Armed Forces News

Even though the U.S. has a sufficiently large force to fight a single war, it remains unprepared for other key challenges, according to a report by the RAND Corp. In a recent report, RAND found that:

* The Pentagon’s approach that entails fighting two regional wars simultaneously is flawed. “This standard now bears little relationship to what the administration and the nation expect U.S. armed forces to be prepared to do,” the report stated.

* Russia and China are posing significant challenges upon important U.S. national interests.

* North Korea’s increased inventory of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles poses threats for which the U.S. is not adequately prepared.

* Even with the significant diminishment of al Qaida and other terrorist groups, the U.S. and its allies should expect a prolonged and continuing struggle with Islamic fundamentalist factions.

* Mitigating these contingencies requires a U.S. force that is better trained and equipped, but not necessarily larger in strength.

The report also offered several recommendations, placing greater priority on modernization of systems and concepts that would:

* Find, damage and/or destroy mobile enemy assets in areas that are protected by air-defense systems.

* Facilitate quick suppression and neutralization of “advanced air defense arrays.”

* Increase resiliency of forward land and sea bases, so that they could continue to be effective after they are attacked repeatedly.

* Increased resiliency in space, particularly in regards to positioning, timing, navigation, reconnaissance and communications.

* Prepositioning and forward-stationing of assets into potential combat areas, to offset “existing imbalances and to support more rapid, large-scale operations.”

RAND estimates that the Pentagon could achieve such goals and avoid strength cuts by increasing defense spending by $20 billion to $40 billion per year “on a sustained basis.”