U.S. Army's Modular Redesign: Issues for Congress. CRS Report for Congress

Abstract

In what the Army describes as the "most significant Army restructuring in the past 50 years," the Army is redesigning its current 10 active duty division force to a 43 or 48 brigade-level unit of action (UA) force by FY2007. The Army National Guard also will redesign its force structure in a similar fashion. The addition of up to 15 additional active duty and the conversion of Army National Guard brigades into 31 UA brigade combat teams could provide an additional force pool of deployable units to ease the burden on units presently deployed, and possibly shorten the length of time that units are deployed on operations. The Army has two other concurrent initiatives underway that it considers inextricably linked to its brigade-centric redesign: rebalancing to create new "high demand" units and stabilizing the force to foster unit cohesion and enhance predictability for soldiers and their families. Both initiatives involve substantial policy, organizational, and personnel changes from FY2004 to FY2009. Some experts believe that modular redesign, selective rebalancing, and stabilizing of the Army are prudent actions that should provide the Army with additional deployable units and also eventually bring stability to soldiers and their families. As long as no additional significant long-term troop commitments arise, many feel that these initiatives could help ease the stress on both the active and reserve forces. As the Army continues its modular conversion, it may have to contend with personnel and equipment shortages that could impede plans to build this new force as intended. Some analysts and government officials also question whether the Army can afford both its Future Combat System (FCS) program and its modularity program. In addition to funding considerations, recruiting and retention and equipment issues also could affect the Army's modularization plans.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 20, 2005
Accession Number
ADA436231

Entities

People

  • Andrew Feickert

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artillery
  • Base Closures
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Deployment
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Governments
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Facilities
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Police
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Recruiting
  • United States
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.