Getting to 2020: The Canadian forces and future force structure and investment considerations
The author analyses the combat capability of the Canadian Forces and argues that the most expedient use of limited investment dollars provided by the Department of National Defence would be to overcome the psychological anathema of specialization. Using the United States as an exemplar of the kind of force structure that Canada and others could pursue, he discusses the types of investment choices that are available to Canada within the budgetary constraints imposed. He argues not for duplication of the American model, but for transformation, employing cost‐effective RMA technologies, and ensuring some degree of balanced combat force among the Army, Navy, and Air Force. But RMA technologies will also demand new force structures, of which the idea of ‘joint‐ness’ among the services is just the tip of the iceberg. Decisions made in the next several years will dictate the nature of the CF in 2020; waiting for the RMA to unfold will be too late.