Contraints Lead to Out of the Box Thinking

Lockheed Martin's K-Max

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has unveiled a new budget plan to reduce troop levels from 570,000 to pre-World War II levels of 440,000. The army has not been that small since… well… before World War II! While Secretary Hagel expects that this is going to lead to a more agile and capable Army, the Army is scrambling to try to find a more efficient and cost effective way of completing its mission. As Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III stated at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on February 26th, is still critical for the Army to maintain peak readiness even under less manpower and a smaller budget. One of the ways the Army is seeking to succeed is by encouraging out of the box thinking for a smaller more adaptable Army that can deploy to a multitude of environments. Part of this idea is drawing more attention to versatile equipment such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) which can operate in a series of geographical locations. Another way is through the use of unmanned vehicles such as Lockheed Martin’s K-Max.

The K-Max has had previous missions in which it moved 3.7 million pounds of equipment in theater, removing 750 manned vehicles from the threat of IEDs and eliminating 40,000 hours in personnel exposure. On March 1, 2014, Lockheed Martin won a contract from the U.S. Army Robotics technology Consortium. Based on this contract, it will conduct a scenario to transport an unmanned gyrocam- equipped Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) via sling load into a simulated area deemed too risky for human presence. That would make this cooperation between unmanned air and ground vehicles of this size, controlled beyond line-of-sight, an industry first. This kind of technology may also enable the military to sustain Special Operation Forces in remote areas that do not have an infrastructure for transportation, expanding the military’s deployment capabilities and decreasing its footprint wherever it does chose to deploy.

Unmanned Squad Mission Support System

With the growth of technology, there is a greater future for more unmanned vehicles, enabling the army to decrease its tooth. However, while the tooth needed to accomplish risky missions and the tail required to sustain these forces may be reduced, the tail required to generate and provide maintenance on unmanned vehicles might increase. This will also require the Army  to increase the time and expenses in training to produce a force with the expertise to operate unmanned vehicles.

There is also the possibility that this great of a reduction in the Army and its budget may create a logistical snowball, in which the mistakes of the past cause the Army to overcompensate in the future. The Army has consistently struggled to find a happy medium between over and under preparing. By significantly decreasing the size of the Army, we are creating what Henry Eccles would call a Buck Rogers force which is highly trained and disciplined. Yet, in the event of another conflict, the Army may be forced to quickly move to a Joe Doaks Army, rushing to increase the size of its fighting force and overcompensating on the tail required to sustain the increase in troops. We can only hope that with the technology the Army is implementing, it will be able to maintain a small force and still be effective in a time of war.