The 2018 National Defense Strategy highlights North Korea, Iran, Russia, China, and violent extremist organizations as threats which challenge the world's economic and political stability. The 2015 National Military Strategy assessed the growing probability of an interstate war between the United States and a major power willing to challenge international norms. Given these threats, the US military must remain ready to deploy, engage, and possibly destroy US adversaries at any time. To meet this need, the US Army maintains an Army Prepositioned-Stock Afloat (APA) program with combat configured equipment to project combat power quickly into any theater of operations. However, considering the new threat environment, the current APA composition requires updating to provide the flexibility the joint force requires. The purpose of this monograph is to examine the composition of the APA in light of the Field Manual 3-0's requirements of projecting a credible force. The APA is a premier model to rapidly project forces anywhere in the world. Optimizing the force structure of the APA will minimize risk when expanding a lodgment, provide critical major end items for reconstitution after a major battle in a LSCO environment, and effectively engage the various threats highlighted in the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

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.)