Closer Than You Think: The Implications Of The Third Offset Strategy For The U.s. Army

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is moving forward with a broad set of innovation initiatives designed to effectively posture the U.S. military for the coming decades. One sub-set of initiatives, the Third Offset, is focused on leap-ahead technologies and capabilities that may offset competitor parity in critical domains.

The Third Offset Strategy is in the beginning phases of development. The Department of Defense (DoD) will embark on a multi-year effort to assess the technologies and systems that should undergo research and development. To date, investment has been modest, but will likely increase over the next 4 years. The majority of effort will be grouped into six broad portfolios:

1. Anti-access and area denial;

2. Guided munitions;

3. Undersea warfare;

4. Cyber and electronic warfare;

5. Human-machine teaming;

6. Wargaming and concepts development.

Foreword.........................................................................ix

Summary.........................................................................xi

Part I: The Third Offset..................................................1

1. The Future Operating Environment and the Third Offset ....................................................3

Adam J. Boyd, Michael Kimball, Researchers

2. The Urgency of the Third Offset......................15

Samuel R. White, Jr.

Part II: Implications for Army and Joint Capabilities ....................................................................29

3. Go and Artificial Intelligence: Potential for Strategic Decision-Making..........................31 Charles B. Cain, Researcher

4. The Role of Nuclear Weapons in the Third Offset....................................................................45 Adam Z. Walton, Researcher

5. Swarms in the Third Offset...............................55 Christopher M. Korpela, Researcher

6. Game of Drones: Strategic Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Command and Control (C2) ........................................................63

Christopher J. Nemeth, Researcher

7. Integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Military Operations: A Boyd Cycle Framework.................................73

James W. Mancillas, Researcher

Part III: Implications for Army Institutions..............87

8. Influencing the Rate of Innovation..................89

Phillip Smallwood, Researcher

9. Implications to Army Acquisition...................99

Troy Denomy, Researcher

Part IV: Implications for Army Leader Development............................................................... 107

10. Human-Machine Decision-Making and Trust ...........................................................109

Eric Van Den Bosch, Researcher

11. Leader Development and the Third Offset.......................................................12

1 William R. Funches, Jr., Researcher

Part V: Implications for Moral and Ethical Decision-Making.........................................................127

12. More Than a Game: Third Offset and Implications for Moral Injury.........................129

James Boggess, Researcher

13. The Third Offset, Remotely Piloted Systems (RPS), and Moral Hazards...............14

1 Mark Hamilton, Researcher

14. The Ethical Implications of Enhancing Soldiers ..........................................155

Jason A. Wesbrock, Researcher About the Contributors .............................................165

Military and Congressional leadership engaged in developing future U.S Military capabilities, defense contractors and military hardware and software developers, artificial intelligence military and defense contractors,