Military

DATE=7/12/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ARMY / PACIFIC (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-278170

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S Army has identified more units that will be converted into highly-mobile combat teams designed as the service's rapid-deployment force of the future. As V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida reports, there is a heavy emphasis on units capable of responding to crises in the Asia-Pacific region.

TEXT: Bush administration defense planners have made clear their interest in shifting the military's focus away from Europe to Asia.

Now, the U-S Army has made clear it is responding. The two units already in training as so-called interim brigade combat teams are located in the northwestern state of Washington. Among the four additional units designated this week for similar training are infantry elements stationed in Alaska and Hawaii.

Army Secretary Thomas White says the focus on the Asia-Pacific region is designed to improve the Army's strategic mobility and to get a lot of combat power faster to regions of concern in the Pacific.

/// WHITE ACTUALITY ///

We don't have beyond Korea a great deal of forward stationing of forces so if we are going to conduct business in southwest Asia or other parts of the Pacific rim, we're going to have to ship forces in there to get it done just like we did in Desert Storm [Gulf war].

/// END ACTUALITY ///

General Eric Shinseki is the Army's chief of staff. He makes clear all the units are designed to be worldwide available - whether those in the western United States or the additional units located in the southern state of Louisiana and the eastern state of Pennsylvania.

But he says there is an intentional emphasis on Asia.

/// SHINSEKI ACTUALITY ///

If you look at our experience coming out of the Cold War, we were very much postured forward in Europe and we continue to be that way. This is adding a little balance and looking at the importance and the growing interest and challenges in the Asia-Pacific theater.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

The Army says the first of these new combat brigades will be fully operational sometime in 2003, once they receive newly-designed armored vehicles.

The new vehicles are intended to be relatively lightweight and capable of being deployed with troops by aircraft. The armored vehicles will come in a variety of configurations, including troop carrier, artillery units, and so on.

The development of the new units reflects a policy decision to move the Army away from heavier, tank-oriented forces less capable of responding quickly to global crises. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/JWH