Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 19

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Carlos M. Vazquez)

The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke launches Tomahawk cruise missiles at ISIS targets 23 September 2014.

Science and technology will continue to influence the
character of warfare. While the U.S. Army differential
advantages over potential enemies will continue to depend in large measure on advanced technology, winning
in a complex world requires powerful combinations
of leadership, skilled soldiers, well-trained units, and
technology. There are no technological silver bullets. The
Army must integrate new technological capabilities with
complementary changes in doctrine, organization, training, leader development, personnel, and other elements
of combat effectiveness.28 Army technological development emphasizes the need for all formations to possess
the appropriate combination of mobility, protection, and
lethality. And the Army places soldiers at the center of
that effort, pursuing “advances in human sciences for
cognitive, social, and physical development” while fitting
weapons and machines to soldiers and units rather than
the other way around.29

Missions
The complexity of future armed conflict, therefore,
will require Army forces capable of conducting missions
MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2015

in the homeland or in foreign lands including defense
support of civil authorities, international disaster relief
and humanitarian assistance, security cooperation activities, crisis response, or large-scale operations.

—The U.S. Army Operating Concept30

The Army is not a boutique force. Soldiers and units
must be prepared for a broad range of activities. The
2014 Quadrennial Defense Review identified 11 mission areas in which the Army plays a significant role.
Army forces must be prepared to conduct operations
successfully in the context of future enemy capabilities
and technology. Missions will often overlap and place
varied and simultaneous demands on the joint force. In
future crises, demands on all components of the Army
are likely to increase as threats overseas generate simultaneous threats to the homeland.
To shape security environments and prepare
for a broad range of missions, Army “conventional
and special operations forces contribute to a global land network of relationships resulting in early
warning, indigenous solutions, and informed campaigns.”31 The theater security cooperation activities
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