Dominant Maneuver vs. Precision Engagement - Finding the Appropriate Balance Between Soldiers and Technology
Abstract
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the Department of Defense has been under excruciating pressure to reduce military forces and provide the nation a peace dividend in the wake of the Cold War. Significant reductions have been made over the course of the past eight years based on traditional budget share and not on a strategy driven process. Thus, land based forces are being reduced in favor of precision weapons and expensive platforms to carry them that portend to offer a quick and virtually bloodless solution for the nation's military needs. The structure of our military forces has been driven by political pressure; the Base Force Review, the Bottom Up Review (BUR) the Commission on Roles and Missions (CORM) and most recently, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and not by the strategy driven process that would render the objective balance in the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS). Consequently, our military forces are created and nurtured by institutional desires and the services' crusade to preserve budget share. As is historically the case, today's defense funding priorities ignore the preeminence of land forces in its quest for silver bullet solutions to accomplish the nation's conventional warfighting needs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 06, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA339594
Entities
People
- Joel G. Himsl
Organizations
- United States Army War College