On Sunday, the National Interest said in its report, Define in one word how the U.S. military can defeat the Chinese Communist Party in war —- speed!
Reporter Kris Osborn began with an excited gasp: robots, mini-Drones, proxy armored fighting vehicles, long-range missiles, multinational satellite networks, super-fast AI computing, oh my!
Photo: Miniature drones
To succeed in large-scale, multi-domain warfare between superpowers may come down to one simple word in the coming years —- speed!
At some level, this may seem reductive, but forces that have the ability to process and share critical Time-sensitive target data and operational information, and can act decisively, are certainly likely to win.
If an approaching mechanized armored force is able to receive information on the activity and location of enemy forces from satellites, drones, aircraft, and even naval vessels before it is itself targeted, and has long-range precision weapons to strike decisively, it certainly has the potential to win.
The future of warfare will depend to a large extent on information. Does this mean that wars will be won or lost by virtue of the efficacy of artificial intelligence? This is certainly a key variable, yet weapons themselves will still need to be lethal, long-range, and effective against a complex set of targets.
Guided by this fundamental understanding, the U.S. Army is moving quickly to experiment, test, improve and design new weapons, technologies and strategic warfare applications. This concept is the foundation for the Army’s upcoming Multi-Domain, Multi-Service Integration Program 2021.
Robots, miniature drones, surrogate armored fighting vehicles, long-range missiles, transnational satellite networks, ultra-high-speed, artificial intelligence computing and more will all head to the desert later this year for this year’s Project Convergence.
The first is the reduction of the targeting decision cycle from minutes to seconds, which has proven successful for many military leaders, technologists and weapons developers seeking to redefine the way modern warfare is conducted. It is a kind of “speed warfare,” so to speak, enabled almost entirely by a network of multi-node combat sensors and accelerated at scale by an AI computer called “Firestorm. The upcoming “Fusion Program 2021” will not only involve the other services to a greater extent, but will also incorporate multi-domain mission forces, Air Force weapons, naval technology, and even headquarters elements that were not available last year.
General John Murray, commander of Army Futures Command, told The National Interest, “There will be a number of mission threads, as there were last year, all related to the questions we’re trying to answer, using the same level of data collection that we used last year. This year we will be going in with other forces and all of them will be bringing their data collectors. It will be a pooled set of data.” We all have access to it, so we all have the ability to learn the same things from the data.
In a broad sense, it is interesting and important to note that through the Fusion Program, the Army may be completing or beginning to complete the kind of AI-enabled, sensor-to-shooter breakthrough that could really reshape the modern warfare paradigm. In fact, General Murray does, and while he emphasized that the process is experimental and a good learning process, he said Army think tanks are beginning conceptual work on how these technologies and tactical adaptations will inform the new doctrine.
This real-time operational networking, particularly across domains, is something the Army has been working on for decades. Now, thanks to advances in technology and adaptations in maneuver formations, it may be about to come to fruition. Executives are reluctant to jump to premature conclusions, yet they are optimistic and operationally seem clear that if a major joint mechanized U.S. Army force can find, track and destroy enemy targets in an unprecedented multi-domain fashion and at an unprecedented range, much faster than major great power adversaries, it could provide a coveted and needed advantage.
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