As the Army and Air Force make preparations for the introduction of advanced warfighting machines like the Crusader field artillery vehicle and the F-22 fighter aircraft, soldiers and airmen in the National Guard are training in equipment that first saw action in Vietnam, or earlier.

National Guard leaders have vowed to modernize the aging weapons systems currently in the Guard inventory, and they have taken their message to Capitol Hill, warning Congress that a failure to modernize the Guard could result in obsolescence on the battlefield.

"Interoperability" is today's watchword, and Guard leaders want to ensure their equipment remains technologically compatible with that being used by the active components. If they continue to lose pace, Guard officials say, they can't work with the active component in future operations, and the Guard risks becoming marginalized.

In testimony before Congress earlier this year, Lt. Gen. Russell Davis, National Guard Bureau chief, told lawmakers that interoperability is his top priority. Given the Guard's increasing role in overseas operations, keeping Guard equipment within technological reach of the active component is vital to national security, he said.

However, due to constricting defense budgets and the Guard's low priority within the Pentagon, the Guard will likely rely upon cascading from the active components as its primary source of acquiring new equipment for the foreseeable future. But there is a drawback to cascading -- if a piece of equipment was not sufficiently advanced for use by the active component, it will have little value to the Guard unless it can be upgraded to achieve compatibility and interoperability.

Thus, there is a baseline of technological capability for all weapons systems, and in most cases the Guard must make improvements to the equipment handed down from their active duty counterparts.

In the Army National Guard, "that means the M1A1 tank (see page 31) and M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle (see page 33)," said Col. James Barrineau, Army National Guard force modernization officer. "That is pretty much the minimum model that is compatible with the rest of the Army."

As an example, this year the South Carolina Army National Guard's 218th Infantry Brigade (mechanized) will begin receiving M2A2ODS (Operation Desert Storm) BFVs, currently being upgraded from the basic A0 model by United Defense, L.P. in York, Pennsylvania. The A2ODS incorporates numerous survivability and electronics advancements over the A2 that resulted from lessons learned during the Persian Gulf War, and is actually more advanced than many of the Bradleys currently found in the active Army.

"The South Carolina brigade really is a special deal," Barrineau said. Guard officials are working to ensure that the 218th is not the only Guard unit to receive the A2ODS, and the recently released fiscal year 2001 defense authorization conference report contains $72 million for the upgrade of approximately 60 A0 Bradleys to the Operation Desert Storm version.

Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade (mechanized) and North Carolina's 30th Infantry Brigade (mechanized) are expected to receive the next round of upgraded Bradleys, said Chris Small, NGAUS legislative director.

"The fielding of this advanced combat vehicle into the Army Guard will allow Guard units to keep up with the active Army on the battlefield, and will keep the Guard relevant well into the next century," Small said.

The Army Guard's tank fleet is also in need of modernization, primarily because the M1 Abrams tank fires a 105mm cannon, while the active- duty M1A1 boasts a 120mm gun.

"Our bottom line is to be compatible, to fire the same ammunition," Barrineau said. "If you fire the same ammunition, then you're in the same ballpark. That's why it's a priority for us to get into M1A1 tanks that fire the 120mm gun."

As the Guard's armored force modernizes for the 21st century, so too must the field artillery units that provide them long-range cover as they enter battle. Fire support in the Army Guard has been provided by the M109 howitzer, a self-propelled 155mm cannon, while the active Army upgraded to the M109A6 Paladin (see page 33) in the early 1990s.

The Paladin, which is deployed with a Field Artillery Ammunition Supply Vehicle, or FAASV, is a fully digitized system that enjoys improved responsiveness, survivability and lethality over earlier M109s.

While the Guard's enhanced brigades are being modernized with the Paladin/FAASV system, there is a requirement for Paladins in three Guard divisions participating in the active component/reserve component division teaming concept -- the 49th Armored Division in Texas, the 40th Infantry Division (mechanized) in California, and the 28th Infantry Division (mechanized) in Pennsylvania.

The divisions' ability to successfully partner with an active division will be determined in large part by the compatibility of their equipment. While the Army has recognized the requirement for the M109A6 in these Guard units, it has yet to dedicate any funds to procurement.

Another Army initiative having an impact on the modernization pace is the recent conversion of Multiple Launch Rocket System, or MLRS (see page 32), battalions from three batteries of nine launchers each to three batteries of six launchers each. The practical effect of this conversion, which applies to both active and Guard battalions, is that the Army is now awash in MLRS launchers, and the Guard badly needs them.

The MLRS, like the M109 howitzer, is a field artillery weapon intended to provide fire support for operational forces. However, with its multiple gun tubes and the ability to fire an array of advanced munitions, the MLRS is able to provide a greater volume of firepower at a range of nearly 500 kilometers.

"Because of the battalion design change, more launchers have been freed up in the active component and from our units," Barrineau said. This will allow the Guard to begin fielding MLRS launchers to 11 corps artillery battalions that until now have been using 155mm howitzers. The conversion of these battalions from howitzers to MLRS is expected to take five years.

In addition, the 49th Armored Division in Texas will also receive an MLRS battalion in order to provide fire support for the 1st Cavalry Division as part of a teamed division.

As planned modernization of combat vehicles creates a need to upgrade field artillery units, so too will an advanced field artillery force accelerate modernization requirements in another area: communications. Guardsmen who have served in rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. are familiar with this need.

Training at NTC has given some Guard soldiers an opportunity to use communications equipment not currently available to them in the Guard. The Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (see page 32), or SINCGARS, an advanced and highly secure combat net radio capable of both voice and data transmission, has been used by the active Army for nearly a decade and will soon enter the Guard inventory.

"We're going to start getting SINCGARS radios starting in about fiscal year 2001 in the field artillery branch," Barrineau said. In terms of communications capability, "this will make the artillery the most modern units in the Guard."

The introduction of SINCGARS radios will not only make the Guard interoperable with the active Army, it will also allow them to coordinate fire support with Marine Corps units.

"That's really our center of gravity, getting those types of command and control items in our higher priority units," Barrineau said. "It will allow us to operate on the same battlefield as the actives."

Modernization is also a key priority for the Air Guard, with Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver, Air National Guard director, having testified before Congress this year that "we are laying the groundwork for the greatest modernization program the Guard has ever seen."

As with the Army Guard, the desire to remain interoperable, and therefore deployable, is driving the modernization effort in the Air National Guard. "Right now, if you want to drop a bomb somewhere, you have to have a precision capability," said Lt. Col. Brock T. Strom, the Air Guard's power projection division chief in the acquisition directorate. "If you don't have it, you pretty much sit on the sidelines and watch."

Earlier this year, several Guard F-16 fighter (see page 37) units were scrubbed from enforcing the no-fly zone over southern Iraq because they lacked the ability to drop laser-guided munitions.

The good news for the Guard is that Congress intervened and provided additional funds to begin outfitting Air Guard fighters with the means to deliver the Air Force's most advanced weapons. Beginning in March, selected Air Guard squadrons will begin to receive the Litening II Pods to provide precision-guided munitions capability and be far more advanced than even those used by active squadrons, officials said.

"The capability provided by the Litening II Pods is 20 years ahead of the Lantirn target acquisition system currently in use in the active Air Force," Strom said. "We'd like to deliver the last one in two years, but it all comes down to funding, It's going to take a couple of years to get all the funding."

The Air Guard's F-16 fleet is slated to receive additional upgrades in the near-term, to include:

The Night Vision Imaging System or NVIS, which will enhance 24-hour combat capability and eliminate the use of a makeshift system of fasteners, green filters and glow sticks in the F-16 cockpit to fly at night; and Two new Datalink systems -- the Situation Awareness Data Link, or SADL, for Block 30 F-16s and all A-10s, and Link 16 for the remainder of the F-16s and all F-15s. The integration of these Datalink systems will provide the flight crew a 360-degree view of their environment.

"Your situational awareness goes up dramatically," Strom said regarding the impact of this equipment on pilots. "You can also push a lot of other information back and forth, reducing a lot of the need for voice communications."

In addition to improving its current F-16 fleet, the Guard also expects to receive some more modern aircraft through active Air Force cascading. "We have four squadrons with F-16A models," Strom said. "The Air Force has a plan to buy 60 additional units and spares and if they do that, we'll get them"

The Air Guard modernization program is not limited to the fighter world. Current plans also call for substantial upgrades to and replacement of airlift and tanker aircraft in the Guard.

In recent years, Congress has provided a significant boost to airlift modernization by mandating the purchase of new C-130J and EC-130J aircraft specifically for the Air National Guard to replace decades old C-130s.

"The difference is the engines, they're more powerful, giving a nearly 20 percent increase in the payload," said Lt. Col. Bill Kittle, who heads modernization for the Guard's airlift and tanker fleets.

The new J model is pressurized, allowing it to fly at a higher altitude, and it also features night vision-compliant lighting so the aircrew can fly covertly with goggles. Eight of the aircraft are funded and Maryland will be the first Guard unit to get them; Rhode Island and Pennsylvania (which will receive the EC model) will follow.

Procurement of the C-130J and EC-130J is the first step in a plan to standardize the Guard's C-130 fleet, which is currently comprised of nearly 20 variations. "We're following a plan to procure about 150 of the new models and replace our oldest aircraft," Kittle said. From there, Guard officials will begin the C-130 avionics modernization program, bringing all the aircraft into a common configuration.

C-130s are not the only aging airlift aircraft in the fleet. The first C-141 Starlifter entered the Air Force in 1964, with the Air Guard receiving its first C-141s (see page 38) in 1987. Two Air Guard squadrons still fly the long-range troop and cargo transport aircraft, which is scheduled to leave the inventory in 2006.

"We are looking to replace the C-141s with C-17s," Weaver said in his April testimony. But that will not occur until at least 2004, when C-17 Globemasters are slated to replace C-141s in Jackson, Mississippi. A timetable for aircraft replacement in the C-141 squadron in Memphis, Tennessee has yet to be announced.

In the mean time, the Guard is "doing some things to upgrade the avionics for the near-term to keep them flying," Kittle said. "But the C-141 is at the point that we're doing band-aid things to it to keep them going until their retirement dates."

Another of the Air National Guard's tremendous assets is its fleet of aerial tankers. In fact, the first eight Guard units activated in support of the NATO operations in Kosovo were tanker units, demonstrating the Total Air Force reliance on Air Guard refueling capabilities.

The workhorse of the Guard's refueling units is the KC-135 Stratotanker, which is about 40 years old.

"I wouldn't be surprised that we have some Guard units now where men or women will be flying the same airplanes their fathers did and maybe even their grandfathers," Kittle said.

Many of the KC-135s in the fleet do not meet new noise and air pollution standards, making them unable to operate from many civilian and military airfields abroad and raising questions about the deployability of the aircraft. The primary modification required is a new engine to replace the TF-33. Also, the Air Guard has established a tanker replacement team to consider options for a new multi-mission tanker aircraft to replace the KC-135 (see page 39). However, there is little funding currently available for this tanker modernization effort.

The case of the KC-135 exemplifies the situation facing National Guard officials as they lead the Guard into the 21st century -- a validated mission in support of the active component, an aging piece of equipment requiring technological upgrades to ensure its interoperability and deployability, and limited funds with which to perform the necessary modernization or acquire a replacement system. It is true that the Guard will continue to receive weapons systems handed down from the Army and Air Force to meet pressing needs. But in nearly all instances, the cascaded equipment will require some form of enhancement before it is of any significant value to the Guard. And this will place a strain on scarce resources.

At the end of the day, the issue is dollars. Because of their own equipment and other priorities, the active components are not likely to provide any more than modest support for Guard modernization programs in the future.

Therefore, the Guard's success in securing sufficient funds to carry forward its modernization initiatives will ultimately rest in its ability to persuade Congress that the Army and Air National Guard remain relevant to maintaining the national security of the United States.