The Army has re-written its basic framework, called the Army Capstone Concept (ACC), that describes how its leaders think about future war, refines modernization plans and considers what the force must do and bring to the table as part of the joint force.
Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the operational architect and capabilities director for the Army, leads the work on the ACC that describes the capabilities the future Army is likely to need to achieve the service’s three roles–prevent, shape, and win, responding to White House strategic guidance. It supercedes the Dec. 21 2009 ACC. The work is specifically nested within the Capstone Concepts For Joint Operation (CCJO), developed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The most recent version was released this fall. The ACC considers the risks of the potential future operational environment identified by the CCJO and addresses them in the revised concept.
From the ACC will flow specific functional area concepts, doctrine, force design and the requirements for materiel, recruiting, training and leader development for the Army of the Future.
Specifically, the document describes the future Army’s initiative “to transition the Army from one focused on…winning two wars to an expeditionary Army that does many things well.”
Thus, meeting future operational environment challenges means the Army must have a credible ability to win decisively and support combatant commanders over a broad range of operations, TRADOC Commander Gen. Robert Cone writes in his foreward.
“…the ACC retains the idea of operational adaptability as the fundamental characteristic of the Army required to execute a wide variety of missions,” Cone wrote. “The ACC expands operational adaptability to the people and organizations that comprise the institutional Army as well as the operating force. Ready, robust, responsive, and regionally engaged Army forces give pause to adversaries, reassure allies, and, when called upon, deliver the punch that defeats enemies and exerts control to prevent and end chaos and conflict.”
The ACC is available on the TRADOC home page, www.army.mil/tradoc.