The Army is currently embarking on a major peacetime modernization program. As the drawdown comes to a close, the Army is about half its former size and is confronted with a far more complex strategic environment. Virtually any place the Army may be employed, it will be at the end of a long line of communication with its CONUS sustaining base. Furthermore, the Army will have to be wary of simultaneous challenges to United States interests in other theaters. As a result, the Army must be capable of quick decisive victories with minimal casualties in spite of its smaller size. In order to ensure that the Army is able to meet this standard in its future wars, the Army's leadership has set in motion a modernization plan aimed at maximizing the potential power of a smaller but more lethal army. This modernization plan places a heavy premium on the integrative technologies, (computers and communications), to get more of its forces into the fight at the right time and place and at an ever increasing operational tempo. One by-product of this plan is an increasing dependence on the electromagnetic spectrum to collect and move information on the 21st century battlefield. This monograph examines the increasing role of the electromagnetic spectrum to determine if the spectrum will become the primary source of strength for the smaller army of the 21st century or a critical vulnerability. It analyzes the Army leadership's vision of 21st century warfare and its modernization plan which is intended to take the Army into the next century. The monograph also investigates the capabilities and limitations of the electromagnetic spectrum to support military operations on the current and future battlefields. This monograph concludes that the electromagnetic spectrum may in fact become the Achilles Heel for the Army of the 21st century. Knowledge overmatch will be the source of strength which will enable our smaller Army to win quickly and decisively. To ensure knowledge overmatch, the Army will be extremely dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum. The spectrum will also be the enemy's primary means of identifying and disrupting our information systems. Furthermore, physical limitations on the spectrum's capacity to support military operations may ultimately limit the efficiencies which the Army's leadership needs to fight outnumbered and win. To mitigate this vulnerability, the Army must begin testing and training in realistic electromagnetic environments in order to develop effective equipment and doctrine. It also must match its pace of modernization to the rate at which its leaders and soldiers can assimilate the changes.

ADA 284758 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.)