Space Reforms in India: A Job Half Done

Ashwin Prasad

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Overview of the Indian Space Sector

On 24 June, 2020, the Union Cabinet of India initiated signicant reforms in the Indian space domain. 1 These space reforms have a few broad objectives, each closely linked to the rest:

• Boosting private industry’s role in the Indian space sector. 
• ● Unburdening ISRO from its routine operation tasks so that it can focus on critical R&D, deep space exploration and human spaceight. 
• ● Enhancing Indian capabilities in advanced space technology. 
• ● Aiding in advancing India's space ambitions

An overview of the pre-reform space sector is needed to understand why the government undertook these reforms.

Backdrop of the Reforms

Space technology is deeply consequential for civilian and military applications. The size of the global space economy will triple to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. 2 Despite being an elite space-faring nation with signicant technological achievements, India's share of this economy is estimated to be less than 2%.

The Indian government needed to increase the national space capabilities, address growing technology needs, and gain an inuential voice in the global dialogues related to outer space aairs. This voice needs to be a resonant chorus emerging from diverse stakeholders in the country operating across various domains. Until recently, this ecosystem was largely missing in India, with almost the entire space sector restricted to one organisation. 

Taiwan may yet become a porcupine

Jane Rickards

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It’s early days, but the signs are strong that Taiwan’s new government will insist on much more of a porcupine strategy for national defence than many officers in the country’s hidebound armed forces have been willing to accept.

If it succeeds, the island should be far more capable of fending off a conquest by China, and the armed forces will have to give up some of the traditional and glamorous but highly vulnerable weaponry that they are so fond of.

Much of the defence budget would shift to small and easily hidden systems that could threaten an invasion fleet, ground forces that have landed or aircraft supporting them. From China’s point of view, Taiwan would resemble a porcupine, covered in innumerable quills and hard to touch.

President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party took office in May. His

new defence minister, Wellington Koo, set out key aspects of military policy direction in an initial report to the legislature in June.

Here’s What Happened When Bangladesh Shut Internet During Deadly Unrest

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Deadly clashes in Bangladesh last week have highlighted frustration with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year hold on power.

It all began when university students began protesting a June decision by the High Court reinstating a divisive 30% quota of civil service jobs for descendants of fighters in the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

Resentment was high because the government was failing to provide enough jobs in the country of 170 million people, especially for its burgeoning youth population.

Then Hasina on July 15 likened the protesters to collaborators with Pakistan in the 1971 war and students erupted in fury as even more came out on to the streets as the anti-quota movement spreads to students nationwide.

The Deep Roots of Bangladesh’s Crisis - Analysis

Salil Tripathi

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What began in Bangladesh as a mass student protest against job quotas has now morphed into a nationwide uprising against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule. As protesters clash with authorities, the government has enforced a curfew, imposed an internet blackout, and declared Monday a public holiday in an attempt to maintain order. The official death toll has reached 174 people, though the actual number is likely to be much higher. On Sunday, Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, appealed to the international community to help stop the “killing spree.”

Myanmar regional military HQ captured, rebels say, in blow to junta

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A rebel army in Myanmar said on Thursday it had seized control of a major regional military headquarters near the border with China, in what could be the biggest recent defeat for a ruling junta that is battling to contain a widening revolt.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) said it had taken the strategic city of Lashio in northern Shan State, about 120 km (75 miles) from the Chinese border, after 23 days of fighting with government troops.

"Our army has won a decisive victory and is now clearing out the remaining enemy troops. The city is now declared completely liberated," it said in a statement shared by its mouthpiece on social media, urging the public to remain calm and comply with its administration of the city.

Reuters could not independently verify the group's claim and a spokesperson for Myanmar's junta did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The MNDAA is among several ethnic minority rebel groups fighting to repel the military from what they consider their territories, in a loose alliance with an armed resistance movement that has waged a nationwide campaign to undermine the junta's rule.

The conflict has morphed into a civil war that represents one of the biggest challenges to Myanmar's well-equipped military in its combined five decades of rule. More than 2.6 million people are displaced, according to the United Nations.

China and Russia Are Breaking the World into Pieces

Hal Brands

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From Ukraine to Gaza to the South China Sea, the world is littered with crises. International cooperation is paralyzed by diplomatic rivalry; techno-optimism has given way to a pervasive techno-anxiety . The sole superpower is limping toward an election with fateful consequences, as its rivals feverishly arm themselves for wars present and, perhaps, future. Each of these challenges, in turn, is symptomatic of a deeper historic shift underway.

“The current international environment is in turmoil, because its essential elements are all in flux simultaneously.” Henry Kissinger wrote that in 1968, as a whirlwind of change — decolonization, domestic protest, a changing balance of power — was roiling the arrangements that had emerged after World War II. But Kissinger’s assessment is also a good starting point for understanding a disordered globe today.

For a generation after the Cold War, the world was structured by a set of verities : the triumph of democracy over autocracy, the virtues of globalization and innovation, the prospects for great-power peace, and the stabilizing role of American power. Those verities underpinned a world that was remarkably favorable for the US and its allies. They were also historically propitious for global finance and trade. The reason today’s world seems so chaotic is that those old verities are crumbling, as the contours of a new era take shape.

China’s third plenum – watch what they do, not what they say

David Lubin

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When trying to understand China’s economy, it’s worth remembering that the gulf between what Chinese policymakers say and what they do can be vast. Let’s call that a ‘Type 1 problem’. But sometimes they just don’t say very much at all, and this one might call a ‘Type 2 problem’.

Last week’s third plenum, a five-yearly top-level meeting which on occasion has delivered important signals of Beijing’s grand economic strategy, served up a Type 2 problem. Unless you attribute a great deal of significance to Beijing’s ‘Five-Sphere Integrated Plan’ or the ‘Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy’, the plenum’s communique was long on slogans and short on substance.

A lack of clarity

To be fair, many of these slogans do genuinely reflect deep thinking about policy. When Beijing officials talk about ‘the new development philosophy’, ‘Chinese modernization’, ‘high quality development’, ‘new quality productive forces’, or a ‘high-standards socialist market economy’, these are references to real objectives.

It’s just that their constant repetition adds little to anyone’s understanding of how policy is being shaped. Not even the full set of decisions that were adopted, published yesterday and whose English translation exceeds 17,000 words, offers many hints.

US prepares jamming devices targeting Russia, China satellites

TONY CAPACCIO

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The U.S. is about to deploy a new ground-based jammer designed to blunt Chinese or Russian satellites from transmitting information about U.S. forces during a conflict, the Space Force disclosed.

The Pentagon’s space service branch tested the system for the first time earlier this year at two different locations, with control of the system at a third. The devices aren’t meant to protect U.S. satellites from Chinese or Russian jamming but “to responsibly counter adversary satellite communications capabilities that enable attacks,” the Space Force said in a statement to Bloomberg News.

The Pentagon strives — on the rare occasions when it discusses such space capabilities — to distinguish its emerging satellite-jamming technology as purely defensive and narrowly focused. That’s as opposed to a nuclear weapon the U.S. says Russia is developing that could create high-altitude electromagnetic pulses that would take out satellites and disrupt entire communications networks.

1 vs. 29: South China Sea Electronic War Ends with US GPS Loss and Retreat

Stepin

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Over the vast expanse of the South China Sea, a war without gunfire quietly unfolded, its unique impact capturing the world’s attention. On June 30th, a brief yet meaningful tweet from the official Weibo account of China’s Southern Theater Command—“Thick smoke deep in the blue sea, good night”—sparked a massive online reaction, leaving netizens speculating about the secrets behind it.

Recently, there have been widespread rumors online of an intense electronic warfare between China and the United States in the South China Sea, ending with the US deciding to withdraw.

Reports indicate that the skies over northern Philippines recently fell into an unprecedented silence, with all electronic signals cut off. Satellite phones, GPS navigation, television signals—everything reliant on electronic communication seemed to lose its vitality overnight. The twelve-hour “blackout” shocked local residents and global public opinion. This was a direct result of an intense electronic warfare over the South China Sea.

The story begins with a minor conflict between the Philippines and China. Following a fierce confrontation at Ren’ai Reef, the Philippines felt aggrieved by China’s legitimate actions, and the US, as its backer, seized the opportunity. A joint military exercise involving 29 countries was held in the South China Sea, ostensibly to showcase “unity” and “strength,” but with hidden motives—the US military intended to use this opportunity to lay newly developed anti-submarine devices on the seabed, spying on the movements of China’s strategic nuclear submarines and further restricting China’s strategic space.

Egypt showing flexibility on IDF staying along its Gaza border to block arms smuggling

Jacob Magid

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After long rejecting the idea in public, Cairo is privately moving toward allowing IDF troops to remain in a key border strip used by Hamas to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza, a senior Israeli official and a second official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

The potential shift in Egypt’s position would likely complicate Hamas’s standing in the ongoing hostage negotiations, as the terror group is demanding that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor as part of the staged ceasefire deal.

Israeli negotiators since May had been discussing withdrawing from the roughly 14-kilometer (9-mile) border stretch, with the US leading trilateral discussions with Israel and Egypt about the creation of an underground wall along the corridor at the south of the Strip and the installation of a surveillance system to thwart any weapons smuggling into Gaza, the two officials said.

But seeking to capitalize off a boosted position on the battlefield earlier this month, Netanyahu shifted course and declared that the IDF remaining in Philadelphi was nonnegotiable.

How tactical units are filling their need for ISR and first–person view unmanned systems

Barry Rosenberg

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The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is the point office for the Defense Department’s efforts to bring in commercial technology — including the kind of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that have proven so effective in Ukraine. DIU also screens and validates what they call “secure, trusted” UAS through a program called Blue UAS. It focuses on Group 1 and 2 small UAS, particularly commercially built quadcopters for short-range reconnaissance for Army, Marine Corps and special operations units.

DIU produces what’s called the Blue UAS Cleared List of platforms and components, including ground-control systems, from which military units can find verified systems and vendors for their specific missions. We discussed how it works with Blue UAS Project Lead Trent Emeneker.

TRENT EMENEKER: There’s three pieces of legislation that apply. The 2020 NDAA, the 2023 NDAA, and the 2024 American Security Drone Act all have pieces that apply specifically to hardware and components for use in UAS platforms. Those restrictions can be summarized as if a component can think, talk or communicate in some way, it can’t come from a prohibited country. For all intents and purposes, that means China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela.

The first thing we do is ensure that platforms we are looking to add are in compliance with that part of the law. We do a physical tear down [and] look to see where the components we need to check come from and trace the supply chain back to understand if this is illegal for the law.

Why America Has Failed to Forge an Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire

Eric Min

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On May 31, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a three-phase proposal to end the war in the Gaza Strip. He called, first, for a temporary cease-fire tied to partial withdrawals of Israeli forces, limited hostage exchanges, and an influx of aid. Negotiations would then begin and, if successful, lead to the second phase, involving a permanent cessation of hostilities, tied to full withdrawals and complete hostage exchanges. The final phase would see reconstruction efforts begin in Gaza, and the exchange of the remains of Israeli hostages.

Despite the fanfare with which it was announced, this proposal was just one of many to have been made since the war began. Indeed, Israel and Hamas had previously rejected similar plans advanced by Egypt and Qatar. And, like the other proposals, the Biden plan has fallen flat. Although these mediated initiatives have not succeeded in forging peace, they represent attempts to end the ongoing suffering caused by the war. It can’t hurt to try.

Or can it? The historical record reveals that such diplomatic interventions often have hugely negative consequences. Outside powers have almost never been able to impose lasting cease-fires without support from the belligerents themselves and, perhaps more troublingly, external efforts to facilitate diplomacy can make wars worse. Rather than bringing peace, there is the uncomfortable likelihood that diplomacy which takes place regardless of what is happening on the battlefield, can actually exacerbate a war. The United States and its allies should pressure Hamas and Israel to change their wartime conduct, instead of seeking to impose negotiations when neither side has expressed an interest in a settlement.

Can Europe defend itself ‘without’ the US?

Gabriel Elefteriu

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The prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency and, in particular, his recent pick of JD Vance as vice-presidential candidate have further increased the sense of alarm within the “transatlantic community.” The balance of US commitments to NATO’s main mission, the defence of Europe, is already under heavy pressure due to the Chinese pressure on Taiwan. As previously explained in these pages, American military resources will be increasingly drawn away from the North Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific regardless of who runs the White House.

This may be a secular trend but nuance matters. Both the Democrats and the establishment Republicans, on the whole, remain strongly committed to NATO. They might redeploy significant US forces to Asia (like Barack Obama intended after 2012) and they might insist that the Europeans take up more of the burden – but they would not put Article 5 in doubt.

In turn, that logic effectively guarantees that the key elements of US military contribution to NATO, particularly in terms of the essential nuclear dimension and practical command and control capabilities (as well as actual planning assumptions), would stay in place. If war came, the “wiring” and the political will would be there to make a surge of US forces to Europe at least viable.

Will Americans Stop Trying to ‘Run the World’?

Doug Bandow

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When President Joe Biden was attempting to disguise his encroaching dementia, he told journalist George Stephanopoulos: “You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world.” No wonder everything everywhere is such a mess. War is raging in Europe and the Middle East. Multiple conflicts threaten Asia. Heckuva job, Joe!

Unfortunately, America’s so-called allies are determined to entangle the United States in one war after another. For instance, South Korean officials demand “reassurance” that Washington will use nuclear weapons to protect Seoul. Taiwanese resist military service, expecting Americans to save them. U.S naval forces battle Yemeni insurgents interdicting Asian and European maritime commerce. Saudi Arabia long pushed, and Israel continues to press, the U.S. to fight Iran on their behalf.

The Baltic states repeatedly concoct military campaigns against Russia for America to mount, while France and other NATO members suggest introducing combat troops to Ukraine. Failed British politicians representing a country unable to defend itself urge U.S. officials to enable attacks on the Russian homeland, risking the sort of escalation only narrowly avoided during the Cold War. Kiev demands Washington make Ukraine’s conflict America’s own. Indeed, former military commander Valery Zaluzhny preaches world war, apparently prepared to take the globe to the brink of destruction: “Is humanity ready to calmly accept the next war in terms of the scale of suffering? This time the Third World War? Free and democratic countries and their governments need to wake up and think about how to protect your citizens and their countries.”

Anthony Fauci Worries About the Next Pandemic—But Worries More About Democracy

Steven Levy

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Bound in a book, Anthony Fauci is finally unbound. For 54 years, the nation’s leading pandemic expert stuck to science and public health policy in his public statements, because he had to. As a federal official—who spent the last 38 of those years as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—discretion was required when it came to internal conflicts and any criticism of his White House bosses. But having left government in 2022, Doctor Fauci, who was both lionized and vilified as the nation’s spokesperson during the Covid crisis, is free to speak in his own voice about his personal experiences.

In his book, On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service, he does just that, covering his entire career—not only his year fighting both Covid and Donald Trump. Diseases come and go (or at least, in the case of AIDS, come under control), but the constant is a mission-driven Brooklyn-born physician who rose as a bureaucrat but insisted on maintaining a lab and seeing patients. Covid doesn’t make an entrance until page 345 of this 464-page tome.

But just as Covid won’t go away, Fauci’s role in fighting the crisis still makes him a hot-button personality. Two years after he left government, anti-science Republicans are still charging that he misled the nation about masks, lockdowns, and the efficacy of quack treatments. But what is likely a majority of Americans—including those who bought bobbleheads of the 83-year-old doctor—still revere him. No wonder On Call topped the bestseller list.

Eye of the storm: A day in the life of Ukrainian infantry on the zero line near Toretsk

Francis Farrell

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There was already little resembling a road in front of the driver by the time the old pickup truck’s headlights were shut off.

From here up until the drop-off point, he navigates by memory only: the crescent moon hanging over this part of Donetsk Oblast isn’t enough to illuminate the mangled dirt tracks that lead to the zero line.

Passing on by radio that he has turned on the truck’s electronic warfare device, the driver carefully navigates the darkness to the sound of tired, bent brake discs rubbing on the wheel.

Then, the transfer: greetings of “Wish you health” (Ukrainian military salute) exchanged with the waiting soldiers on their way out to the shift change, backpacks and rifles thrown in the back of the truck.

Finally, a short, brisk walk begins, along a line of dead, burnt-out trees decorated in faded green summer foliage.

Vadym Sukharevsky, the man in charge of Ukraine’s drones

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VADYM SUKHAREVSKY IS used to a seat in history’s front row. Ten years ago, in April 2014, his machineguns were the first to fire in Ukraine’s anti-terror operation, as the initial phase of the armed struggle against Russia was known. At the time, Ukraine’s forces were under a strict “no fire” order, even as Russian proxy fighters ran amok in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slovyansk. But the then lieutenant had little hesitation when it became clear that the enemy was preparing an ambush. “See it, shoot it,” he told his soldiers at the time. His fast thinking is credited with saving a dozen lives. The phrase is now embroidered on the gaming chair that swivels at his new command desk.

Freshly installed as the head of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, the first position of its kind in the world, Colonel Sukharevsky is shaping history once again. The 39-year-old commander has long stood out as a new type of military boss: a technological whizz, whose focus on electronic warfare and drones as a battalion and then brigade commander caught the attention of those at the very top. But now he must deliver across the board in the fastest-developing arena of war. He must do so against a much better resourced enemy, backed by Iran, North Korea and probably China and in a uniquely challenging environment of jamming and other electronic warfare; and with a low and uncertain budget. He believes he can do it.

Confused Ukrainian Troops Jam Their Own Drones—And Russian Forces Advance Toward Pokrovsk

David Axe

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On April 20, Russian troops took advantage of the confusion resulting from a reshuffling of Ukrainian forces west of the ruins of the eastern city of Avdiivka—and attacked.

Breaking through positions held by the Ukrainian army’s 115th Mechanized Brigade, which had recently rotated into positions in Ocheretyne, the Russian army’s 30th Motor Rifle Brigade quickly advanced several miles to the west. Russian reinforcements raced into the breach, cementing the territorial gains.

Three months later, it’s happening again—and in the same sector. In just the last week, Russian regiments and brigades have advanced nearly four miles farther west from Ocheretyne.

Marching .6 miles a day might not seem particularly fast, but by the standards of Russia’s 28-month wider war on Ukraine, it’s practically a sprint. Famed Ukrainian war correspondent Yuriy Butusov called the situation around Ocheretyne “critically difficult.”

Amid staggeringly high Russian casualties and extreme losses in armored vehicles that are contributing to a slow de-mechanization of the Russian military, it’s easy to lose sight of Russia’s enduring advantages over Ukraine as the wider war grinds into its third year.

Information warfare: five ways Russia captured Ukrainian media

Dr Adam Ure

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When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, one of its priorities was to take hold of Ukraine’s media space. Its forces and security services rushed to capture media outlets, seizing television studios, radio towers and telecommunications infrastructure. Reports of violence against journalists – from detentions to killings – have been widespread.

Moscow was intent on controlling information networks in order to oversee and manipulate what Ukrainians were reading and hearing about the invasion, and to manufacture support for its occupation.

Mastery of the information space plays a key role in Russian security and military strategy, and Moscow has long emphasised the role of “information warfare” – a term that its protagonists frequently use – in its various foreign invasions over the years.

Russia’s seizure of parts of the Ukrainian information space after February 2022 marked an intensification of methodologies that it had been honing over a longer period. Moscow relied on techniques used in its initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and in its invasion of Georgia in 2008.

Mark Zuckerberg Stumps for ‘Open Source’ A.I.

Mike Isaac

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For years, technologists have debated whether it is better for companies to keep the details of their computer code secret or share it with software developers around the world.

That debate — closed versus open source — has become inflamed by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and worries that A.I. is quickly becoming a national security issue.

In an open letter on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, reinforced what some said was a risky stance taken by his company: that open source development of artificial intelligence would allow technologists to learn how powerful A.I. models are created and use that knowledge to build their own A.I. programs.

Mr. Zuckerberg said it was unrealistic to think that a handful of companies could keep their A.I. technology secret, particularly when Silicon Valley has for years been a target for espionage by countries such as China.

“I think governments will conclude it’s in their interest to support open source because it will make the world more prosperous and safer,” he said in the letter, adding that clamping down on sharing A.I. research would simply stifle American innovation.

Watch out for sharks: The bizarre history of internet outages

Thomas Germain

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In a world where a single point of failure can throw our machines into chaos, everything from sharks to authoritarian governments to old ladies have brought the web to its knees.

On Friday 19 July, 2024, the world woke up to what many have called the worst digital crisis of all time. A botched software update from cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike crashed some 8.5 million computers, smearing Microsoft's dreaded "blue screen of death" across the globe. Airlines cancelled over 46,000 flights in a single day, according to the FlightAware. Hospitals called off surgeries. 911 emergency services faced disruptions in the US. Film Forum, an arthouse cinema in New York, switched to cash payments as its credit card system went down. Microsoft and CrowdStrike issued a solution, but the outages continue almost a week later. It's a reminder, frustrated IT experts said, to never push updates out on a Friday.

As our infrastructure becomes ever more tangled with the internet, this won't be the last catastrophic online outage. But CrowdStrike wasn't the first, either. The history of computing is littered with examples of our digital fragility, and crashes of the past offer a glimpse of what it will feel like on the day the internet turns off.

"There's a price to pay for the convenience we enjoy," says Ritesh Kotak, a cybersecurity and technology analyst. "It will happen again, and from a technical standpoint, the fix for CrowdStrike was relatively easy. Next time, we might not be so lucky."

Space Technology Advances: Catalysts for Conflict or Pathways for Human Progress?

Abnesh Raina

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Executive Summary

The profound impact that emerging space technologies are starting to have on global geopolitical dynamics and economic environments raises a crucial question: Are we forging a better future for humanity, or merely creating new catalysts for wars and conflicts that have marred humanity throughout history? As space technology continues to evolve, it is not only enhancing capabilities across various domains but also significantly reducing the cost of space access, thereby democratizing it and broadening participation from an array of state and non-state actors.

The economic potential of space, forecasted to evolve into a multi-trillion dollar industry, funded by investments from both government and private sectors is driving innovations in space tourism, lunar & asteroid mining, and other space-related industries poised to create new markets and job opportunities. The advent of technologies such as hyperspectral imaging, advanced satellite systems, and artificial intelligence is reshaping capabilities in surveillance and reconnaissance of celestial bodies potentially creating conflicts over valuable extraterrestrial assets and national security concerns.

Time to retire the phrase 'Military Industrial Complex' - Analysis

Dan Grazier

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It is time to retire the phrase “military-industrial complex.”

President Dwight Eisenhower coined this immortal phrase during his January 17, 1961 farewell address to warn Americans against the “acquisition of unwarranted influence” by the conjunction of “an immense military establishment and a large arms industry.”

As a five-star general, Ike knew, perhaps better than anyone, the self-serving and mutually beneficial relationship between the defense industry and the military. But he neglected to mention Congress’s role in the arrangement, nor could he necessarily have foreseen the ways in which corporate interests would intertwine themselves with the various bureaucracies that keep the Pentagon's coffers flowing.

While the phrase “military-industrial-congressional-information complex” would be more accurate, it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. And like Eisenhower’s snappier appellation, it still suggests an element of conspiracy. But, of course, none of this is theoretical.

The Pentagon, Congress, the defense industry, think tanks, lobbyists, and industry-sponsored media outlets are all very real. When combined, they make up what is better termed the “National Security Establishment,” which Americans see in action all the time.

The Experimentation Experiment: How Small Units Will Drive the Army’s Transformation in Contact

Ben Blane and Dale Hunter

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In 1999, after introducing a bold vision to transform the Army by 2030, General Eric Shinseki spent his first year as chief of staff of the Army communicating the urgency behind his transformation vision. “If you dislike change,” he stressed, “you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.” Yet, as General Shinseki has described, this vision didn’t gain much traction initially and was met with resistance across the Army. The Army of 1999, which he argued was in dire need of change to maintain its relevance to the joint force, had just achieved overwhelming success in Operation Desert Storm earlier in the decade. So why the need to change?

Simply put, any potential adversary that paid attention to Desert Storm would certainly take heed to never engage in that type of fight against the US Army in future conflict. The Army that fought in Desert Storm was organized, trained, and equipped during the Cold War era to counter an invading Soviet force in Europe. It was not a force designed to respond to the wide variety of small-scale contingencies and nontraditional threats emerging in 1999.

Likewise today, adversaries have evolved to avoid conditions that favor a US Army that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past two decades or one that is simply reintroducing Cold War doctrine as a solution to the challenges of large-scale combat operations. And the pacing threat is evolving faster than ever. Once again, the Army faces a choice between change and irrelevance. Maintaining relevance will require continuous transformation in contact. And given that the senior US military commander of the most strategically consequential theater has stated that the United States’ pacing threat, China’s People’s Liberation Army, would be ready to invade Taiwan over the next 18–24 months, it must occur now. How can the Army expect to appropriately transform in such a short period of time?

Digital Transformation and Pan-Domain: The CAF’s Quiet Revolution in Military Affairs

Alexander Rudolph

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Introduction

In June 2022, then-Minister of National Defence Anita Anand announced an almost $40 billion plan described as North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Modernization. However, on a closer reading, this plan is digital modernization in NORAD clothing. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is undergoing one of the most significant modernization efforts in its history, even larger than NORAD modernization once we understand that it is part of the CAF’s digital transformation. It is no coincidence that four of the five NORAD modernization investment areas either explicitly deal with modernizing command and control or existing Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities through digital modernization or are heavily associated with such capabilities. These NORAD command and control (C2) and C4ISR improvements are informed by the United States’ multi-domain concepts, which directly impacts how the CAF is modernizing its capabilities and how it fights. These modernization efforts are part of the CAF’s efforts to adopt pan-domain operating concepts, which is used interchangeably with multi-domain.