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Land Warfare

Commentary

Russian Mercenaries in Great-Power Competition: Strategic Supermen or Weak Link?

The weaknesses within Russian mercenary forces and within the Russian state in relation to press-ganged youths, conscripts, and casualties may offer opportunities for exploitation in great-power competition. These broader weaknesses in Russian national will to fight could be examined to identify more ways to prevent Russia from aggressively undermining Western democracy.

Mar 9, 2021
Report

Army Fires Capabilities for 2025 and Beyond

To assist the Army in its reorientation toward conventional combat operations, the authors of this report identify capability gaps in the field artillery and actions that the Army should consider taking from today to roughly 2030.

Dec 3, 2019
Research Brief

The Battle for Baghdad: Institutionalizing Army Lessons for Urban Combat

This brief recounts the U.S. Army's efforts in the Iraq War, especially in Baghdad, and offers lessons learned and recommendations to enable leaders and soldiers to be better prepared in future conflicts.

Jul 3, 2019
Research Brief

The Outlook for Russia's Growing Military Power

Russia's military forces have been improving since 2008, enabling operations in Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and Syria. How will Russian capabilities continue to develop over the next 20 years? And what will this mean for U.S.-Russian competition and for the U.S. Army?

Jun 18, 2019
Report

The Future of the Russian Military: Russia's Ground Combat Capabilities and Implications for U.S.-Russia Competition

Researchers analyze societal, political, economic, and demographic factors that undergird Russian military power. They also make projections about how Russian ground combat capabilities will evolve in the future and how the U.S. Army can respond.

Jun 18, 2019
Report

Lessons Learned from the Battle for Baghdad

A review of the U.S. Army's efforts in the Iraq War, especially in Baghdad, offers insights and recommendations that could help leaders avoid the same mistakes in future conflicts. One important lesson is that DoD war plans need to include actions to ensure long-term stability.

Jun 12, 2019
Report

Opportunities for European collaboration in armoured vehicles

RAND Europe examined the scope for collaboration between European states in armoured vehicles (tracked, wheeled and protected transport vehicles) throughout their life-cycle, in support of the European Defence Agency (EDA).

Jan 23, 2019
Tool

Four Problems on the Korean Peninsula

North Korean provocations and threats have created an unstable environment on the Korean Peninsula. The United States and its allies must attend to four interconnected problems. Failure to prepare will increase the chance of miscalculation and constrain options to reduce the likelihood or gravity of future conflicts.

Jan 11, 2019
Report

Assessing Will to Fight at the Military Unit Level

Will to fight is vital to understanding war, but it is often ignored or misunderstood. A model of unit will to fight that can be applied to ground combat units of any scale can help U.S. military leaders better assess partner and adversary forces and incorporate will to fight in their planning.

Sep 20, 2018
Report

Learning from Past U.S. Army–Air Force Collaborations

The Army and the Air Force are developing the concept of multi-domain battle to better coordinate air and ground forces to meet shared challenges. Lessons from past efforts show that to succeed, multi-domain battle will have to address the fundamental questions of each service's culture and deeply held views about warfighting.

Sep 13, 2018
Report

How Russia's Military Has Evolved

The Russian armed forces are not like the Soviet Army in size, depth, or global ideological aspirations. But Russia has demonstrated its military competence and operational flexibility in Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and Syria.

Dec 7, 2017
Report

The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Ground Interventions: Identifying Trends, Characteristics, and Signposts

This report uses an original data set of U.S. ground interventions to identify factors that determine where and when the United States is most likely to intervene militarily.

Oct 12, 2017
Report

How to Counter Aggression When Shielded by A2/AD Capabilities

Land-based, multi-domain anti-access/area denial forces can play a role in helping the United States and its allies and partners deter or defeat aggression in the western Pacific, European littoral areas, and the Persian Gulf.

May 22, 2017
Report

Assessing Tracked and Wheeled Vehicles for Australian Mounted Close Combat Operations: Lessons Learned in Recent Conflicts, Impact of Advanced Technologies, and System-Level Implications

We assess trade-offs between tracked and wheeled combat vehicles by exploring lessons learned from conflict in various parts of the world, the implications of advanced technologies, and system-level implications of the different classes of vehicles.

Apr 5, 2017
Commentary

A Brief History of the Assault Rifle

The assault rifle is a class of weapon that emerged in the middle of the last century to meet the needs of combat soldiers on the modern battlefield, where the level of violence had reached such heights that an entirely new way of fighting had emerged.

Jun 30, 2016
Commentary

Artillery Returns to the Battlefield in the War Against ISIL

Together with increased air attacks, the Syrians and their Russian advisors seek to revitalize combined arms forces, and artillery is critical to their vision of such forces.

Jan 11, 2016
Commentary

How to Lose a Civil War: Lessons for Afghanistan and Syria

Recently, both Syria and Afghanistan have seen battles that demonstrate anew the potential risks of seeking to defend exposed positions. Syrian leaders seem to have recognized that there are limits to the amount of territory its military can hold. Afghanistan's leaders would be well advised to come to the same conclusion.

Sep 10, 2015
Commentary

Land Power and a Third Offset Through a Wide-Angle Lens

The so-called “third offset” is intended to guide U.S. defense strategy. The right way to view it is as part of a comprehensive vision for competitive advantage, one in which land power, often minimized in offset analyses, can play a central role.

May 21, 2015
Research Brief

Lessons from 13 Years of War Point to a Better U.S. Strategy

This brief summarizes seven lessons from the past 13 years of war and identifies critical requirements for land forces, special operations forces, and partners to collaborate successfully.

Dec 10, 2014
Multimedia

Lessons from 13 Years of War

In this podcast, Linda Robinson discusses how U.S. conventional and special operations forces have worked closely together during the past 13 years and how special operations forces could be used in current conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

Dec 10, 2014

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