Costs and Benefits of Adding a Third Maneuver Battalion to the Brigade Combat Team

The two-maneuver battalion design of the modular brigade combat team (BCT) was intended to be as lethal as pre-modularity Army of Excellence brigades while creating as many BCTs as possible. The troop density required for conducting stability operations was not a consideration of the design. The Army has had two opportunities to add troops to the modular BCTs, in January 2004 and in December 2007. In both instances, the decision was to add BCTs. This study identifies the costs and benefits of adding a third maneuver battalion to existing modular BCTs instead of adding BCTs. The research did show that through leveraging capabilities built into existing BCTs, the Army would gain 13 additional battalions. Adding maneuver battalions achieves a cost savings of $7.590 billion. With the Army short approximately 3,000 captains and majors, this study found that adding battalions reduces the need to 54.6% of adding BCTs. Finally, this study found that adding battalions does not affect the Army's Force Generation model. This study recommends that the Army not add six additional IBCTs to the force structure and that it discontinue the conversion of the four remaining heavy brigades in order to add battalions to existing modular BCTs.