New Weapons, New Doctrine for U.S. Forces Overseas

During the 1991 Gulf War, it took 24 hours for the U.S. military to destroy a target once it was spotted. However, during the war in Afghanistan it took 45 minutes, and 11 minutes during the war in Iraq. After a B-1B bomber received orders from an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) to blow up a building on the outskirts of Baghdad where the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was presumed to be hiding on April 7 last year, it took 11 minutes to carry out the orders.

--New weaponry that brought about changes in the strategic environment

The operation system of the U.S. troops stationed in foreign countries is undergoing a reform as it faces a massive terrorist war operation.

The Washington Post reported on March 25 that “strategic stationing will bring drastic changes that will facilitate the return of American troops stationed in foreign locations back home,” and added, “The core equipments will be sent all over the world through a speedy transfer.”

Here lies the advancement of the 21st Century’s newest trend in military technology by combining the Stryker armored car and the C-17 military transport plane. In other words, the existing posts will become dispensable because U.S. troops and equipment will be directly transferred over from the U.S. to the locations in dispute.

This armored car, which is named after combat heroes Stuart Stryker and Robert Stryker who fought in the Vietnam War, has eight wheels and can speed up to 62 miles (about 106km) per hour. It has firepower similar to an M1 main battle tank (weight: 67 tons). However, the Stryker is much lighter, weighing 19 tons fully loaded.

The Stryker, which is the main weapon of the SBCT (the Stryker Brigade Combat Team) that will be deployed to Korea in case of an emergency, can fly anywhere around the world because it can be loaded on transport planes including the C-17, C-5, and C-130. The C-5 can hold up to seven Strykers, the C-17 up to four.

Especially, in the case of the C-17, a large size military transport plane, only 914 meters of runway distance is needed for take off, and the plane can take off from bare ground. The U.S. Army is expected to be able to station a Stryker brigade that will require at most 72 hours to fly anywhere around the world by the year 2010.

The U.S. Boeing Company is also developing an ultra-high capacity transport plane called the Pelican. The length of the Pelican wing alone is 109m. It will be able to carry 1,400 tons of cargo, and can fly 16,000 kilometers without a stopover. The Pelican is planned to have the capacity to load 17 M1 tanks. If the U.S. succeeds in creating the Pelican, there will be a greatly reduced need for troops to be stationed in allied countries, which can create unnecessary friction.

The expert’s analysis is that the U.S. will strengthen its information capacity using UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), and will confront the new strategic environment by utilizing precision-guided munitions such as the JDAM.

--Changes in the notion of war after 9/11

This type of military technology drastically changed the notion of War, especially after 9/11. In the case of the Cold War era, deterring the attack of the enemy was possible with the aid of large-scale stationary troops. Although paradoxical, it was a strategy based on the rationality of the enemy. It is because the enemy also possesses fears of co-destruction. However, for terrorist groups, it is difficult to expect this kind of rationality.

The principle of a preemptive strike was born soon after the judgment that it is difficult to expect rationality of the enemy. If the preventive strategy during the Cold War period was considered a deterrence strategy, with the two powerful countries, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, at odds, then the Terrorism Era of the post-cold war can be considered as the preemptive strike era. The U.S. re-stationing strategy of the 21st Century is also focused on this principle.

Young-Sik Kim spear@donga.com