2009 Annual Defence Report: The Americas

United States

In 2009 the United States began to focus heavily on Afghanistan, where a significant increase in violence and accusations of rampant corruption within Hamid Karzai's government led to a re-evaluation of US involvement there.

On 1 December President Barack Obama finally committed to sending 30,000 additional troops to the ISAF mission by the middle of 2010, with the first US reinforcements set to arrive before Christmas. The Commander of International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF), General Stanley McCrystal, had reported to Obama in August that the political and security situation in Afghanistan was dire and he is believed to have requested an extra 40,000 troops.

US land forces

Although resource commitments in Iraq are expected to be considerably lower by late 2010, US land forces are likely to continue to operate at a high operational tempo as troops and equipment continue to rotate to Afghanistan. The need for ground troops over the past several years has caused some personnel to deploy as many as five times to combat theatres.

Repeated deployments have taken a toll on troops and their families. The army recently released data showing more than 200 reported suicides among active-duty and reserve soldiers from January 2009 through October 2009.

US Air Force

While the realities of terrorism and insurgency in Iraq have led the army to gradually embrace counter-insurgency doctrine over the past few years, the USAF's institution-wide transition toward irregular warfare has shown signs of gaining the most momentum in 2009.

The USAF has fulfilled key counter-insurgency roles at the operational level in Afghanistan and Iraq since the start of those conflicts, providing close air support, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), lift capacity and medical evacuation. The service also played a lead operational role in the opening days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

US Navy

The US Navy (USN) continued to struggle with troubled acquisition programmes leading into the FY10 budget roll-out in May.

Cost overruns on the Zumwalt-class (DDG-1000) destroyer and the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programmes topped Congressional conversations on naval platform procurement.

The FY10 budget did not include a future years defence plan (FYDP), pending the delivery of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and the Nuclear Posture Review, both due in early 2010.