Procurement: May 6, 2002

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The next war the Pentagon will fight will be a civil one, in more ways than one. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld tried to sell the generals his plans for reform but got nowhere, and his reform plans had all but disappeared last summer. Now that the Afghan Campaign has shown the need for different kinds of forces used in unforeseen combinations, Rumsfeld plans to take another shot at convincing the generals that he is on the right track. The generals aren't going to go down without a fight, and are determined to prove that the weapons they wanted to buy a year ago are not only usable in the new world environment, but just the right ones. Expect analyses of the Kosovo War, the Afghan Campaign, and the coming Invasion of Iraq to prove that the Army's Comanche helicopter and Future Combat System, the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship and FA-18F, and the Air Force's F-35 are just the ticket.--Stephen V Cole