Armored Battle Groups in the 21st Century
Abstract
The 21st century will bring many challenges. The U.S. Army will continue to have a strategic mission - to project land combat power worldwide. The Army will have to accomplish this mission in an environment characterized by decreased defense spending, increased procurement costs, and increased competition between the services to finance their modernization programs. Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev's new initiatives, the real potential of conventional arms reduction treaties, the increased cost of maintaining overseas bases, and changing foreign attitudes in regards to the forward basing of U.S. forces will impact on one of our fundamental elements of military strategy - forward deployed forces. This paper briefly examines the future threat and what strategic, operational and tactical implications can be expected to evolve from this threat. An alternative to today's heavy division force structure - Armored Battle Groups is examined. The Armored Battle Groups is examined. The Armored Battle Group organization developed in the paper is a state-of-the-art, self- contained force capable of continuous, sustained operations, increased unit mobility, agility and organic firepower, and improved communications, intelligence, and command and control. Together with the Armored Battle Group, a different strategic deployment concept - Battle Group POMCUS Ships is developed as a potential solution to the Army's heavy division strategic deployment shortfall. Training, sustainment and operational readiness issues concerning these two concepts are also addressed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 31, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA207348
Entities
People
- Wendell D. Kot
Organizations
- United States Army War College