Review of the Army's Modular Force Structure

摘要

Congress has taken great interest in the capabilities of the U.S. Army as the service has transitioned to its new, modular force structure. Congress recently requested an independent study to determine: (A) The operational capability of the Army to execute the core mission of the Army to contribute land power to joint operations. (B) The ability to manage the flexibility and versatility of Army forces across the range of military operations. (C) The tactical, operational, and strategic risk associated with the heavy, medium, and light modular combat brigades and functional support and sustainment brigades. (D) The required and planned end strength of the Army. This study addressed these questions through comparative analysis, considering how the earlier, division-centric force structure compared to the current force structure. Many of the data to support the analysis were provided by the Army. In particular, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command's Army Capabilities Integration Center provided Army Structure Messages that allowed us to track changes in the Army's force structure between 2003 and 2008, the period when much of the transition to the current modular force structure was taking place. The research team also made use of the Army's Structure and Manpower Allocation System (SAMAS) database and FMSWeb for data on manpower and organizational characteristics of the force. We concluded that the present force structure is superior to the earlier force structure in terms of its ability to contribute land power to current and reasonably foreseeable joint operations, its flexibility and versatility across the range of military operations, and its associated risks. The analysis also demonstrated that the modular force structure produced a larger tactical force with a larger number of more aggregated capabilities than its predecessor force structure.