Three strategic force measures--reactivity, robustness, and resilience--will be used subjectively to assess this fleet design compared with our traditional programmed forces.
These can change faster than the capital-intensive, long-lived, multimission ships and submarines of our programmed force. A comprehensive assessment of a fleet architecture's robustness or utility across several international political and economic environments--with various competing national strategies and possible conflicts--will involve extensive future scenario planning to assess strategic risk.
Our current programmed force is heavily invested in complex multimission platforms that employ advanced technologies, mainly in defense.
These assessment exercises help formulate changes to programmed forces. This appraisal process leads to the decisions that eventually reallocate funds among various programs, within fiscal guidelines.
The thickly shaded lines in the lower portion of the framework indicate a need to reassess, after the selection of programmed forces, the ability of available forces to carry out the national military strategy.
However fiscally constrained, the programmed force must satisfy the most critical aspects of the national military strategy.