Paradigm lost : rethinking theater airlift to support the Army after next

Lt Col David W. Allvin's Paradigm Lost: Rethinking Theater Airlift to Support the Army After Next analyzes the theater airlift implications of the United States (US) Army's vision for land warfare in the twenty-first century. Those planning the "Army After Next" (AAN)---now called the "Army Vision: The Transformation of the Army," which is a continuum of the AAN---envision a lighter, leaner, and more lethal force that will rely heavily on information dominance to maximize combat effectiveness throughout the projected nonlinear battlespace. Of chief concern in Colonel Allvin's study are changes in the role of theater airlift that the AAN may portend. Colonel Allvin identifies theater airlift capabilities critical to the AAN concept and examines emerging systems that seem likely to furnish those capabilities. He argues that improvements in cargo handling, situational awareness, and defensive systems---as well as the ability to operate in austere conditions---constitute the most crucial future requirements for theater airlift. Based on his analysis of currently available data, Allvin concludes the most promising emerging systems for achieving required theater airlift capabilities include the tiltwing concept, autonomous cargo-handling systems, and a standoff capability for examining the suitability of opportune landing sites