And what about the US Army?

LAST EDITED ON 27-06-01 AT 08:39 PM (GMT)[p]The US Army is not in such a good condition. Believe it or not, but the biggest military armed force in the world has to suffer from a lot of problems. I think it’s time to reorganise the US Army. Today the US Army is the only US military force which does not have its own fighters, can not transport it’s own troops, etc. In fact, the US Army is helpless without the aid of the A-10’s from the US Airforce. Here are some problems that the US Army is facing with.

– The M1A2 for example, the worlds largest tank. It can only be transported by a C-5B (so the C-17 will be useless in this point!). It’s also very expensive to operate and even the Galaxy which is a respectable big airplane- can only transport one a time! That the US army does not have the mobility and flexibility it should have is the least thing you can say.

– More than half of the soldiers serving the US Army are reservists or guardsmen. OK for me, but they are not prepared for long deployments in the gulf for example.

– The US Army does not have a fixed wing attacker like the A-10. USAF should give its A-10’s to the US Army so there could be a better coöperation between the grond and the air personnel, much like the Marines are doing. USMC AV8B pilots have to train together with the Marines on the ground. That’s why they’ll react immediately, because they feel like real soldiers and not like the high-tech officers in the USAF (which is OK, but not for close air support missions or battlefield air interdiction). There are too much differences between army and airforce to have a good coöperation. During Wartime there is a joint collaborate force (*) or something like this between the 5 US military services (US Army, US Air Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Coast Guard). Why don’t do the same during peacetime?

– Lots of helicopters now serving in the USAr suffer from metal fatigue. Even worse, according to AFM, 50 % of all national guard UH-1’s and 78 % (!) of all AH-1’s are grounded. Sure they have the AH-64, but not enough.

I think the USArmy should be reorganised and it should retire its heavy tanks, as they are useless in today’s modern battlefield. Why don’t replace them by more flexible, smaller and lighter tanks (f.ex. the British DERA project – a tank made of plastic)? Or buy more helicopters. I still think a helicopter can take over the role of a tank. In fact it could do the job of a tank, but also the job of anti-tank, so it’s twice as good as using the heavy, clumpsy tanks.

Out

http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m1a1-ftvw.jpg

In

http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/ah64-image3.jpg

http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/cost_ah-64.gif

Geforce – “Teamwork is essential. It gives the enemy other people to shoot at.”

————–

(*)

During Wartime

– US central command
– US southern command
– US Atlantic command
– US European command
– US Pacific command
– US Strategic command
– US Space Command
– US Transport command
– US Special Operations command
– North American Aerospace Defense command (NORAD)

During Peacetime within the USAF

– Air Combat command : ACC
– Air Mobility command : AMC
– Air Force Materical command : AFMC
– Air Force Special Operations command : AFSOC
– Air Force Space command : AFSC
– Pacific Airforces : PAF
– United States Airforce in Europe : USAFE
– Air Force reserve command : AFRC
– Air National Guard : ANG (aka first airforce when serving federal duties)