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Land Warfare

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

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
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
Research Brief

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

The Challenges for Democracies Facing Asymmetric Conflicts

In this podcast, Admiral Amichay Ayalon and Brian Michael Jenkins discuss lessons learned in using military force in response to terrorism, and their legal, ethical, and moral implications.

Dec 4, 2014
Blog

7 Lessons from 13 Years of War

RAND senior international policy analyst Linda Robinson addressed the annual Army USA Conference in Washington to present new research that distills lessons learned from the U.S. experience in the last 13 years of war.

Oct 16, 2014
Report

Lessons from Past 13 Years of War Can Improve Future Strategy

Lessons from the past 13 years of war provide insight into the future operating environment and identify critical requirements for land and special operations forces to collaborate successfully with various partners in future conflicts.

Oct 14, 2014
Report

Report

Assessing Locally Focused Stability Operations

This report describes how to best measure and assess the progress and outcomes of locally focused stability operations -- the missions, tasks, and activities that create stability by building security, governance, and development in a community.

Aug 21, 2014
Research Brief

Research Brief

Best Practices for Assessing Locally Focused Stability Operations

Locally focused stability operations (LFSO) to build security, development, and governance are difficult to assess because of the complexity of operational environments. This brief outlines creation of an assessment plan for a notional LFSO scenario.

Aug 21, 2014
Report

Report

Assessment of Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) Training Activity

This report assesses whether the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization's programs and functions may be duplicative with those of the military Services, U.S. Special Operations Command, and other agencies.

Dec 11, 2013
Report

Report

Understanding Why a Ground Combat Vehicle That Carries Nine Dismounts Is Important to the Army

Explains why is it important to the Army that any new infantry fighting vehicle be capable of carrying no fewer than nine soldiers who can be available for dismounted operations.

Jul 11, 2013
Report

Report

The Army's Role in Overcoming Anti-Access and Area Denial Challenges

The U.S. armed forces must be prepared to confront a wide range of anti-access and area denial challenges in future operations. This report makes the case for and proposes a joint response to the most serious of these threats posed by adversaries.

Jun 17, 2013
Report

Report

Ground Forces for a Rapidly Employable Joint Task Force: First-Week Capabilities for Short-Warning Conflicts

This monograph is a "think piece" about rapidly deployable future ground forces that would be used in time-urgent joint-task-force missions.

Jan 1, 2000

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