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Brave new world

Emerging

insights from

force XXI

Major Stephen G McCarty examines how the US Army is preparing to meet the challenges of the next century.

"The US Army will redesign its operating forces to field a total army force that is capable of meeting our nation's 21st century challenges." In March 1994 General Sullivan, then US Army Chief of Staff, articulated this mission to the United States Army to begin the process known as Force XXI. The eventual result of Force XXI will result in the total redesign of operating forces and the sustaining base. Force XXI will ensure that the army will dominate the challenges of the 21st century across the full spectrum of operations ranging from general war to humanitarian relief. Force XXI has taken concepts and transformed them into experimental systems that ultimately will result in fielding a digitised force by 2000.
The Force XXI campaign plan consists of three axis: joint venture, army digitisation and the institutional army. The main goal of joint venture is the redesign of the tactical army and it is the focus of a series of advanced war-fighting experiments (AWE). The army digitisation office leads the digitisation effort by integrating material systems and obtaining the necessary resources, and the institutional army axis examines how the training and school systems must change in order to support the other axis. Since 1994 the US Army has conducted a series of advanced warfighting experiments that culminated with the Task Force experiment in March 1997 and the Division experiment in November 1997.

The capability to look deep across the battlefield is greater than ever before

The experiments test the hypothesis that if digitisation were implemented across all battlefield operating systems then enhancements in lethality, survivability and tempo will emerge. The initiatives tested in the experiment will be analysed and a determination made to invest, divest or experiment further. Many insights emerged from the Task Force AWE and the process is ongoing for the AWE division. These insights emerged across the spectrum of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command's domains of doctrine, training, leader development, organisation, material and soldiers. The domains are an integral part of the requirement determination process for the future army.
In the domain of doctrine, a commander must deal with an expanding battlespace.

The experimental force faced many challenges in training.

The capability to look deep across the battlefield is greater than ever before with the availability of systems such as the tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the joint surveillance target attack radar system (JSTARS). A commander also must deal with a non-linear and non contiguous battlefield. The increased tempo will result in forces that are spread over a greater distance than previously was the case. The commander must be able to use the technology available to achieve information dominance on this battlefield and he also must be able to exploit this dominance. He must be prepared for asymmetric force ratios and no longer think in traditional terms.

New challenges
The experimental force faced many challenges in training. It had to learn how to use and maintain a host of new equipment while at the same time maintain proficiency in warfighting tasks. Digitisation will require an enormous effort to train units and soldiers in new tactics, techniques and procedures. Maximum use of digital training devices will be required.
To work with the volume of information that digitisation provides, new functions within organisations will be required. Information management and collection will require cells at all levels. No longer will staffs be stovepiped in organisation, they will be designed to allow lateral movement of information. Leaders will require training on accelerated decision making. With the availability of information staff become more critical in acting as a filter.

The US army will have to train soldiers in both the old and new systems

Shared information now can be exploited quickly, for example targeting information formerly relayed by artillery channels now is available laterally and vertically. Information can be acted on to shape operations decisively. A new, accelerated way to test and develop new equipment is the result of Force XXI.
Systems are no longer developed independently over a period of many years with many phases of development and testing. Concepts are turned into prototypes quickly and are placed in the hands of users. Borrowing the concept of spiral development from the software world, contractors worked hand in hand with soldiers at the Central Technical Support facility at Fort Hood, Texas. The contractors resolved problems on the spot and incorporated many suggestions from users. They also solved many interoperability problems between systems to make the tactical internet a reality. Many of the new systems involved in the AWE were successful.

The javelin antitank missile increased the lethality of the light infantry, the Apache Longbow increased the ability of the commander to shape the deep battle and situational awareness from the Applique systems enhanced the battlefield picture for the commander as well as for the soldier.

Soldiers enter the Information age
Some of the greatest challenges lie in the domain of soldiers. In an all-volunteer force, soldiers with the ability to master the skills required by the new technology will have to be recruited and trained. Such soldiers will have to be retained after they learn information age skills that are valuable in the civilian marketplace. New career fields will have to be developed for information management. In some respects the new soldiers will make the transition easy because they are being raised in a computerised world. They are much more likely to trust an icon on a computer screen than the previous generation of soldiers. For many years the US Army will have to train soldiers in both the old and new systems. This will place an additional load on the training and school base.
The whole Force XXI process is a new way of doing business. Achieving the desired future army involves modifying current doctrine, training, leader development, organisation, material and soldier structure. Material and combat developers must take an integrated approach to implementing new technology. No longer are weapons systems developed over a period of between five and ten years. In today's rapidly changing world Force XXI is moving from concept to reality within just three years. The insights learned from this process will be incorporated into the fielding of the US Army's first digitised division by 2000 and first digitised corps by 2004

New career fields will have to be developed for information management

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