Preparing U.S. Land Forces to Fight in an Era of Strategic and Technological Disruption

Project on the Future of Land Power CSIS Working Paper No. 2
Photo: Capt. Christopher Gabayan/DVIDS

Photo: Capt. Christopher Gabayan/DVIDS

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U.S. land forces are modernizing amid rapid strategic and technological disruption, as unmanned systems, stand-off precision strikes, and contested logistics challenge long-standing assumptions about how to prevail on the battlefield. Building on the attributes of land power identified in the first report in this series, this working paper evaluates Army and Marine Corps modernization across three areas: force structure and organization, recruitment and training, and acquisition.

The Marine Corps has committed to a defined operational vision through Force Design, accepting hard divest-to-invest trade-offs to do so. The Army’s “How the Army Fights” guidance marks a significant step toward linking doctrine and design, but the service must still clarify roles at each echelon and make difficult choices about global posture. The Army also serves as a central enabler of the joint force, carrying a disproportionate share of joint executive agency responsibilities, bearing primary responsibility for logistics and sustainment, and playing a vital role in air defense. Both services contribute to security cooperation with allies and partners, and both are contending with the fiscal legacy of post–Cold War and post–Global War on Terror drawdowns, the competing demands of personnel and procurement spending, and a difficult recruiting environment, all while integrating new technology into training. Their most pressing acquisition needs are deeper munitions stockpiles, faster adoption of unmanned and autonomous systems, and a tighter feedback loop with industry.

As a precursor to this document, please see our initial working paper, The Value of U.S. Land Power, which examines the utility and relevance of U.S. land forces in the contemporary global security environment and discusses the inherent advantages and limits of land forces as part of the joint force.

This report is made possible by the generous support of the Association of the United States Army.

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Defense and Security
Jerry McGinn

Jerry McGinn

Director, Center for the Industrial Base and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department
Alek Jovovic

Alek Jovovic

Deputy Director, Center for the Industrial Base and Senior Fellow, Defense and Security Department

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