Building The Next Gen Digital Era Military

The world is changing quickly and new technologies are coming out at such a pace that superiority in one arena won't guarantee superiority 10 years down the road in that or any other arena. Innovation and change is a partnership between industry, government/military and the populace. There are concerns that the U.S. military would struggle fighting wars on multiple front and some changes are needed to expand our capacity. To solve a large rooted problem like this we must innovate across multiple sectors to fully enhance our capacities.

Let us take a look at decline in military problem by reading Heritage Foundations review entitled, 2023 Index of U.S. Military Strength. The Marine Corps is doing great but the other branches are not so great . I'm not surprised by the higher ranking of the Marine Corps because as a highly trained force they are in high demand in an increasingly dangerous world.  In the Marine Corps, a failure to adapt could mean death and loss (Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome! creates an amazingly adaptable force.)

Likewise, we also find that military recruitment pools are dwindling thereby leaving the military struggling to fulfill its manning requirements. Deficiencies in manpower will require some type of readjustment in other resource pools to fill the void (Not to mention the need to tackle obesity and health on a national level. Resist the simple carb urge!). Of course one could consider robotics/wearable tech, partnerships/alliances, stronger service coverage, etc. (Be creative and think of other ways that might improve capacity.)

Either way change is necessary and that will include technology and new tactics that come from that technology. So we should really be thinking about what the military will look like in the Digital/Information Era and how to put the right resources in the right places. New ideas, new thoughts, new ways of doing things are coming........because we have few options but to be open to new lines of development.

(Oh....and by the way......I believe transactional clusters can help in speeding innovation in multiple industries at once. i.e. the Delta County Model. You may want to see this economic digital age theory in process of being rewritten for clarity. HERE.)