Slide 4 of 20
Notes:
Before we look at solutions, we need to understand the potential threats to our national security interests.
The global proliferation of weapons technologies and military hardware poses ever increasing challenges to regional stability.
Potential adversaries have watched as the U.S has conducted operations since Desert Storm and they have learned how to challenge us in asymmetric ways rather than confront us head-on in a conventional fight. They will seek to create conditions where an enemy’s relative advantage cannot be applied, is degraded or is neutralized.
Future adversaries will range the gamut from paramilitary forces to conventional mechanized forces. In equipment he will be able to buy high quality weapons, night vision capability, and information technologies. At the high end he may have weapons of mass destruction and sophisticated modern armor such as custom made T-80 UM2 tanks capable of defeating most western armor for the next 10-15 years.
His tactics may be unconventional and he will seek to exploit the use of cities, built-up areas, and complex terrain in order to negate our superior precision engagement capabilities. He will use dispersed, decentralized and distributed operations to keep his forces from being targeted. We expect that he will conduct sophisticated ambushes to achieve shock value and exploit the constraints of US cultural biases.
Our challenge is to response swiftly and decisively to prevent, contain, stabilize, or terminate a small scale contingency before it can escalate while also being dominant for a major theater war scenario.
