Equipped

The Army chief of staff has approved the service's latest equipping strategy, describing the "ends, ways, and means the Army will use to achieve equipping balance by Fiscal Year 2011," according to a Sept. 29 memo from Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, deputy chief of staff for programs (G-8). The memo, obtained by Inside the Army, notes that the strategy intends to "ensure Soldiers have the right amount and type of modernized equipment to meet their mission requirements -- whether in combat, training for combat, operating as part of the generating force, or conducting Homeland Defense and Defense Support to Civilian Agencies missions."

The 12-page equipping strategy, also obtained by ITA, lays out the methods by which the Army properly equips its troops. It also details challenges ahead, such as the increasingly uncertain budget environment.

"Affordability and Risk will be critical issues as the Army looks to move through Balance and into Enduring Readiness, while fielding the new Ground Combat Vehicle and continuing to Reset and recapitalize," the strategy reads. "There must be explicit decision criteria in equipping decisions at all levels."