FUTURE FORCE. Did you like America's Army, the free first-person shooter designed as a recruitment tool by the US Army? Then you'll love Future Force Combat, a free game that simulates the experience of a Future Combat System equipped Mounted Combat Team. Future Force Combat accomplishes the nifty trick of being not only a recruitment tool but also a sales pitch for the most expensive integrated combat systems that the Army has ever requested. The sinkhole that is Iraq has hit the Army the hardest, and the Pentagon budgeting norms have by and large prevented a reshuffling of defense funding, potentially putting FCS in some jeopardy. J. at Armchair Generalist and Kingdaddy at Arms and Influence have additional commentary on the game and the pitch. As to FCS more generally, I remain ambivalent. The Army should certainly be planning for future conflict (this is what military organizations do), but I don't know that producing dominance over the entire combat spectrum, from low to high intensity, is something that one system can accomplish, and FCS looks to me much more like a high intensity than a low intensity system. On the other hand, the chances that FCS will see meaningful military employment at some point in the future are much, much higher than those of its Navy and Air Force counterparts, the Zumwalt destroyer and the F-22.
--Robert Farley
