The Army has initiated two programs designed to transform itself from a force focused on fighting the Cold War to one better designed to face the challenges of the 21st century. Those two programs, the Modularity Initiative and the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, would change the way the Army is organized and equipped, respectively. This study considers the near- and long-term implications of those two programs. It also examines three alternatives for modernizing the Army¿s combat forces using modified versions of the FCS program and estimates the costs and savings of those options as well as their effects on the Army¿s ability to introduce new technologies into its combat brigades. ¿An objective, impartial analysis.¿ Charts and tables.

Addresses the question of whether the Army's current composition of almost equal numbers of active-duty and reserve soldiers is well suited to the service's current role of fighting regional conflicts and taking part in peacekeeping operations. Examines several alternative approaches for meeting the Army's force requirements, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative with those of the current Army and the Army's plan to reorganize the National Guard. Charts and tables.

I dette amerikanske studie vurderes det konventionelle styrkeforhold mellem NATO- og WAPA-styrker i Europa med henblik på sammensætning og udrustning af amerikanske hærstyrker i fremtiden. For at imødegå WAPAs konventionelle overlegenhed foreslås forskellige NATO-alternativer.

A CBO study. Assesses the competitiveness of nuclear power compared to other sources of new capacity to generate electricity.

In today's environment of rapidly evolving conflicts, the Army's goal is to have units that have the combat power of heavy units but that can be transported anywhere in the world in a matter of days. To address concerns about the armored vehicle fleet's aging and the difficulties involved in transporting it as well as to equip the Army more suitably to conduct operations overseas on short notice using forces based in the United States the service created the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program in 2000. A major modernization effort, the program is designed in part to develop and purchase vehicles to replace those now in the heavy forces; the new vehicles would be much lighter, thereby easing the deployment of units equipped with them. In the analysis presented in this report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) examined the current status of the Army's fleet of armored vehicles and assessed the speed of deployment of the service's heavy forces. It also evaluated the FCS program, considering the program's costs as well as its advantages and disadvantages and comparing it with several alternative plans for modernizing the Army's heavy forces.