AND In 1999, The Army announced its vision to transform into a more strategically responsive force, dominant across the full spectrum of military operations. The Army Vision addresses three essential components: People, Readiness, and Transformation. Soldiers are the heart of The Army, the centerpiece of our formations, and the foundation of our combat power. Readiness remains our overarching imperative; it is the means by which we execute our nonnegotiable contract with the American people – to fight and win our Nation's wars, decisively. To preserve readiness while rapidly changing, Transformation advances on three major axes: preserving our Army legacy by maintaining readiness and dominance today; bridging the operational gap with Stryker Brigades - the Interim Force; and fielding the Objective Force this decade to keep The Army dominant in the years beyond this decade. Realizing The Army Vision requires the concerted effort of the entire Army, across all components - from warfighting to institutional support organizations. The Army published its Transformation Campaign Plan in April 2001 to synchronize and guide this complex undertaking. The November 2001 Objective Force White Paper describes the advanced capabilities and core technologies needed to build the Objective Force. The Army's June 2002 Army Transformation Roadmap defines Transformation as a continuous process - with specific waypoints - that increases our contributions to the Joint Force while achieving the six Department of Defense (DoD) critical operational goals. The result will be a more strategically responsive and full spectrum dominant force capable of prompt and sustained land combat operations as a member of the joint force. In support of the emerging joint operational concepts and architectures, The Army - as the major landpower component - continues to develop ground concepts for a full spectrum, and multidimensional force. These concepts are producing a Joint Force that presents potential enemies with multiple dilemmas across the operational dimensions - complicating their plans, dividing their focus, and increasing their chances of miscalculation. In future joint operations, Objective Force units will be capable of directing major operations and decisive land campaigns with Army headquarters. Objective Force headquarters at all levels will provide the Joint Force Commander (JFC) with seamless, joint battle command and decision superiority. The modularity and scalability of our Objective Force formations will provide an unprecedented degree of flexibility and adaptability to the Combatant Commander - providing the right force at the right time for decisive outcomes. PEOPLE - OUR MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE The Army Vision begins and ends talking about people. People are central to everything else we do in The Army. Platforms and organizations do not defend this Nation; people do. Units do not train, stay ready, grow and develop leadership - they do not sacrifice and take risks on behalf of the Nation. People do. Institutions do not transform; people do. People remain the engine behind all of our magnificent moments as an Army, and the well-being of our www |