REPORT ON MILITARY READINESS REQUIREMENTS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

SEC. 329. REPORT ON MILITARY READINESS REQUIREMENTS OF THE ARMED FORCES. (a) Requirement for Report.—Not later than January 31, 1998, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the military readiness requirements of the active and reserve components of the Armed Forces (including combat units, combat support units, and combat service support units). The report shall assess such requirements under a tiered readiness and response system that categorizes a given unit according to the likelihood that it will be required to respond to a military conflict and the time within which it will be required to respond. (b) Preparation by JCS and Commanders of Unified Commands.—The report required by subsection (a) shall be prepared jointly by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the commander of the Special Operations Command, and the commanders of the other unified commands. (c) Assessment Scenario.—The report shall assess readiness requirements in a scenario that is based on the following assumptions: (1) That the Armed Forces of the United States must be capable of— (A) fighting and winning, in concert with allies, two major theater wars nearly simultaneously; and (B) deterring or defeating a strategic attack on the United States.111 STAT. 1681 (2) That the forces available for deployment are the forces included in the force structure recommended in the Quadrennial Defense Review, including all other planned force enhancements. (d) Assessment Elements.—(1) The report shall identify, by unit type, all major units of the active and reserve components of the Armed Forces and assess the readiness requirements of the units. Each identified unit shall be categorized within one of the following classifications: (A) Forward-deployed and crisis response forces, or “Tier I” forces, that possess limited internal sustainment capability and do not require immediate access to regional air bases or ports or overflight rights, including the following: (i) Force units that are deployed in rotation at sea or on land outside the United States. (ii) Combat-ready crises response forces that are capable of mobilizing and deploying within 10 days after receipt of orders. (iii) Forces that are supported by prepositioning equipment afloat or are capable of being inserted into a theater upon the capture of a port or airfield by forcible entry forces. (B) Combat-ready follow-on forces, or “Tier II” forces, that can be mobilized and deployed to a theater within approximately 60 days after receipt of orders. (C) Combat-ready conflict resolution forces, or “Tier III” forces, that can be mobilized and deployed to a theater within approximately 180 days after receipt of orders. (D) All other active and reserve component force units which are not categorized within a classification described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C). (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), the following units are mayor units: (A) In the case of the Army or Marine Corps, a brigade and a battalion. (B) In the case of the Navy, a squadron of aircraft, a ship, and a squadron of ships. (C) In the case of the Air Force, a squadron of aircraft. (e) Projection of Savings for Use for Modernization.—The report shall include a projection for fiscal years 1998 through 2003 of the amounts of the savings in operation and maintenance funding that— (1) could be derived by each of the Armed Forces by placing as many units as is practicable into the lower readiness categories among the tiers; and (2) could be made available for force modernization. (f) Form of Report.—The report under this section shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex. (g) Planned Force Enhancement Defined.—In this section, the term “planned force enhancement”, with respect to the force structure recommended in the Quadrennial Defense Review, means any future improvement in the capability of the force (including current strategic and future improvement in strategic lift capability) that is assumed in the development of the recommendation for the force structure set forth in the Quadrennial Defense Review.111 STAT. 1682