The Objective Force will arrive in theater combat capable – deployment will be synonymous with employment. The Objective Force will be strategically responsive and rapidly deployable on the U.S Air Force family of inter-theater and intra-theater aircraft. An Objective Force Unit of Action (UA) will deploy on approximately one-third the number of aircraft required to deploy a heavy brigade combat team today. It will be operationally deployable and capable of operational maneuver over strategic distances by air, land, or sea. Soldiers will overcome anti-access and area denial strategies and environments through precision maneuver and decision superiority. Equipped with new systems designed to meet the needs of The Army's future fighting formations, the Objective Force will be a networked system of systems. This system of systems includes Soldiers equipped with the Land Warrior system; a family of 18 integrated, synchronized, manned and unmanned Future Combat Systems (FCS); and critical complementary systems such as the Comanche and the Future Tactical Truck System. The components of the FCS are being synchronously developed and fielded as a complete family to achieve the warfighting capabilities the Nation requires to defeat adaptive, asymmetric conventional and unconventional adversaries. Soldiers are the centerpiece of The Army's formation - not equipment. And Soldiers of the Objective Force will leverage dominant knowledge to gain decision superiority over any adversary. They will seamlessly integrate Objective Force capabilities with the capabilities of joint forces, Special Operations Forces, other federal agencies, and multinational forces. The Objective Force Soldiers will enable the United States to achieve its national security goals in a crisis, rather than simply inflict punitive strikes on an adversary. Employing FCS capabilities in formations called Units of Action (UA) and Units of Employment (UE), Objective Force Soldiers will provide campaign quality staying power -- that means precision fire and maneuver to control terrain, people, and resources, without having to resort to indiscriminate collateral damage. The Land Warrior system will integrate individual Soldiers in the network while providing them increased protection and lethality. And FCS will give Soldiers the capability to destroy any adversary in any weather and environment with smaller calibers, greater precision, more devastating target effects, and at longer-ranges than available today. Joint C4ISR a network-centric information architecture nested within the Global Information Grid – will connect the Objective Force's system of systems. Capitalizing on the synergistic power of the information network enterprise, every Objective Force Soldier and platform will be capable of sensing and engaging the enemy while maintaining situational awareness of friendly forces. Advanced information technologies and C4ISR decision tools and assets will enhance the Common Relevant Operating Picture (CROP). The Objective Force will identify, locate, and engage critical targets with lethal or non-lethal affects and assess battle damage on those targets. The joint C4ISR linkages will enable the attack of targets with whatever joint or Army assets are available for immediate employment, whether the force is in contact or out of contact. Similarly, enhanced situational awareness will facilitate multi-layered active and passive defense measures - including both offensive and defensive counter air against air and non-air breathing, manned and unmanned aerial vehicles. The CROP and Network centric operations will enhance sustainability of the Objective Force through multi-nodal distribution networks that reach forward to the area of operations or reach back to the Home Station Operations Center. Increased reliability through equipment design and commonality among the FCS family of systems will enhance sustainability while reducing logistics demands. Advanced technologies will enable robust Objective Force operations while shrinking the logistics footprint and lift requirements of deployed forces. The FCS is a transformational approach to meeting this Nation's requirements for the Objective Force. We designed and will field the FCS family in a carefully balanced manner to avoid optimizing a component at the expense of sub-optimizing the overarching capabilities of Objective and joint forces. The acquisition and requirements development processes are being updated to accommodate the Department of Defense's (DoD) direction to field a networked system of systems rapidly through spiral development and an open architecture that allows maturing technological insertions as they occur. The Army embraces the ongoing DoD and Joint Staff Capabilities and Acquisition processes reform efforts to achieve revolutionary capabilities in the fielding of a new generation of equipment. This collaborative DoD and JCS effort enables The Army to design new information-age capable organizations holistically, use evolutionary acquisition strategies to equip those organizations, and see the Objective Force fielded before the end of this decade. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-MOVING TOWARD THE TRANSFORMED ARMY Preempting our adversaries' technological surprises over the past three years, Army Science and Technology investments are already providing America's Army with sustained overmatch in all materiel systems. And The Army has increased and focused its Science and Technology (S&T) investments. We are demonstrating the enabling joint interoperable technologies essential for Objective Force capabilities and accelerating their arrival. Our S&T program is pursuing a wide spectrum of technologies for unmanned air and ground systems that will expand the range of joint warfighting capabilities, reduce risk to Soldiers, and reduce the logistics footprint of the force. Realizing the full potential of unmanned systems requires technological development in sensors that improve navigation and mission performance, in intelligent systems for semi-autonomous or autonomous operation, in networked communications for manned-unmanned teaming, and in human-robotic interfaces, among many others. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Army partnership contracted for a Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) to accelerate the transition of FCS to the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) Phase, with a Milestone B decision in May 2003. The Army is on track to achieve first unit equipped in 2008 and an initial operating capability of one Objective Force Unit of Action (UA) in 2010. To accelerate development and in partnership DARPA, the focus on key transformation technologies for the FCS has been narrowed to the systems with the most promise. Our highest priority S&T efforts remain technological advances for the Future Combat System (FCS). The Army will field FCS as a family of systems built on information age technologies embedded in manned and unmanned air and ground platforms. Integral to joint fires, the family of systems will integrate long-range air- and ground-based sensors with long-range cannon and missile precision munitions. The family of systems will also provide increased joint capabilities to conduct battle command, reconnaissance, mounted combat operations, dismounted combat operations, medical treatment and evacuation, and maintenance and recovery. To provide decisive lethality, FCS will employ networked, precision and loitering attack munitions fired from modular, easily transportable containers. Finally, FCS will leverage embedded, real-time interactive, virtual, distributed, collaborative, joint simulations for training and mission rehearsal. ENABLING THE OBJECTIVE FORCE SOLDIER Eighteen systems, both manned and unmanned; the Objective Force Soldier; and C4ISR, together, comprise the Future Combat System. Manned and unmanned reconnaissance capabilities are part of the FCS Family of Systems' interdependent networked air- and ground-based maneuver, maneuver support, and sustainment systems. There are 10 Unmanned Systems: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Classes 1, 2, 3, and 4; Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) - the Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE), the Armed Robotic Vehicle (ARV), and the Small (manpackable) Unmanned Ground Vehicle (MUGV); Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS); and Unattended Munitions - the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Launch System (LS) and Intelligent Munitions Systems (IMS). There are eight manned systems: the Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV); Command and Control Vehicle (C2V); Reconnaissance and Surveillance Vehicle (RSV); Line-of-Sight, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Mounted Combat System (LOS/ BLOS MCS); NLOS- Mortar; Medical Vehicle (MV); the FCS Recovery and Maintenance Vehicle (FRMV); and the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon. Decisive warfighting is about fires and maneuver: fires enable maneuver, and maneuver enables fires. Joint and organic close, supporting, indirect fires destroy the enemy, suppress the enemy's capabilities, protect our forces and enable ground units to maneuver. The ICV, the Unattended Munitions NLOS-LS, IMS, C2V, MCS, NLOS-Mortar, and NLOS Cannon are important elements of the FCS that will enable the Objective Force to conduct distributed and simultaneous joint combat operations. With joint fires, the NLOS cannon is critical to support and protect our land forces in hostile environments. NLOS-LS NetFires is a platform-independent family of missiles with precision attack and loitering capability. Both Precision Guided Mortar Munitions and Excalibur precision cannon munitions will enhance organic maneuver fires. A new, joint fire support, battle command and fire support architecture will allow rapid engagement of targets by any Army or joint asset. For over 227 years, Soldiers have remained the centerpiece of our formations. The Land Warrior program – another key S&T initiative – responds to this legacy and enhances our Soldiers combat power generation capability. The Land Warrior program will develop a lightweight, low observable, enhancedarmor protection, fighting ensemble for the individual Objective Force Soldier. Through networked connectivity to the FCS-equipped, maneuver Unit of Action, Land Warrior Soldiers will enable revolutionary lethality, mobility, survivability, and sustainability for the individual warfighter while reducing logistics demands. Future Combat Systems are networked in the joint C4ISR architecture including networked communications, networked options, sensors, battle command systems, training, and both manned and unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities. These networked systems will dramatically enhance situational awareness and understanding and operational level synchronization well beyond today's standards. Improved C4ISR capabilities will |