Force XXI: Directions in Digitization - Symposium Report.

Abstract : The Army is in the midst of significant, far reaching change as it approaches the 21st Century. In the period following the Cold War and the Gulf War, and faced with significantly tighter budget constraints, the Army has embarked on a process that will guide its evolution into Army XXI. Initially spearheaded by the Louisiana Maneuvers (LAM) Task Force, the process has focused on changing from an industrial age to an information age Army. Critical to the success of this transformation is digitization of the force. Digitization will ultimately enable the Army to move and shape information in volumes and at rates unprecedented in the history of warfare. Technological breakthroughs in information operations will substantially improve the quality and timeliness of decision making and enhance the overall effectiveness of military systems and organizations on the battlefield. The rapid rates of change in information technology and the sweeping- impacts of such change on organizations and how the Army fights wars will create an extraordinary array of challenges for force developers. The Army must determine the impact of digitizing the force on a myriad of interrelated areas that include training, leader development, doctrine, interoperability, transition, and readiness. This is further complicated by the efforts to simultaneously visualize an end state that will unite and focus its efforts to accommodate change. It may be necessary for a traditionally conservative Army to think outside the box, take innovative, even radical, approaches to examine its critical processes that feed and produce the output necessary to meet the needs of the national strategy.