Today’s US Armed forces continue to remain unrivaled amongst world powers. However, the world continues to be a dangerous place and our armed forces must continue to adapt to the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment in which they operate. “Despite the current budget uncertainty, we must prioritize threats, articulate risk, and allocate resources in support of a systematic and sustainable strategy.” The intent of this paper is to propose the general capabilities of Joint Force 2025 necessary to rebalance the force, articulate the risk as defined in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), and make recommendations for mitigating this risk. To accomplish this intent, this paper will initially provide the background for the strategic direction before providing the general joint capabilities, service specific capabilities and risks associated with this strategy.
The Joint Force of 2025 must be capable of accomplishing its national security objectives under what will most likely be a significantly reduced budget. For this to occur, “We need to reassess what capabilities we need most, rethink how we develop the Joint Force, and…show more content… The recommendation here is that of the 1,100 fighter aircraft in the active component (AC), roughly half would be transferred to the RC with the AC maintaining “500 operational high-end fighters…” While transferring these fighters to the RC is economically cost effective, the US should focus on a mixture of these air frames across both the AC and RC to allow for better interoperability amongst the components in the event of protracted operations. In addition, focusing on new technologies such as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms should significantly offset the lower numbers of manned aircraft and “lays the groundwork for further technological