Combined Arms Warfare in the 21st Century: Maximizing the Capability of U.S. Army Future Combat System Equipped Brigade Combat Teams to Conduct Combined Arms Operations
Abstract
The U.S. Army's first Future Combat System (FCS) equipped Brigade Combat Team (BCT) becomes fully operational in 2015. Concern for the possibility of combined arms capability gaps between planned FCS capacities and those required to defeat the expected 2015 dominant threat model -- the Extremist Guerrilla Army -- led to a study of combined arms operations (CAW). The author explores the nature of CAW, and through the use of synchronization theory explains how synchronization is the key process by which units are able to plan and conduct the simultaneous employment of a combination of arms, thereby benefiting from their synergistic effects. He also reviews the main historical developments in CAW from World War I to the present Iraq War, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. The thesis then identifies 13 combined arms "enabling capabilities" necessary for FCS BCT success in the complex and lethal 2015 operational environment. These capabilities will defeat the Extremist Guerrilla Army, maintain freedom of movement across the battlefield, and positively influence the local populace to support U.S. objectives. In addition, five FCS BCT capability shortfalls are identified. These are five areas in which FCS BCTs will not be fully capable in the operational environment of 2015. These areas are as follows: the need for ruggedized SATCOM antennas, the capability to allow units to stay connected to FCS voice and data information networks while on the move, the need for FCS vehicles to be hardened against electronic attack in an age of nuclear proliferation, the need for specialized engineering vehicles to support route clearance and gap crossing missions, and the need for the Army to organize company-sized Information Operations (IO) units to support FCS BCTs in the expectation of the enemy's heavy use of IO.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 13, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA482923
Entities
People
- James W. Reed
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College