Making the Soldier Decisive
on Future Battlefields

Committee on Making the Soldier Decisive on Future Battlefields

Board on Army Science and Technology

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS    500 Fifth Street, NW    Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by Contract No. W911-NF-11-C-0099 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Department of Defense. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

Front cover photograph courtesy of U.S. Army

International Standard Book Number -13: 978-0-309-28453-0
International Standard Book Number -10: 0-309-28453-8

Copyright 2013 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

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COMMITTEE ON MAKING THE SOLDIER DECISIVE ON FUTURE
BATTLEFIELDS

BOARD ON ARMY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ALAN H. EPSTEIN, Chair, Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Connecticut

DAVID M. MADDOX, Vice Chair, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia

DUANE ADAMS, Carnegie Mellon University (retired), Arlington, Virginia

ILESANMI ADESIDA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

RAJ AGGARWAL, University of Iowa, Coralville

EDWARD C. BRADY, Strategic Perspectives, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida

L. REGINALD BROTHERS, BAE Systems, Arlington, Virginia

JAMES CARAFANO, Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.

W. PETER CHERRY, NAE Independent Consultant, Ann Arbor, Michigan

EARL H. DOWELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

RONALD P. FUCHS, Independent Consultant, Seattle, Washington

W. HARVEY GRAY, Independent Consultant, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

CARL GUERRERI, Electronic Warfare Associates, Inc., Herndon, Virginia

JOHN J. HAMMOND, Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired), Fairfax, Virginia

RANDALL W. HILL, JR., University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Marina del Rey

MARY JANE IRWIN, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

ROBIN L. KEESEE, Independent Consultant, Fairfax, Virginia

ELLIOT D. KIEFF, NAS/IOM Channing Laboratory, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

LARRY LEHOWICZ, Quantum Research International, Arlington, Virginia

WILLIAM L. MELVIN, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Smyrna

ROBIN MURPHY, Texas A&M University, College Station

SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas

RICHARD R. PAUL, Independent Consultant, Bellevue, Washington

JEAN D. REED, Independent Consultant, Arlington, Virginia

LEON E. SALOMON, Independent Consultant, Gulfport, Florida

JONATHAN M. SMITH, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

MARK J.T. SMITH, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

MICHAEL A. STROSCIO, University of Illinois, Chicago

JOSEPH YAKOVAC, LTG, U.S. Army (retired), JVM LLC, Hampton, Virginia

Staff

BRUCE A. BRAUN, Director

CHRIS JONES, Financial Associate

JAMES MYSKA, Senior Research Associate

DEANNA P. SPARGER, Program Administrative Coordinator

JOSEPH PALMER, Senior Program/Project Assistant

Preface

This study resulted from recognition by the U.S. Army that a great disparity exists between the decisive overmatch capability, relative to prospective adversaries, of major U.S. weapon systems (such as tanks, fighter aircraft, or nuclear submarines) and the relative vulnerability of dismounted soldiers when they are operating in small, detached units (squads). The increased reliance in recent Army deployments on soldiers operating in these tactical small units (TSUs), as well as the expanding responsibilities of ground forces in the future for missions that go beyond traditional combat, provided the incentive to ask what could be done to give dismounted soldiers and TSUs a credible degree of decisive overmatch in any of the anticipated future operational environments.

I would like to thank the Committee on Making the Soldier Decisive on Future Battlefields for its tenacity and dedication in interviewing numerous experts (including recently deployed Army enlisted soldiers and officers), assessing the pertinent issues, and developing recommendations to address the many demands of its statement of task from the Army sponsor (see Summary of this report). The committee in turn is grateful to the many Army and Department of Defense personnel, both civilian and military, who provided much of the information on which this report is based. We particularly thank the veterans of recent combat deployments who shared with us their hopes for those who will follow them, as well as their insights, frustrations, and triumphs in the trying circumstances of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The committee and I also greatly appreciate the support and assistance of the National Research Council (NRC) staff, which ably assisted the committee in its fact-finding activities and in production of the report. In particular, I thank the staff of the NRC’s Board on Army Science and Technology (BAST), who successfully organized the attendance of committee members and guests at major meetings in multiple locations and maintained a secure Internet forum for the members to accumulate study information, collaborate on report inputs, share expertise, and develop the consensus for the report we present here.

The study was conducted under the auspices of the BAST, a unit of the NRC’s Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, established in 1982 at the request of the United States Army. The BAST brings broad military, industrial, and academic scientific, engineering, and management expertise to bear on technical challenges of importance to senior Army leaders. The BAST is not a study committee; rather, it deliberates on study concepts and statements of task for the expert committees that are formed under rigorous NRC procedures to conduct a particular study. The BAST discusses potential study topics and tasks, ensures study project planning and execution in conformance with NRC

Although the Board members are listed in the front pages of the report, with the exception of any members who were nominated and appointed to the study committee, they were not asked to endorse the committee’s findings or recommendations or to review final drafts of the report before its release. The findings and recommendations are those reached by unanimous consensus of the Committee on Making the Soldier Decisive on Future Battlefields. The NRC’s approval of this report likewise does not indicate a position on the substance of the findings and recommendations but rather certifies that the study was conducted in accordance with its procedures.

Hank Hatch, Chair                                          
Committee on Making the Soldier Decisive   
on Future Battlefields                                     

Acknowledgments

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Robert A. Frosch, NAE, Harvard University. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

TABLES

FIGURES

BOXES

Acronyms and Abbreviations