The US Army is considering how multi-component units might help it achieve greater capability as the force shrinks in a time of budget austerity and implemented such a structure within its fixed-wing aviation branch for the first time.
The pilot program took shape at the same time a commission tasked with examining the future force structure of the Army was also deeply examining possible ways to make greater use of multi-component units, made of both full-time troops and reservists.The service began implementing the plan in October, attaching a small group of active and Reserve pilots to already existing fixed-wing aerial exploitation battalions at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia.
The congressionally established National Commission on the Future of the Army comes out with its report Thursday. The commission looked at a number of alternative approaches, such as the Air Force’s Reserve-associate concept that has Reserve components and the regular Air Force sharing equipment.
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