Making The Soldier Decisive On Future Battlefields

The U.S. military does not believe its soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines should be engaged in combat with adversaries on a "level playing field." Our combat individuals enter engagements to win. To that end, the United States has used its technical prowess and industrial capability to develop decisive weapons that overmatch those of potential enemies. In its current engagement-what has been identified as an "era of persistent conflict"- the nation's most important weapon is the dismounted soldier operating in small units. Today's soldier must be prepared to contend with both regular and irregular adversaries. Results in Iraq and Afghanistan show that, while the U.S. soldier is a formidable fighter, the contemporary suite of equipment and support does not afford the same high degree of overmatch capability exhibited by large weapons platforms-yet it is the soldier who ultimately will play the decisive role in restoring stability. Making the Soldier Decisive on Future Battlefields establishes the technical requirements for overmatch capability for dismounted soldiers operating individually or in small units. It prescribes technological and organizational capabilities needed to make the dismounted soldier a decisive weapon in a changing, uncertain, and complex future environment and provides the Army with 15 recommendations on how to focus its efforts to enable the soldier and tactical small unit (TSU) to achieve overmatch.

This study resulted from recognition by the U.S. Army that a great disparity exists between the decisive overmatch capability, relative to prospective adversaries, of major U.S. weapon systems (such as tanks, fighter aircraft, or nuclear submarines) and the relative vulnerability of dismounted soldiers when they are operating in small, detached units (squads). The increased reliance in recent Army deployments on soldiers operating in these tactical small units (TSUs), as well as the expanding responsibilities of ground forces in the future for missions that go beyond traditional combat, provided the incentive to ask what could be done to give dismounted soldiers and TSUs a credible degree of decisive overmatch in any of the anticipated future operational environments. The focus of this study was achieving decisive overmatch for the dismounted Soldier and tactical small unit (TSU) on future battlefields. In particular, the committee was asked to determine the elemaents of overmatch capabilities necessary to achieve decisiveness, identify technical requirements for optimizing Soldiers and small units, identify near-, mid-, and far-term technologies for investment, and determine the relative importance of such investments. To examine the desired elements of decisive overmatch, Chapter 2 identifies capabilities needed for decisive overmatch by Soldiers and small units in dismounted infantry squad operations, including situational understanding, military effects (including lethal and nonlethal effects and stability actions), maneuverability, sustainability, and survivability. Chapter 3 then articulates the foundational capabilities needed to identify and implement potential solutions. Finally, Chapter 4 describes how to achieve overmatch by focusing on the five areas most likely to enable improvements in Soldier and TSU decisiveness. The study will examine the applicability of systems engineering to soldiers and small uni.

The U.S. military does not believe its soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines should be engaged in combat with adversaries on a "level playing field." Our combat individuals enter engagements to win. To that end, the United States has used its technical prowess and industrial capability to develop decisive weapons that overmatch those of potential enemies. In its current engagement-what has been identified as an "era of persistent conflict"- the nation's most important weapon is the dismounted soldier operating in small units. Today's soldier must be prepared to contend with both regular and irregular adversaries. Results in Iraq and Afghanistan show that, while the U.S. soldier is a formidable fighter, the contemporary suite of equipment and support does not afford the same high degree of overmatch capability exhibited by large weapons platforms-yet it is the soldier who ultimately will play the decisive role in restoring stability. Making the Soldier Decisive on Future Battlefields establishes the technical requirements for overmatch capability for dismounted soldiers operating individually or in small units. It prescribes technological and organizational capabilities needed to make the dismounted soldier a decisive weapon in a changing, uncertain, and complex future environment and provides the Army with 15 recommendations on how to focus its efforts to enable the soldier and tactical small unit (TSU) to achieve overmatch.

"On War" by Carl von Clausewitz (translated by J. J. Graham). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

This is a book about strategy and war fighting. It contains 11 essays which examine topics such as military operations against a well-armed rogue state, the potential of parallel warfare strategy for different kinds of states, the revolutionary potential of information warfare, the lethal possibilities of biological warfare and the elements of an ongoing revolution in military affairs. The purpose of the book is to focus attention on the operational problems, enemy strategies and threat that will confront U.S. national security decision makers in the twenty-first century.

At the request of the U.S. Army, the Board on Army Research and Development of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a 3-day workshop to explore how the Army can improve its strategic medical infrastructure planning with a view to 2035. The workshop, held July 14-16, 2020, brought together experts and key stakeholders from academia, industry, and government. The Army requires fidelity, consistency, and predictability in planning and managing research, development, test, and evaluation resources for medical infrastructure across all appropriation sources to effectively develop, deliver, and respond to military medical capability needs. In response to the Army's requirement, the workshop was designed to address the components of a sustainable, reinforcing enterprise framework (organizational and fiscal). Presentations and discussions examined roles, responsibilities, and coordinating mechanisms among major stakeholders of battlefield medicine; case studies of comparably complex non-government enterprise solutions; and opportunities to link ends, ways, and means for improvements. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

The concept of soldier enhancement often invokes images of dystopian futures populated with dehumanized military personnel. These futures serve as warnings in science fiction works, and yet the enhancement of soldiers' combat capability is almost as old as war itself. Today, soldier enhancement is the purpose of military training and the application of innovative technologies, but when does it begin to challenge individuals' very humanity? Bringing together the work of a diverse group of practitioners and academics, Transhumanizing War examines performance enhancement in the military from a wide range of perspectives. The book builds on two key premises: that rapid advances in science and technology are outstripping governments' and military organizations' capacity to adapt, and that this has put pressure on the connection between the military and the public. The contributors to this collection grapple with the implications of continued technological advancement and the possibility that innovative solutions to performance enhancement will risk further alienating the soldier from society. Navigating the fine line between technological promise and ethics, this volume presents a guide to responsible implementation in Canada and abroad. Offering unique insights into a debate on the bleeding edge of public discourse, Transhumanizing War considers the best ways to improve combat effectiveness while still preserving soldiers' humanity.