ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

A key and evolving Army strategy focuses on pre- and post-war operations that new doctrine refers to as the period of “competition.”

“The U.S. Army in Multi-Domain Operations 2028,” a new U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command pamphlet that focuses on future fighting concepts, includes a section about operations when the U.S. isn’t at war, either because one hasn’t started or has just ended.

Top leaders agreed during a forum on Multi-Domain Operations, that the Army’s new warfighting concept can only succeed if it is executed in synchronization with the other services.

The term “Multi-Domain Battle” is changing, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command announced May 22.

Speaking via video conference to the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC conference in Honolulu, Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said the new, preferred new phrase is “Multi-Domain Operations.” It is more inclusive of the type of competition that is now underway between the U.S. and other nations, big and small.

Gen. Robert B. Brown, U.S. Army Pacific commanding general since April 26, said multilateral operations “are really the way to go” in all future military operations, in peace and in war.

“The future is multilateral. None of us can go it alone. It does not make sense for any of us to try to go it alone,” Brown said in opening remarks at LANPAC, a symposium and exposition hosted in Honolulu by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. “You will hear me say this again and again.”

In a time when Army strategists are talking about multidomain operations, a new paper from the AUSA’s Institute of Land Warfare says WWII offers strong lessons.