The Joint Force in a Contested and Disordered World

providing adversaries the capability to disrupt, degrade, and disable components of U.S. and
allied C4/ISR networks.
Robotics as a force multiplier. Emerging autonomous robotic systems are being increasingly
used to augment, rather than simply replace, individuals and platforms. The augmentation of
human systems with robotics, particularly swarming, will permit longer duration missions,
enable greater lethality, improve the ability to protect capital platforms from attack, and
increase individual human and unit performance.
Advances in electromagnetic warfare techniques will provide new methods to engage the circuitry
and software of weapons systems, suggesting the emergence of rapidly evolving sensor/countersensor
battles. Electronic warfare will be a race won by the force that can swiftly identify,
understand, and optimize signals to counter radar and sensor systems. The search for weak signals
against cluttered backgrounds will be augmented by enhanced data processing and storage, as well
as large scale interpretive computing capabilities. Furthermore, the proliferation of sensors is likely
to encourage the development of small and/or stealthy robotic systems that operate below detection
thresholds. As industrial-scale robotics manufacturing evolves, future warfare may see a rebalance
away from militaries built around the few, expensive, and highly-capable platforms to many,
cheap, and “good enough” systems.
Proliferated Information Technologies
Very powerful information technologies will be widely available around the world by 2035,
including wireless handheld or even brain-interfaced devices with advanced levels of connectivity.
More modern developing states will continue to construct comprehensive national information
technology infrastructures consisting of fiber-optic and cellular networks that far exceed the
current state of the art. Potential competitors will have access to huge volumes of commerciallyavailable
geospatial and other geophysical data that once cost billions and was available to only to
the richest and most technically-competent countries.
Proliferated information technologies are likely to result from several important trends:
Regional C3/ISR parity. Potential adversaries will likely develop and deploy advanced
C3/ISR capabilities that can be coupled to precision and area weaponry. As a range of sensors,
information networks, information processing, and data fusion capabilities becomes widely
available to potential adversaries from high-end states to lower-end insurgent and irregular
forces, U.S. military forces may be identified, tracked, targeted, and attacked at range.
Exploitation of C3/ISR vulnerabilities. Technologies that can damage, spoof, confuse, or
disrupt integrated battle networks will become increasingly available. U.S. and partner C3/ISR
systems will require enhanced system protection, greater network redundancy, and automated
defenses capable of reacting in a highly dynamic environment. The Joint Force might also
exploit the opportunity to target adversary networks lacking sufficient hardening or protection.
Advanced information analysis and exploitation. Growing digital inter-connectedness and
the linking of the Internet to the physical world will likely create an ‘Internet of Things’ which
will further increase the amount of information generated, processed, and stored. Future
software developments are likely to focus on new algorithms, and optimization techniques
will assist in making sense of these large data sets.
Quantum information science. The successful development of quantum computers might
increase the ability to understand, model, and predict behaviors of very complex systems such
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