The topic of "multi-domain operations" has been gaining considerable traction over the past year. The Air Force, for example, has been articulating its multi-domain command and control (C2) concept as a way to improve operations across the air, space and cyberspace domains. At last month's AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, one of the most interesting panels was titled, "Multi-Domain Battle: Ensuring Joint Force Freedom of Action in Future War." The multi-domain operations concept focuses on enabling fighting forces in one domain, say a ground force, to generate effects in another domain, such attacking ships with land-based fires or targeting aircraft with a Patriot battery. Generating these types of cross-domain effects is certainly not new to warfare, of course. But, what is novel about multi-domain operations is the strong emphasis on smoothing out many of the "operational seams" between the warfighting domains and placing cross-domain effects at the center of how we conceptualize the battlespace. We've been evolving our Joint concept since World War II, and pursuing the multi-domain concept is the logical next step in this process.
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