Marching Under Darkening Skies
The American Military and the Impending Urban Operations Threat
Recent history provides evidence that U.S. participation in future urban military operations is inevitable; past events reflect that these operations are extraordinary in their demands on ground and air forces. This report draws on a review of relevant literature, service doctrine, training, and emerging technologies to assess U.S. military preparedness to undertake military operations on urbanized terrain (MOUT). Its concluding pages offer observations and preliminary recommendations addressing identified shortfalls. These recommendations include: (1) The four services should adopt Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-35.3 as the initial foundation for a more comprehensive doctrine on joint MOUT; (2) the U.S. Army Center for Lessons Learned should publish a MOUT lessons-learned bulletin; (3) include realistic consideration of operations in urban environments during service and joint exercises; (4) include MOUT considerations in the development of new technologies; (5) provide cadre at urban operations training sites; and (6) provide for complete instrumentation of selected Combat Training Center MOUT facilities.
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Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 43
- List Price: $20.00
- Price: $16.00
- ISBN/EAN: 0-8330-2658-5
- Document Number: MR-1007-A
- Year: 1998
- Series: Monograph Reports
Contents
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
A Review of Selected Urban Operations Literature
Chapter Three
The Status of Doctrine
Chapter Four
Mout Training
Chapter Five
Technology and Mout
Chapter Six
Observations
Chapter Seven
Recommendations
Chapter Eight
Conclusion
This research was sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development, and Acquisition and by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans and was conducted in the Force Development and Technology Program of the RAND Arroyo Center.
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