STATEMENT BY
MAJOR
GENERAL WILLIAM L. BOND
DIRECTOR, FORCE DEVELOPMENT
UNITED STATES ARMY
ON TRANSFORMATION AND THE IMPACT ON MODERNIZATION
INTRODUCTION
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to appear before you today along with representatives from the Department of Defense and my fellow services. I am prepared to discuss with you the current Army plans for future modernization and how we see this as the primary means of supporting Army Transformation, which is currently well underway. We are aware of the ongoing Defense Strategy Review being conducted at the direction of the President and Secretary of Defense, and the Army leadership was briefed last week on the progress to date. We are confident that the current Modernization Strategy of the Army in support of Transformation is the correct path for the future, and we believe we can make any needed adjustments within the framework of that strategy.
Let me begin by thanking the Subcommittee as well as the House Armed Services Committee as a whole for your past support of the Army and its soldiers. In particular, your important support of the ongoing Army Transformation initiative begun by the Army leadership in fall 1999 has allowed the Army to begin concrete measures to implement Transformation and ensure the Army remains the world's preeminent land force well into the future. This Transformation will continue over the next several decades, and your continued approval and support will be essential throughout the process.
One of the chief reasons Army Transformation has enjoyed widespread support is a recognition of the complex and changing strategic environment that we face at the beginning of the 21st century. A transformed Army is designed to meet the challenges of this future operational environment by employing advanced warfighting concepts and using new equipment featuring significantly enhanced capabilities derived from leap- ahead technologies. The combination of new warfighting concepts and future combat systems will ensure the Army maintains full spectrum dominance and is capable of fighting and winning our Nation's wars - decisively.
A primary goal for our Army is to function as part of a joint team of services providing capabilities that will permit U.S. Armed Forces to maintain and preserve full spectrum military dominance in all likely scenarios for the future. As part of that team, the Army, along with the Marine Corps, provides the world's preeminent land forces-particularly the associated capabilities in the operational concept area of dominant maneuver-to support our regional Commanders-in-Chief (CINCs) in their missions and to fight and decisively win our Nation's wars. There is no doubt that military power alone is not sufficient to face the security challenges of today and tomorrow, but there is also no doubt that a national and international effort to secure and advance our interests cannot succeed without a prudent and ready capability to use military power. Security challenges know no boundaries, and the post-Cold War world presents its share of instability. We do enjoy, however, a period of relative strategic calm without a single major military threat to our vital interests. We also face a period of dramatic technological proliferation and advanced capabilities that offer both promise for us as well as future risks. This overall environment provides the Army an opportunity as well as the need to, as President Bush said, ".move beyond marginal improvements to harness new technologies that will support a new strategy."
NEAR AND FAR-TERM READINESS - MAINTAINING THE BALANCE
Many years of declining budgets, combined with downsizing in the 1990s, and an operational tempo that has increased threefold since the fall of the Berlin Wall, has caused the Army to sacrifice far-term readiness to pay for our non-negotiable, near-term readiness contract with the American people. The mismatch between requirements and resources forces us daily to prioritize among operations, force structure, readiness, and modernization. In the final analysis, the Army has had no other recourse than to mortgage its future, in terms of modernization and installation support, to maintain our near-term readiness. This imbalance between near and far-term readiness needs to be corrected. Our future readiness, along with the current readiness of our force and the related quality of life of our soldiers and their families, depend on creating the proper balance.
We have articulated a vision for the future that we believe addresses both our near and far-term readiness challenges and meets the demands of the future operational environment with a transformed, strategically responsive force ready to accomplish its mission throughout the spectrum of operations. This vision - The Army Vision - speaks to three critical elements: People, Readiness and Transformation. The latter of these, Army Transformation is the force developer's focus.
ARMY TRANSFORMATION
Army Transformation focuses its main effort on an endstate-the Objective Force. The Army plans to field the first Objective Force formations within this decade, and complete transition to the Objective Force a full decade earlier than previously planned. Two adjoining vectors support this main effort. The first is the Legacy Force, which is the current force in the Army, both light and heavy. We must allocate sufficient resources to reverse the downward spiral of readiness, and we plan to do this by modernizing and recapitalizing the Legacy Force. We will modernize by selectively procuring new systems and will recapitalize by returning remaining systems to a zero time/zero mile standard, thus restoring them to a like-new condition. The other adjoining vector is the Interim Force, comprised of six to eight brigade combat teams. These combat formations are designed to meet an immediate warfighting requirement by filling a capabilities gap at the mid-point in the spectrum of operations that neither our light nor heavy forces can fill at this time.
Transformation represents the essence of the Army's Vision and the necessary change required to make sure the Army of the future is prepared to meet expected requirements by fielding adaptable and highly capable units. The ability to harness the revolutionary advances in technology, coupled with an understanding of the changing nature of war and the overall strategic environment, creates the opportunity and imperative for the Army to make dramatic changes in Transformation. This Transformation will not occur overnight, but will require a period of up to 30 years to identify, develop, produce, and field new capabilities throughout the Army-Active and Reserve Components. Transformation will be a continuous process throughout this period, but its completion will be staggered because of the time needed to find, evaluate, and incorporate revolutionary technologies; the limitations in resources available to fund the effort; and the concurrent requirement to maintain the readiness of the Army at all times. This preservation of readiness dictates that adequate capabilities must be resident in the existing force throughout Transformation, even as those capabilities are gradually replaced over time as technology and resources permit.
MODERNIZATION IN SUPPORT OF TRANSFORMATION
The Army has developed both a Modernization and Investment Strategy to implement Transformation while at the same time assuring adequate readiness of the Army throughout this decades-long process. This Modernization Strategy is a coordinated and comprehensive approach of focusing all efforts and programs on building capabilities by equipping and organizing forces. This strategy is best described as one of "balanced modernization", which seeks to develop and field combat-capable units through an appropriate mix of selective fielding of new equipment (modernization), rebuilding and upgrading existing equipment (recapitalization) and preserving needed elements of current equipment (maintenance).
A key process that is integral to this balanced modernization is Unit Set Fielding. It is both a process and a strategy that modernizes the force through a family of systems approach to fielding. Unit Set Fielding involves the synchronization of individual system fielding plans into a single unit fielding schedule to streamline the fielding process. Unit Set Fielding represents an important shift in emphasis in the Army toward providing improved capabilities as a package to organizations and not just fielding isolated systems. As part of a coordinated array, this disciplined modernization strategy goes beyond just equipping Army units. It also incorporates the manning, sustaining, training, organization and installation requirements to ensure that an increased capability is being fielded, and not just pieces of equipment. The Army leadership has made their preference clear-we are even willing to field fewer individual systems in the future in order to ensure that more coordinated sets of systems and capabilities are incorporated into Army units, thereby significantly increasing overall force effectiveness.
More specifically, this balanced modernization strategy consists of the following major components and priorities: 1) science and technology efforts to enable timely fielding of the future Objective Force and, in particular, the Future Combat Systems (FCS), which will be the foundation of that force; 2) fielding of immediate operational capabilities in a more responsive yet still lethal force by organizing and equipping brigade-sized units outfitted with a series of new interim combat vehicles; and 3) maintaining and improving essential warfighting capabilities of the existing forces needed to preserve unquestionable military superiority for possible missions in the near term.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
To implement the Army's Modernization Strategy in support of Transformation, the Army prioritizes its investment of limited resources over time. Implementation of Transformation requires hard decisions and clear priorities among competing needs, and that is the essence of the Army's Investment Strategy. This strategy represents a paradigm shift and is characterized by a new emphasis on the development of systems and technologies that will support the future Army, or Objective Force.
To accomplish this, the Army has already made tough choices. Seven programs have been cancelled, two programs have been restructured, and a significant amount of planned spending between FY01 and FY05 has already been shifted internally to focus efforts and directly support our Transformation initiatives. Once again, this is not devoid of risks-many of these cancelled or restructured programs remain valid warfighting requirements, and their absence may place our soldiers at higher risk in combat.
OBJECTIVE FORCE AND FCS
The number one priority for future Army investment is the development of the FCS. The FCS is more than just a single combat platform. Rather, it is the collective, related family of systems that pull advanced technologies designed for future use to the present so that we provide desired combat capabilities early, with the ability to add planned enhancements over the life of the systems. The FCS is envisioned as a digitized land combat capability and system-of-systems, which will have a multi-mission role. It will include mounted and dismounted teams, manned and unmanned systems, and air and ground components-all linked within a network of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and fires. It will be capable of destroying an enemy by fires, maneuver, and assault, and is also capable of seizing and controlling terrain. Additionally, the FCS is intended to be as lethal and survivable as our current heavy forces, yet much more deployable and strategically responsive.
At this point in time, the Army investment is in the form of aggressive science & technology (S&T) efforts to identify and develop the leap-ahead technologies needed as the basis for revolutionary change and improvements in the Objective Force. Army S&T funding and efforts are partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to give the greatest impetus to this priority effort. The Army's goal is to identify the technological solutions in the 2003-2004 time frame to permit production and fielding of the FCS by the end of this decade. These are ambitious goals, and therefore the Army is devoting 96% of its total S&T funding directly to support programs needed to develop Objective Force technologies, with 37% of this amount specifically in support of the FCS. Overall, as an indication of the priority being placed on the future force, the Army is devoting 64% of its total Research, Development and Acquisition funding for the next six years to systems that are projected to be part of the Objective Force.
The Comanche reconnaissance and attack helicopter is the first Army Objective Force system to be fielded and is the air component of the FCS. The Comanche is a uniquely capable system that incorporates the latest technology available, especially in the area of digitization, sensors, and Low Observable technology advances. The Army Battle Command System (ABCS) is currently envisioned as the internetted network that will enable the C4ISR capabilities of the Objective Force. ABCS is the Army's component of the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) and is a complex system of systems that provides the mechanism to receive and transmit information among the Joint forces. This advanced capability will significantly advance the ability to expand situational awareness of the battlefield to every echelon of the force, thus dramatically improving the ability to increase the speed and effectiveness of all tactical decisions.
INTERIM FORCE
To fulfill an immediate operational requirement and provide a capability that does not presently exist, the Army is also in the process of organizing and equipping Interim Combat Brigade Teams (IBCTs) as the basis for an Interim Force to provide valuable capabilities to the regional CINCs as well as the National Command Authorities. These organizations will make use of existing off-the-shelf technologies along with more rapidly deployable equipment and structure to provide a responsive and capable force that effectively complements other existing forces. The IBCTs will offer great potential for use in a wide array of possible contingencies, ranging from peace enforcement missions such as in Bosnia and Kosovo to warfighting missions like those in Panama and Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
The equipment foundation of the IBCT will be a family of Interim Armored Vehicles (IAVs) which will be capable of being transported by C-130 type aircraft and also have enhanced characteristics for greater effectiveness in a variety of operational missions. Thus far, the Army has already reorganized two brigades at Fort Lewis into the IBCT structure, has awarded a contract for the initial procurement of the IAVs, and has made the necessary fiscal decisions, aided by Congressional support, to provide funding for fielding six IBCTs. Operational fielding of the IAVs begins in 2003, and the IBCTs are projected to remain an invaluable component of the Army for over twenty years.
LEGACY FORCE
While the development of the Objective Force and fielding of the Interim Force are critical components of the Army's Transformation and Modernization Strategy, they will take many years to implement fully. Throughout this period, the Army continues to balance its enduring commitment to readiness and its obligation to support any and all missions assigned by the National Command Authorities. The current or Legacy Force is the means of fulfilling that commitment to the Nation, and the Army's Modernization and Investment Strategies devote the resources required to maintain adequate readiness while the evolution of the Army to a technologically advanced force takes place over the coming decades. For the next fifteen to twenty years, the existing Legacy Force will represent the bulwark of the land forces of the United States, and they must be maintained in sufficient readiness and capability to perform all potential missions. The nucleus of this force will be the Counterattack Corps, which is based upon the Army's III Corps in Fort Hood, Texas. This Corps will receive the highest priority for modernization efforts in order to ensure its peak readiness and capability for warfighting missions. As a result, it will receive modernized systems such as the M1A2SEP Abrams tank, the M2A3 Bradley, Crusader, as well as other new or upgraded systems in a variety of areas. III Corps consists of both Active and Reserve Components, all of which will be modernized to ensure that the Counterattack Corps is ready for any and all missions. While all of the systems planned for the modernization and recapitalization of the Counterattack Corps are important, the Army believes the Crusader is crucial to our ability to decisively win the Nation's wars.
The Legacy Force is an aging one due to the impact of a skipped modernization cycle that was one of the results of the "peace dividend" associated with the end of the Cold War. Today, a majority of our major combat systems are approaching the end of their expected service life. Many of our major systems are, or soon will be, older than the soldiers who are taking them into combat. Along with this aging comes an associated increase to operations and support costs of older equipment, hence fewer resources for modernization. As this trend continues, we find ourselves in a downward spiral of devoting more and more resources to maintaining aging equipment, with commensurate fewer dollars to procure new equipment to meet emerging national security requirements. The end result is that the Army must devote sufficient resources to preserve the combat capability and superiority of our forces as a strategic hedge during the period of Transformation. The Army's Modernization and Investment Strategies accomplish this by supporting a combination of very limited but critical modernization programs, rebuilding and upgrading currently fielded systems to extend their useful life, and, finally, maintaining those other systems needed for continued readiness of the force.
In the area of limited modernization programs, some systems warrant emphasis as significant contributors to the quality and effectiveness of the Legacy Force. The first of these is the Crusader, a fully digital and networked fire support system that provides major increases in the range, accuracy, rate of fire, lethality, mobility, and survivability over the current M109 series of cannon artillery. This advanced system is also a technology carrier for future systems, and it will represent a major qualitative enhancement for the Counterattack Corps, the real muscle of the Legacy Force.
Another new system of particular importance to the Legacy Force, is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which is a wheeled version of battle-tested and proven Multiple Launcher Rocket System (MLRS) that is transportable by C-130 aircraft. This more deployable version will provide tremendous early-entry firepower and flexibility and will be capable of using the entire range of MLRS rockets and missiles, including the longer range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) munitions. This system will also continue to serve in the future as an important means of responsive fire support for both Interim and Objective Force units.
The rebuild and upgrade of key existing systems is referred to as recapitalization and is a significant and essential component of the overall Modernization Strategy. Recapitalization expenditures improve safety, supportability, readiness and warfighting capabilities and have the additional benefit of reducing operations and support costs that otherwise would be far higher. By focusing our recapitalization efforts on critical warfighting systems, the Army can bridge and extend its capabilities until Objective Force units are fielded in the future. The recapitalization process, while addressing selected and critical systems, is focused on building combat capable units. Like the Unit Set Fielding construct, the Army will recapitalize its fleet unit by unit to ensure maximum warfighting capability. Although the Army recognizes it may not have sufficient resources to recapitalize all of our fleets to the same capability level, it is our intent to seek sufficient resources to ensure we upgrade or rebuild to a zero time/zero mile standard as many Active and Reserve Component units as practical.
PROGRESS TO DATE-SUMMARY
The Army has made great strides in a relatively short time in implementing the Transformation process announced by the Army leadership in October 1999. Tough decisions have been made to reprioritize resources to support new priorities. The Army has taken aggressive steps to accelerate essential S&T efforts to identify revolutionary new technologies for our future Army. Two brigades have been reorganized at Fort Lewis, Washington as the foundation for the new IBCTs, and they are presently undergoing training to develop the appropriate warfighting tactics, techniques and procedures for their missions. The Army has awarded a contract for a family of IAVs to equip these units and provide invaluable new capabilities for use by regional CINCs and the National Command Authorities. Finally, and very importantly, the Army has made the needed decisions to maintain and extend the combat superiority and readiness of the current force until the future force is completely fielded. Congress and the Department of Defense have responded positively by providing both strong support in principle as well as essential additional resources to help establish critical momentum. Transformation is no longer a future goal; it is a process in motion.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
The Congressional Research Service published a report for Congress earlier this
year on "Army Transformation and Modernization", and that report accurately described the components of Transformation as well as many of the efforts underway to implement it. This statement today is intended to reinforce and add to the understanding of what the Army is doing now and planning to do in the future to make Transformation a reality. Specific programmatic details are intentionally avoided here, though obviously they are essential elements of the Modernization Strategy. Those details will be contained in the Army's portion of FY02 President's Budget, which will be finalized following completion of the ongoing Defense Strategy Review and its associated guidance to the Services.
The Army has initiated the Transformation process and is implementing a new Modernization and Investment Strategy to create momentum for the required success of this endeavor. The vast majority of S&T funding is being devoted exclusively to developing the new technologies for the future Army, with the FCS as the key focal point in this priority effort. The requirements, however, for adequately funding the necessary transitional phase of fielding interim combat brigades as well as continuing to maintain, recapitalize and modernize the existing Legacy Force stretch available resources. Maintaining sufficient readiness of the existing force while focusing on transforming to a new Army to meet future needs requires a robust, steady funding stream. Proceeding without this funding involves either the assumption of greater risk in the readiness of the Army to meet current requirements, or the costly delay in the Transformation to a more responsive and dominant Army of the future.
Within confined resources, the Army is doing well in undertaking a path of revolutionary change. Continued support will be required to preserve the momentum of Transformation while simultaneously preserving the Army's capability to fulfill its enduring responsibility and commitment to the Nation to deliver decisive victory on the ground when our national interests are threatened.
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Washington, D.C. 20515
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