As it prepares for peacetime budget cuts, the Army must shrink. But Pentagon officials say reducing ground forces too much would leave the U.S. vulnerable to threats by such countries as North Korea or Iran. That means continuing to train with tanks, heavy weaponry and big formations--and, in the view of some military analysts, pulling the Army back to its roots and away from its promised future/.../
Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the Army must assess the role of tank battles, given the global advantage of U.S. air power.
"The mind-set right now is we use the Army to invade or stop the invasion. But we may be at the point where [the Gulf War of] 1991 is the last tank-on-tank battle we are going to see," Mr. Harrison said.