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Darpa casts a wide range of ideas, from military operators about missing capabilities to laboratory researchers about emerging technologies. Its role in funding science and technology is taking on a greater importance as US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq place heavy demands on military budgets and tight constraints on research and development. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects (Darpa) continues to look into the future, with a particular focus on irregular warfare and anticipation of military needs for the war after next. A revised training system should improve battlefield effectiveness and prolong individual operational longevity, while minimizing the numbers of short- and long-term injuries currently plaguing the force. The DoD must embrace the most modern physical fitness training systems, techniques, technology, and testing to better train and prepare ground combatants for the rigors of combat. In today`s environment of tight budgets, reduced manpower, and rising health care costs, it is imperative that the Department of Defense (DoD) take the appropriate actions to prepare and maintain its most vital weapon system: the Service member. This research paper takes a critical look at the Service physical fitness programs to determine if the fitness training currently being conducted is sufficient to sustain ground combatants throughout their military careers.
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military`s ability to sustain a healthy force that is able to handle the country`s. These issues are creating significant problems for the U.S. This research also shows that improvements in the TCT Command and Control (C2) process will also significantly reduce the TCT timeline for both the mid and far-term.Ĭurrent combat operations have uncovered some disturbing issues regarding ground combatants' mental and physical ability to withstand the extreme demands of continuous combat operations in harsh environments, such as those found in Iraq and Afghanistan. This can be achieved by improving upon near-term capabilities and fielding both hypersonic weapons and Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) technology. A far-term goal is to reduce the TCT timeline to single-digit minutes by the year 2015. Emerging technologies, especially in the areas of Advanced Targeting Recognition (ATR) and the Global Information Grid (GIG), offer the greatest promise of prosecuting time-critical targets in under 15 minutes by the year 2008. Not only is this trend dangerous, but it undermines the efforts of many to bring true TCT capability to the battlefield. A trend currently developing among commanders is the reliance on Global Positioning System (GPS) guided weapons to engage time-critical targets.
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This applied research paper identifies critical shortfalls in the Time-Critical Targeting (TCT) mission as it exists today, identifies alarming trends in the TCT mission, and offers solutions for both the mid and far-term. military has been fortunate enough to adjust for this shortfall in the past, there is reason to believe that the prosecution and destruction of fleeting targets involving weapons of mass destruction will become extremely important in the near future. military possesses very limited capability to engage and destroy time-critical targets. Recent operations in Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan have highlighted the fact that the U.S.