In 1996 the United States Army established the Army After Next (AAN) project. This project is tasked with the development of a military force capable of decisively nullifying any major military competitor. The cornerstone the AAN's strategic deployment and tactical maneuver capability is the air-mechanized formation. The air-mechanized formation will be able to strategically deploy from the United States to the theater of operations in less time than current modern military airlift, and immediately establishing a dominant military force. Essential to the development of the AAN concept is the analysis of its weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As the Army proceeds with the analysis of the air-mechanized formation concept, the identification of viable threat weapons is essential to the development of realistic and challenging wargaming models. In wargaming models, teams working as the enemy force have effectively used various weapons to defeat the air-mechanized formation. Among the weapons used, the man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) has proven to be an integral part of the enemy force defense while every air defense system offers substantial advantages and capabilities to ground commander, MANPADS are the distinctive weapon for use against the AAFs of the air-mechanized formation. Nations will spend a great deal of resources to develop ways of defeating the United States future military force. As part of our efforts to make the concept viable and effective, the determination of weapon systems that can be effective against the force must be used in every modeling and wargaming for proper analysis.

ADA 366315 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)