Looking Back to Understand the Future: Human Machine Collaboration in the Next Battle of Mogadishu

Abstract

On 3 October 1993, the US military conducted what was supposed to be a quick raid in downtown Mogadishu, Somalia, which came to be known as the Battle of Mogadishu. While the raid was a tactical and operational success for US forces, the asymmetric advantage that the Somalis had in the urban environment of Mogadishu ultimately led to a strategic failure for the United States. To further explore the asymmetric advantage and potential technological offset strategies, the author developed an Operational Decision Game (ODG) exploring similar threats that US forces witnessed in 1993, but set the ODG in the future imagining new technology available to US forces. Based on the analysis of the historical case study and ODG responses, the author and three colleagues developed a future technological concept called Technology for Urban Terrain. Technology for Urban Terrain comprises four individual systems that US forces can employ separately or together for synergistic effects. Together, these systems close current gaps across five warfighting functions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 08, 2017
Accession Number
AD1176585

Entities

People

  • Alexandra C Plunkett

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Active Denial System
  • Collateral Damage
  • Computers
  • Data Analysis
  • Department Of Defense
  • Joint Military Activities
  • Lessons Learned
  • Marine Corps
  • Military History
  • Mobile Phones
  • New York
  • Nonlethal Weapons
  • Task Forces
  • United States
  • Universities
  • Urban Warfare
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Computer Vision.
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.