美国陆军已开始“瘦身”计划

 

"I've got clear guidance to think about what if you could robotically perform some of the tasks in terms of maneuverability（机动性）, in terms of the future of the force," he said, adding that he also has "clear guidance to rethink" the size of the nine-man infantry³ squad⁴.

 

He mentioned using unmanned ground vehicles that would follow manned platforms, which would require less armor and protection, thereby⁵ reducing the weight of a brigade（旅，队列） combat team.

 

Over the past 12 years of war, "in favor of force protection we've sacrificed a lot of things," he said. "I think we've also lost a lot in lethality⁶." And the Army wants that maneuverability, deployability and firepower back.

 

The Army is already on a path to shrink from 540,000 soldiers to about 490,000 by the end of 2015, and will likely slide further to 420,000 by 2019, according to reports.

 

Cone said his staff is putting together an advisory⁷ panel to look at those issues, including fielding a smaller brigade.

 

"Don't you think 3,000 people is probably enough probably to get by" with increased technological⁸ capabilities⁹, he asked.

 

It's hard to see such a radical¹⁰ change to the makeup¹¹ of the brigage combat team as anything else than a budget move, borne out of the necessity of cutting the personnel costs that eat up almost half of the service's total budget.

 

Cone used the Navy as an example of what the Army is trying to do.

 

"When you see the success, frankly¹², that the Navy has had in terms of lowering the numbers of people on ships, are there functions in the brigade that we could automate¹³ -- robots or manned/unmanned teaming -- and lower the number of people that are involved given the fact that people are our major cost," he said.

 

Some of Cone's blue-sky thinking was echoed by Lt. Gen. Keith Walker in a Jan. 6 interview with Defense¹⁴ News.

 

In what Walker called the "deep future" -- about the 2030 to 2040 time frame -- he said that "we'll need to fundamentally change the nature of the force, and that would require a breakthrough in science and technology."

 

While Walker, the commander of the Army Capabilities Integration¹⁵ Center, which oversees¹⁶ much of the Army's modernization¹⁷ and doctrinal changes, didn't talk about replacing soldiers with robots, he did say the Army wants to revamp（修补，翻新） its "tooth-to-tail" ratio, or the number of soldiers performing support functions versus¹⁸ those who actually pull triggers.

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