By Sam Canter, Strategy Bridge: "Buzzwords impersonating military strategy are not a new phenomenon in the United States. Concepts like Flexible Response, Revolutions in Military Affairs, and Full Spectrum Dominance each failed to successfully transition from idea to policy."
By Sydney Freedberg, Breaking Defense: "A congressionally mandated study warns the Defense Department's current efforts to harness artificial intelligence are “significantly challenged” by shortfalls in organization, planning, data, and talent, and testing, setting the stage for changes in the next defense policy and spending bills."
Breaking D has been at the forefront in reporting the Pentagon’s shift toward a new way of war, Multi-Domain Operations, since Day 1.
By Kevin Benson, Modern War Institute: "A punitive expedition results in a measured, relatively swift, focused response. It can be of some duration but only long enough to achieve the policy ends of punishing the group that threatened U.S. interests or caused U.S. casualties. There is no regime change, no re-ordering of the existing power structure in a region."
DoD is finalizing contracts for three competing demonstrators, aiming for a 300-kilowatt weapon by 2022 and 500 kW by 2024, laser R&D director Thomas Karr told us.
What will Beijing do with the data it stole about American military service members and others?
By David Whetham & Kennneth Payne, Defence-In-Depth: "Military planners have been seeking the Holy Grail of being able to see through the fog of war that introduces so much uncertainty and doubt into military decision making. Whether this was the Revolution in Military Affairs or Network Centric Warfare, the tantalising promise of reducing friction has been extremely attractive. AI appears to offer the same thing today ..."
It looks like the military is taking a regional approach to hypersonic missile defense, while it continues to pursue a space sensor layer for homeland defense.
By Patrick Tucker, Defense One: "Here’s a look back at some of the top defense-technology-related stories of the year."
Top Stories 2019: International Operations
By Ben Werner, USNI News: "The U.S. Navy pushed its interoperability with foreign allies and partner nations in 2019 to counter increased naval activity by Russia and China."