Multi-domain Operations Research Articles

Organizing for future war and warfare: Complexity as ‘folk theory’ in NATO policy

Geopolitical and societal changes are increasingly narrated using the concept of complexity. In a range of policy contexts, from climate to finance and peacekeeping to defence and security, complexity is often prominent. This article explores the contemporary expressions of complexity in defence and security scholarship and policy. To understand the expressions of complexity, we view it as a ‘folk theory’ – what others have called a category of practice. We illustrate how this folk theory has gained prominence in NATO policy regarding the organizing of future war and warfare as one example of a policy context in which expressions of complexity are produced and promoted. Specifically, we examine NATO’s future warfighting concept – multi-domain operations – and explore how the concept offers a way and a new language to make sense of an uncertain future and make it governable from the present. We discuss some consequences of a ‘folk theory’ becoming the explanation rather than one of many explanations of the future defence and security landscape. As a representative of folk theory, complexity offers a strong performative master narrative for a variety of orientations, yet one whose practical relevance for the organization of security can be questioned.

Is the Joint Force Ready for a High-Tech, Multidomain, Evolving World?: A Study of Professional Reading Lists

What must the U.S. military of tomorrow look like? Using the U.S. Marine Corps’ 2024 Commandant’s Professional Reading List (CPRL) as a proxy for what military personnel are being told to know, the authors of this article questioned whether the Marine Corps is ready to envision a future U.S. military capable of Joint, inter-Service, interagency, and multinational multidomain operations. The authors assumed that professional reading lists focus on topics critical to future warfare and professional military education. As a benchmark, the authors have compared the CPRL’s topics to those in U.S. Army general George S. Patton Jr.’s “favorite books” list. Additionally, the authors have compared content in the CPRL to the most recent Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. This article identifies gaps in the CPRL and consequently the Marine Corps’ ability to envision a future force beyond 2030. The authors suggest categories of books that need to be added to professional reading lists to help prepare the Marine Corps and other U.S. military Services for future warfare.

Arranging the Defence of the Cyber Environment as a Part of Military Affairs: Tactical, Operational and Strategic approach in retrospect of The Russian - Ukrainian War 2022

The artificial cyber environment has reached national security interest and emerged as the fourth domain of battle in the military concept of all-domain operations in most Western armed forces and coalitions in the past 30 years. Currently, militaries are struggling to keep up with cybercriminals and advanced persistent actors while trying to gain an advantage of their data and digital infrastructure. The paper focuses on military affairs' ways and means to address the need for cyber warriors operating in friendly, neutral, and hostile cyber environments integrated under Multi-Domain Operations. The paper uses design research methodology to create and test a model for cyber defence capabilities generation and utilisation. The theoretical reference to military affairs is based on Beer's Viable System Model and previous studies of military organisations' evolution as capability generators. The military and societal cyber environment evolution model is based on industrial revolutions and current tendencies. These approaches define a hypothetical model for two main functions of military affairs (force generation and utilisation) concerning cyber defence capabilities. The fast evolution of cyber threats sets unique requirements for cyber force utilisation and generation structures. This difference has culminated in a recent war between Russia and Ukraine, and data from that conflict is used to test the hypothetical model. The rapid evolution of the cyber environment and its weaponisation establish different requirements for military cyber capabilities compared to any other operational dimension or capability (space, air, land, or maritime). The difference is evident in sourcing resources, generating capabilities, and using them in Multi-Domain Operations. The paper provides a tested model for generating cyber defence capabilities at a strategic level and an operation model for cyber defence at a tactical and operational level. The designed model extends the technically oriented cybersecurity thinking with operational and strategic levels. Furthermore, the model introduces the value stream behind the cyber capability acquisition and supports strategic designers in national and military analysis.

UNDERSTANDING MULTI-DOMAIN OPERATIONS FROM THE AIR FORCE PERSPECTIVE

This document delves into the transformative shift in military strategy towards Multi-Domain Operations, dictated by the fast evolution of warfare technologies and the complex nature of the contemporary battlefields. It outlines the historical progression of warfare from domain-specific tactics to the integrated approach of MDOs, emphasizing the importance of synchronizing operations across land, air, sea, space and cyberspace to achieve operational superiority. The air force’s critical role in this paradigm is highlighted, including its capabilities in air and space superiority, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, and command and control. There are also discussed the challenges such as interoperability, technological adaptation and training for MDOs, as well as the future success of military operations which fosters collaboration and innovating training programs to effectively counter adversaries in this new era of warfare.

The Commander’s Place on the Battlefield

News of Russian generals getting killed on the battlefields raises the question of whether a commander should lead an operation remotely, taking advantage of improved technical capabilities, or whether his presence close to the battlefield is necessary to meet the needs of his troops. The requirements of multi-domain operations and multi-domain integration call for command posts with enhanced capabilities along human, informational and physical dimensions. Unfortunately, these types of command posts have become very large, easily recognisable and vulnerable to attack. Alexander Kohli argues that commanders should not exclusively remain in remote command posts but should also provide support close to the front through personal contact with subordinate commanders and troops. Therefore, they must be able to rely on a command post concept encompassing several smaller forward and alternate command posts operating inconspicuously, yet capable of using a comprehensive command and control system. ◼

Mission Command in Multi-Domain Operations

Abstract The world is constantly changing and so are the requirements for conducting military operations imposed by the complexity of today’s operational environment. This paper addresses the appropriateness of mission command for multi-domain operations, a transformative concept in NATO that aims to orchestrate military activities across all physical environments, integrated with nonmilitary ones. Mission command is crucial in a multi-domain environment where there are no sanctuaries of safe areas. Advanced technologies have increased battlefield transparency and enabled adversaries to threaten critical infrastructure. Building trust, fostering relationships and promoting shared understanding are essential elements for successful employment of mission command in multi-domain operations.

The Influence of Non-Kinetic Actions on Multi-Domain Operations Command and Control

Abstract In the current context, the way military actions are carried out determines rethinking the military leadership and approaching it through the lens of hybrid, non-kinetic approaches, of high precision technologies and of those that integrate all areas of military operations. Potential adversaries are increasingly using non-kinetic warfare strategies that include subversive and disinformation campaigns, espionage and cyber attacks. Thus, non-kinetic actions are relevant elements for military operations requiring the implementation of new operating and command-control concepts. In modern military confrontations it is imperative that leadership systems project power and use both precise and long-range kinetic actions as well as non-kinetic actions with chain effects and substantial benefits in mission accomplishments.

Revolutionizing Combat Casualty Care: The Power of Digital Twins in Optimizing Casualty Care Through Passive Data Collection.

The potential impact of large-scale combat operations and multidomain operations against peer adversaries poses significant challenges to the Military Health System including large volumes of critically ill and injured casualties, prolonged care times in austere care contexts, limited movement, contested logistics, and denied communications. These challenges contribute to the probability of higher casualty mortality and risk that casualty care hinders commanders' forward momentum or opportunities for overmatch on the battlefield. Novel technical solutions and associated concepts of operation that fundamentally change the delivery of casualty care are necessary to achieve desired medical outcomes that include maximizing Warfighter battle-readiness, minimizing return-to-duty time, optimizing medical evacuation that clears casualties from the battlefield while minimizing casualty morbidity and mortality, and minimizing resource consumption across the care continuum. These novel solutions promise to "automate" certain aspects of casualty care at the level of the individual caregiver and the system level, to unburden our limited number of providers to do more and make better (data-driven) decisions. In this commentary, we describe concepts of casualty digital twins-virtual representations of a casualty's physical journey through the roles of care-and how they, combined with passive data collection about casualty status, caregiver actions, and real-time resource use, can lead to human-machine teaming and increasing automation of casualty care across the care continuum while maintaining or improving outcomes. Our path to combat casualty care automation starts with mapping and modeling the context of casualty care in realistic environments through passive data collection of large amounts of unstructured data to inform machine learning models. These context-aware models will be matched with patient physiology models to create casualty digital twins that better predict casualty needs and resources required and ultimately inform and accelerate decision-making across the continuum of care. We will draw from the experience of the automotive industry as an exemplar for achieving automation in health care and inculcate automation as a mechanism for optimizing the casualty care survival chain.

The integration of multi-domain capabilities in land forces units combined arms operations

Current conflicts, ongoing across the globe, have highlighted the need for a new form of warfare that reduces the number of casualties and the degree of destruction and, at the same time, mitigates the effects of hybrid means, ubiquitous in the doctrine of all actors. This new approach to warfare utilizes multi-domain operations as a means of achieving success. Although multi-domain operations have been conducted in the past, the concept that encompasses the process of these operations is novel, and there are still significant adjustments that need to be made to make it operational for all actors. This article aims to study the integration of multi-domain operations into land operations by identifying the strengths and limitations of their development process, the conditions and principles of their integration at the land forces level, resulting from a comparative analysis of US and Russian Federation approaches, as well as from lessons learned from current conflicts.

A multi-domain operation – a modern view at the forms and methods of military operations adapting to the environment of challenges and threats transformation

Relevance of the article is due to the fact that Ukraine is currently faced with an operational response to hybrid threats from russia problem of, that include not only military aspects, but cyber security, information warfare, disinformation, non-military measures and other nontraditional methods of warfare also. One of the modern approaches to adopt the forms and methods of Defense Forces (Armed Forces) of Ukraine application of the to the conditions of the developmentof crisis situations of a military nature the transition to planning and conducting multi-domain operations, i.e. the simultaneous combination of actions in several spaces (domains) at once may be considered. The use of multi-domain operations technology is considered one of the ways to counter the enemy's hybrid threats effectively today. Therefore, the main goal of the article is to reveal the theoretical and practical essence of planning and conducting multi-domain operations, as well as the peculiarities of their organization and implementation. The main methods of research are methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction. The main results of the article are what is defined in it: key features of a multi-domain space military operations conducting; basic aspects of planning and carrying out multi-domain operations; main measures for the preparation and implementation of multi-domain operations; modern features of the transformation and prospects for adapting the forms and methods of military operations conducting by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the multi-domain space. The materials of the article can be useful to the leaders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the operational and strategic levels, as well as to scientists and researchers in the barnches of research on issues related to the Armed Forces of Ukraine use and ensuring the military (national) security of the State.

Conceptual Approach to Multi-Domain Operations

This article delves into multi-domain operations in the context of future warfighting. A multi-domain approach to operations is being progressively implemented in allied nations and within NATO, as well. It should also become a core interest for the Czech Republic, even if the sea and space domains do not represent the crucial area of potential operational engagement of the Army of the Czech Republic. The complexity of operations in a complex operating environment requires mutual interaction across all operational domains. The integration of the physical and virtual spheres of operations suggests that operations planning cannot be strictly oriented to individual operational domains. The interaction between operational domains must be perceived as a sine qua non for effective planning and conducting military operations. This is also a fundamental prerequisite for the successful activity of forces in a complex operating environment.

Modelling a major maritime disaster scenario using the universal modelling framework for sequential decisions

This article examines a major maritime disaster scenario in which a large number of individuals in medical distress are stranded at a remote Arctic location and must be evacuated. Within this context, we examine a multi-domain operation where a maritime asset with limited capacity is tasked to provide medical assistance at the evacuation site and limited air assets are used to evacuate individuals to a forward operating location. The objective of the operation is to maximize the number of lives saved. However, this value is dependent on a variety of factors, such as: uncertainty in the deterioration and improvement of the individuals’ medical condition; the arrival time of the maritime asset; the number of air assets employed; and the decision policies used to select who receives medical assistance and who is evacuated. Our contributions are twofold. First, we formulate the multi-domain operation as a sequential decision problem using the universal modelling framework for sequential decisions. Second, we present a hypothetical case study that explores how this model may be used to provide decision support for planning purposes. To do so, we use the model to explore how the expected number of lives saved is impacted by: varying the maritime asset’s arrival time and number of air assets employed; varying the decision policies used and assessing how these impacts are dependent upon when the maritime asset arrives; and varying the arrival time of the air assets, such as when they are prepositioned.

DLSDHMS: Design of a deep learning-based analysis model for secure and distributed hospital management using context-aware sidechains

Designing an efficient hospital management solution requires the integration of multidomain operations that include secure storage, alert system modelling, infrastructure management, staff management, report analysis, and feedback-based learning tasks. Existing hospital management models are either highly complex or do not incorporate comprehensive deep learning analysis, which limits their deployment capabilities. Moreover, most of these models use mutable storage solutions, which restricts their trust levels under multi-patient to multi-doctor mapping scenarios. To overcome these issues, this article proposes the design of a novel deep Learning-based analysis model for secure and distributed hospital management via context-aware sidechains. The model initially collects large-scale information sets from different hospital entities via an IoT-based network and stores the information on context-sensitive sidechains. These context-sensitive sidechains store information sets related to Medicine Management, Doctor Management, Insurance and Billing Management, and Appointment Management operations. These chains are optimized via an Iterative Genetic Algorithm (IGA) that assists in improving storage and retrieval performance via intelligent merging and splitting operations. Information stored on these chains is processed via a combination of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), that assist in identifying patient-level diseases and issues. The information obtained from these classifiers is updated on the central repository and assists in the pre-emption of diseases for other patients. Due to these integrations, the proposed model is capable of reducing computational delay by 3.5 % and reducing storage cost by 8.3 % when compared to other blockchain-based deployments. The model is also able to pre-empt patient issues with 9.3 % higher accuracy and 4.8 % higher precision, which makes it useful for real-time clinical deployments.

The Role of Strategic Missile Forces in Counteracting a NATO Strategic Multi-Domain Operation

The Role of Strategic Missile Forces in Counteracting a NATO Strategic Multi-Domain Operation

Applying the sidekick principles to the prototyping of human-machine teaming in collection planning

Collection planning for multi-domain operations is a complex task that is heavily manual, resource-intensive, and sub-optimally setup for collaboration. To solve these gaps and leverage advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which suggest that those are resolvable, our team employed the sidekick principles for human-machine teaming to design and prototype COGSWORTH, a system for Collection Optimization and Generation Synchronized with Optempo Reasoning Tailored to Humans. COGSWORTH is envisioned as a cognitive assistant to help collection planners. We report here on (1) our application of the sidekick principles to the prototyping of COGSWORTH, (2) how the sidekick principles are tangibly reflected in prototype artifacts, and (3) lessons learned and practical takeaways that may inform other researchers and practitioners in the human-machine teaming field.

The Role of Multi-Domain Operations in Modern Warfare

Abstract The end of the Cold War and the emergence of modern technologies, especially in the space or cyber fields, brought a new interpretation of conflicts, based on modern systems and decisions adapted to these novelties. It is through these considerations that the changing nature of conflicts has presented challenges to traditional military doctrines and strategies. The multi-domain operations approach is used by NATO to identify the unique strengths and capabilities of each force category. By identifying these capabilities, the Alliance is able to create plans that maximize the effectiveness of each force category and enable a more effective response to potential threats.

High‐Speed Rotary Motor for Multidomain Operations Driven by Resonant Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

The motion of rotation is ubiquitous in daily life and industry. Compared with electromagnet motors, smart‐material‐based rotary motors may exhibit more flexibility, robustness, and adaptability. Herein, a lightweight, compact dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) rotary motor with remarkable performance is reported. The motor is driven by a multilayered, slightly‐prestretched (<10%) dielectric elastomer (DE) composite membrane which consists of low‐loss silicone as the DE layers and single‐walled carbon nanotube as electrodes. When operating at frequencies around its resonance, it achieves a maximum rotating speed of 2,850 rpm (to the best of the authors' knowledge, the fastest among all reported DEA rotary motors so far), torque of 0.655 mN m, and power of 34.7 mW with optimized transmission parameters. To demonstrate the motor's practical application, an off‐the‐shelf air vehicle propeller is driven by the motor, and a lift of 26 mN (1.54 times the DEA membrane's own weight) is obtained. An underwater robot driven by a water propeller is designed and a high speed of 175 mm s−1 (1.58 bl s−1) is obtained. The DEA rotary motor of this work paves a new way for driving agile robots in multidomain operations.

NATO’s Approach to Multi-Domain Operations: From the Perspective of the Economics of Alliances

ABSTRACT This study presents a model that incorporates the characteristics of multi-domain operations (MDO) and analyzes the impact of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) approach to MDO on the behavior of its member countries from the perspective of the economics of alliances. NATO is wary of authoritarian states and prepared for the great power competition with them, as shown in its current strategic concept. To prepare for a possible future war against peer competitors, NATO is strengthening its capabilities to conduct MDO, in which cross-domain synergy is a key factor. The model presented in this study relates the cross-domain synergy in MDO and the complementarity between the defense activities in multiple domains using organizational and public economics methods. The implication of this model is that if the defense activities in different domains are complementary, one member country’s increasing defense activities in one domain can increase another’s defense activity in another domain that is complementary to that domain. It is particularly crucial for NATO’s future military buildup: NATO’s approach to MDO will make defense burden-sharing fairer because one member’s military buildup will motivate other members to build up theirs.

Guerre à la Carte: Cyber, Information, Cognitive Warfare and the Metaverse

Hybrid warfare is currently among the most trending topics. Hybrid threats arise in digital, cybernetic, and virtual environments and materialise in the real world. Despite being a somewhat vague term, hybrid activities include cyberwarfare, information warfare, and the emerging and evolving concept of cognitive warfare which appears from their intersection. These buzzwords gained popular attention in the context of the Russo- -Ukrainian conflict and such terms are now in vogue. Even though these topics are in the spotlight, there is also widespread confusion about what exactly these usages mean and what the implications are in branding them as “warfare”. Indeed, all these concepts are fluid, nebulous, and lack an undisputed legal definition. This article aims to clarify their meaning and to shed light on the characteristics of such terms – differences, similarities and overlaps – in the context of hybrid warfare and show the faulty reasoning upon which misunderstandings are based. The paper concludes with a glimpse into the future, closing with a reflection on multi-domain operations facilitated by a fully integrated human- -computer interaction in the metaverse, where physical reality is merged and interacts with digital virtuality.

Multi-domain escalation management: a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation case study

ABSTRACT “Multi-domain operations” is an emerging concept that many defence organisations are trying to define and to decide how and when to use as part of their operations and warfighting strategies. This article addresses these questions and specifically identifies how the emerging concept of multi-domain operations, along with escalation management, can fit into the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) warfighting needs. This article examines and debates concepts related to multi-domain operations and deterrence and addresses the importance of maintaining this strategic repertoire within the current geopolitical environment. It uses a European case study to illustrate the uses and impact of multi-domain escalation management. Finally, it provides a holistic view of research innovation in this area and its impact on NATO’s potential usage of multi-domain.