The Army’s conversion to a modular force encompasses the Army’s total force—active Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve—and directly affects not only the Army’s combat units, but related command and support organizations. A key to the Army’s new modular force design is embedding within combat brigades reconnaissance, logistics, and other support units that previously made up parts of division-level and higher- level command and support organizations, allowing the brigades to operate independently. Restructuring these units is a major undertaking because it requires more than just the movement of personnel or equipment from one unit to another. The Army’s new modular units are designed, equipped, and staffed differently than the units they replace; therefore, successful implementation of this initiative will require changes such as new equipment and a different mix of skills and occupational specialties among Army personnel. By 2011, the Army plans to have reconfigured its total force—to include active and reserve components and headquarters, combat, and support units—into the modular design. The foundation of the modular force is the creation of modular brigade combat teams—combat maneuver brigades that will have a common organizational design and are intended to increase the rotational pool of ready units. Modular combat brigades (depicted in fig. 1) will have one of three standard designs—heavy brigade, infantry brigade, or Stryker brigade. Until it revised its plans in early 2006, the Army had planned to have a total of 77 active component and National Guard modular combat brigades by expanding the Army’s existing 33 combat brigades in the active component into 43 modular combat brigades by 2007, and by creating 34 modular combat brigades in the National Guard by 2010 from existing brigades and divisions that have historically been equipped well below requirements. To rebalance joint ground force capabilities, the 2006 QDR determined the Army should have a total of 70 modular combat brigades— 42 active brigades and 28 National Guard brigades. Table 1 shows the Army’s planned numbers of heavy, infantry, and Stryker combat brigades in the active component and National Guard. At the time of this report, the Army was in the process of revising its modular combat brigade schedule to convert its active component combat brigades by fiscal year 2010 instead of 2007 as previously planned, and convert National Guard combat brigades by fiscal year 2008 instead of 2010. Table 2 shows the Army’s schedule that reflects these changes as of March 2006. According to the Army, this larger pool of available combat units will enable it to generate both active and reserve component forces in a rotational manner. To do this, the Army is developing plans for a force rotation model in which units will rotate through a structured progression of increased unit readiness over time. Units will progress through three phases of operational readiness cycles, culminating in full mission readiness and availability to deploy. For example, the Army plans for active service members to be at home for 2 years following each deployment of up to 1 year. The Army’s objective is for the new modular combat brigades, which will include about 3,000 to 4,000 personnel, to have at least the same combat capability as a brigade under the current division-based force, which range from 3,000 to 5,000 personnel. Since there will be more combat brigades in the force, the Army believes its overall combat capability will be increased as a result of the restructuring, providing added value to combatant commanders. Although somewhat smaller in size, the new modular combat brigades are expected to be as capable as the Army’s existing brigades because they will have different equipment, such as advanced communications and surveillance equipment, and a different mix of personnel and support assets. The Army’s organizational designs for the modular brigades have been tested by its Training and Doctrine Command’s Analysis Center against a variety of scenarios, and the Army has found the new designs to be as capable as the existing division-based brigades in modeling and simulations. The Army’s cost estimate for modularity through fiscal year 2011 is $52.5 billion as of April 2006. Of this $52.5 billion estimate, $41 billion, or 78 percent, is planned to be spent on equipment for active and reserve units, with the remaining $11.5 billion allocated to military construction, facilities, sustainment, and training (see table 3). In addition, Army leaders have recently stated they may seek additional funds after 2011 to procure more equipment for modular restructuring. The Army has made progress in creating active component modular combat brigades, but it is not meeting its equipping goals for these brigades and has yet to complete the development of its rotational equipping strategy, which raises concerns about the extent to which brigades will be equipped in the near and longer term. Moreover, brigades will initially lack planned levels of key equipment, including items that provide enhanced intelligence, situational awareness, and network capabilities needed to help the Army achieve its objective of creating combat brigades that are able to operate on their own as part of a more mobile, rapidly deployable, joint, expeditionary force. In addition, because of existing equipment shortages, the Army National Guard will likely face even greater challenges providing the same types of equipment for its 28 planned modular combat brigades. To mitigate equipment shortages, the Army has developed a strategy to provide required levels of equipment to deploying active component and National Guard units, while allocating lesser levels of remaining equipment to other nondeploying units. However, the Army has not yet completed key details of this strategy, including determining the levels of equipment it needs to support this strategy, assessing the operational risk of not fully equipping all units, or providing to Congress information about these plans so it can assess the Army’s current and long-term equipment requirements and funding plans. The Army faces challenges meeting its equipping goals for its active modular combat brigades both in the near and longer term. As of February 2006, the Army had converted 19 modular combat brigades in the active force. According to the Army Campaign Plan, which established time frames and goals for the modular force conversions, each of these units is expected to have on hand at least 90 percent of its required major equipment items within 180 days after its new equipment requirements become effective. We reviewed data from several active brigades that had reached the effective date for their new equipment requirements by February 2006, and found that all of these brigades reported significant shortages of equipment 180 days after the effective date of their new equipment requirements, falling well below the equipment goals the Army established in its Campaign Plan. Additionally, the Army is having difficulty providing equipment to units undergoing their modular conversion in time for training prior to operational deployments, and deploying units often do not receive some of their equipment until after their arrival in theater. At the time of our visits, officials from three Army divisions undergoing modular conversion expressed concern over the lack of key equipment needed for training prior to deployment. The Army already faced equipment shortages before it began its modular force transformation and is wearing out significant quantities of equipment in Iraq, which could complicate plans for fully equipping new modular units. By creating modular combat brigades with standardized designs and equipment requirements, the Army believed that it could utilize more of its total force, thereby increasing the pool of available and ready forces to meet the demands of sustained rotations and better respond to an expected state of continuous operations. Also, by comparably equipping all of these units across the active component and National Guard, the Army further believes it will be able to discontinue its practice of allocating limited resources, including equipment, based on a system of tiered readiness, which resulted in lower priority units in both active and reserve components having significantly lower levels of equipment and readiness than the higher priority units. However, because of the need to establish a larger pool of available forces to meet the current high pace of operational commitments, the Army’s modular combat brigade conversion schedule is outpacing the planned acquisition or funding for some equipment requirements. The Army has acknowledged that funding does not match its modular conversion schedule and that some units will face equipment shortages in the early years of transformation. According to Army officials, the Army may continue to seek funding to better equip its modular forces beyond 2011. For example, according to Army officials, funds programmed for the Army’s tactical wheeled vehicle modernization strategy will not meet all of its requirements for light, medium, and heavy tactical vehicles and trucks through fiscal year 2011. In 2007, when 38 of 42 planned active component brigades are expected to complete their modular conversions, the Army expects to have only about 62 percent of the heavy trucks it needs to meet its requirements for these brigades. New higher requirements for trucks for the modular brigades added to an existing shortage of trucks in the Army’s inventory. In addition, battle damage and losses along with higher- than-normal wear and tear on Army vehicles from current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are contributing to this shortfall. While the Army plans to eventually fill these shortages through a combination of new procurement and modernization of its existing truck fleet, Army officials told us that the higher requirement for trucks is currently unaffordable within its near-term budget authority. Until the Army is able to meet its modular combat brigade design requirement for trucks, these brigades will not have their envisioned capability to conduct their own logistical support operations if necessary without requiring the augmentation of external combat and combat-service support forces. Active modular combat brigades will initially lack required numbers of some of the key equipment that Army force design analyses determined essential for achieving their planned capabilities. Two primary objectives underlying the Army’s modular force designs and concepts are to (1) create more combat forces within the Army’s current end strength that are as lethal as the division-based brigades they are replacing and (2) organize, staff, and equip these units to be more responsive, rapidly deployable, and better able to operate on their own compared to division-based brigades.