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THE United States army announced yesterday the creation of two highly mobile brigades which will be able to deploy anywhere in the world within 96 hours.
The units, equipped with light armoured vehicles, are a response to criticism that the army is too cumbersome to take on the role of world policeman. A delay of several weeks in deploying Apache helicopters during the Kosovo conflict earlier this year brought fresh attention to the problem of moving troops to trouble-spots to keep pace with political developments.
The units, the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, will have 3,000 troops each and use new 20-ton armoured vehicles rather than the current 70-ton Abrams M1-A1 tank. Critics say the army has been promising to change its structure since the end of the Cold War, the collapse of Warsaw Pact forces and the end of the need to pit heavy armour against heavy armour in Central Europe.
Andrew Krepinevich, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a think tank in Washington, said the army was finally facing up to the challenges of the new millennium, but still had a distance to go. He said: "It sounds like the army is talking the talk, but it is taking steps on the walk."
Announcing the formation of the new units, Gen Eric Shinseki, the army chief of staff, said they would be the model for the future. He said: "I think you will see the entire transformation will go toward capabilities that give those divisional formations the lethality that the heavy forces have and the agility of the lighter forces."