
Maj. Gen. James P. Isenhower III, left, Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, was the guest speaker at the Oct. 16 Test, Evaluation and Analysis Talk at the Post Theater.
TEA Talk on Fighting Future Wars
Maj. Gen. James P. Isenhower III, Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, was the guest speaker at the Oct. 16 Test, Evaluation and Analysis Talk at the Post Theater.
Isenhower, considered one of the Army's leading experts on Multi-Domain Operations, discussed the future of the Army and the way the U.S. will fight.
Multi-Domain Operations describes how the U.S. Army, as part of the joint force Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines can counter and defeat a near-peer adversary capable of contesting the U.S. in all domains air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace in both competition and armed conflict. The concept describes how U.S. ground forces, as part of the joint and multinational team, deter adversaries and defeat highly capable near peer enemies in the 2025-2050 timeframe.
Before Isenhower’s talk WSMR Commander Brig. Gen. Eric Little spoke about the operational environment our warfighters will be in fighting against peer adversaries.
“It is going to be chaotic because of the spectrum in how we are going to be challenged with our ability to shoot with precision, to move, to communicate. Our adversaries are going to be doing everything in their power to challenge us,” Little said.
In tying that to the mission that we have within WSMR and ATEC Little said we use test and evaluation and analysis to test munitions and test systems in every environment that those systems and munitions can be expected to be used in a war fighting situation.
“We are doing our part to make sure the systems and munitions are going to operate in those environments, but we are challenged with regard to our warfighters being familiar with that environment,” Little said.
Isenhower then started his talk by saying that in 1990 the world watched the United States mobilize 200,000 people in 70 days and move them to the Middle East during Operation Desert Shield.
He said Russia and China watched what happened and decided they would not fight the way the U.S. fights and changed their doctrine and their training and went to terrain on which the U.S. was less efficient.
“They became more proficient while we were still focusing on our traditional western way of fighting,” Isenhower said.
Isenhower then went on to talk about the future operational environment and what it looks like.
He said it was about the concerted employment of capabilities.
“The next fight will be categorized by signature detection. We all give out thermal signatures, we give out digital signatures,” Isenhower said. “So, our entire formations will give out signatures that- are going to force us to fight in a manner that we are not used to.”
So, we must figure out how to hide in plain sight and look unimportant.
Isenhower went on to talk about other challenges and the importance of moving forward, which will drive Army modernization efforts.
By Miriam Rodriguez
WSMR Public Affairs