Journal Article
The Looming Crisis in Defense Planning
Oct 1, 2011
Looming Discontinuities in U.S. Military Strategy and Defense Planning
Colliding RMAs Necessitate a New Strategy
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In this think piece, the authors argue that the United States is entering a period of discontinuity in its defense planning, something that future historians may see as a planning crisis. The causes are technology diffusion that is leveling aspects of the playing field militarily, geostrategic changes, and the range of potential adversaries. The authors see these as leading to (1) increasingly difficult force projection in some important circumstances; (2) a related block obsolescence of U.S. forces and concepts of operations; (3) the need for a new grand strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, where China is now a major regional power; and (4) the United States having to deal with a demanding mix of "complex operations" (e.g., counterinsurgency and stabilization) and traditional challenges. Obstacles exist to taking on these challenges. These include severe economic issues and the absence of consensus on the nature of next-generation forces and posturing. The paper presents three illustrative models for future concepts of operations, but all are very challenging. They and others will need to be explored with considerable innovation and experimentation. Finally, the papers argue for a comprehensive rebalancing of national security strategy, not just a rebalancing of military capabilities.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Diagnosis: An Environment with New Demands
Chapter Three
Future Capability Needs and Possible Future Directions
Chapter Four
Perceiving the Way Ahead, Darkly
Chapter Five
Conclusions
Research conducted by
The research described in this report was prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted within the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by OSD, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.
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