Landpower and Future Strategy: Insights from the Army after Next
Abstract
In an era of tight budgets, long-range investment decisions call for careful determination of future strategic requirements. This process, in turn, requires identifying the kinds of tasks the Armed Forces will conduct tomorrow. The Army after Next (AAN) project was launched in 1996 to examine the nature of such tasks, particularly with respect to landpower. AAN is focused on the years 2020 to 2025. Research and wargaming for this project have produced valuable insights into the nature of future strategic requirements, which indicates that landpower will be vital in both peacetime and war. AAN foresees a rapidly changing environment in which the United States remains engaged internationally and retains its leadership in multinational defense arrangements and in promoting democratic values, free markets, and human rights. Although the multipolar security system will endure, the future will be characterized by shifting power relationships and ad hoc security structures, as opposed to stable alliances. Current sources of conflict -- ethnic rivalry, nationalism, religious antagonism, and competition for resources -- may intensify as world population increases. Threats such as transnational crime, terrorism, and illicit drug trafficking also may grow. AAN also posits the ascendancy of one or more major military competitors -- modernized states that threaten the interests of the United States and its allies in a specific region. Such a dynamic geopolitical context is likely to mean that the Armed Forces will have to execute a range of missions almost everywhere in the world. Future strategic requirements are as follows: maintain and shape the peace through stability and support operations; build coalitions and alliances to respond to regional crises and contain conflict; and wage decisive campaigns to limit collateral damage and achieve durable peace. (8 photographs)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA426775
Entities
People
- Antulio J. Echevarria Ii
- Huba Wass De Czege
Organizations
- National Defense University