Army After Next, Airland Battle 2000, Futuristic Concepts or Jules Verne?

Abstract

The Army conducts concept studies, such as Army After Next, to craft a vision of future requirements. The combat systems and operational concepts described in those studies are not fiscally constrained; stress present day technologies; and challenge future technologies. To the uninformed, these concept studies often read like science fiction novels Airland Battle 2000 was a concept study conducted in 1981 to guide future organizational alignments, doctrine, training, and materiel requirements for the Army of the 21st century. This paper examines: (1) Airland Battle's futuristic concepts and its requirements for the Air Defense Artillery branch; (2) evaluates the Air Defense Artillery branch's progress towards meeting those requirements; and (3) assesses whether or not long range, futuristic concept studies are a valid approach for determining future developments, or simply government sanctioned science fiction.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 14, 1998
Accession Number
ADA344692

Entities

People

  • Francis G. Mahon

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Command And Control
  • Directed Energy Weapons
  • Lasers
  • Line Of Sight
  • Radio Equipment
  • Remotely Piloted Vehicles
  • Short Range Air Defense
  • Tactical High-Energy Lasers
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare
  • Weapon Control
  • Weapon Systems
  • Weapons Effects

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.