Medium-Weight Brigade Structure and the Transformation of the U. S. Army and the Army of Ukraine

The U.S. Army has faced many formidable decisions on how best to transform. The fundamental changes in the strategic environment after the Cold War, crucial advances in technology and military doctrine related to the Gulf War and permanent involvement in peacekeeping/peacemaking operations around the world have led to a more flexible and lethal force structure. An army should maintain the capability for conducting various military operations from small- scale contingencies to major theaters of war. Therefore, based on major changes in the strategic environment-a dismantled Warsaw Pact, increasing asymmetrical threats, budget constrains along with frequent involvement in contingency operations-the U.S. Army once more confronts transformation and reorganization. This thesis focuses on the current transformation of the U.S. Army to examine the history of reorganizing the U.S. Army along with the dynamics of reforming the Ukrainian Army. This thesis explores why a 'medium-weight brigade-size' force structure became the key feature of the U.S. Army's transformation strategy for forces of the 21st century namely, the 'Objective Forces'. The main intention of this thesis is to reach conclusions about how the U.S. Army's transformation experience can be applied to the current process of developing the Army of Ukraine.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Medium-Weight Brigade Structure and the Transformation of the U. S. Army and the Army of Ukraine', published 2001 under ISBN 9781423530459 and ISBN 1423530454.