Defense technologies for an uncertain future.

• Author: Jean, Grace
• Position: INSIDE Science AND Technology

The United States is at a crossroads when it comes to developing defense technologies for a future that seems obscure at best. The U.S. military, the world's most technologically advanced fighting force, is pouring billions of dollars into next-generation weapons systems in an effort to maintain its competitive edge. But at the same time, it is struggling in a prolonged war in which the adversary wields technologies most decidedly nonmilitary in nature.

Gazing into a murky crystal ball, defense officials are still having difficulty reconciling these two extremes. While some experts argue that conventional military forces will be needed again in the future, others point to the ongoing operations as evidence that the nature of warfare is evolving away from large scale battles.

Potential enemies are paying attention to the tactics that are being used in Iraq and Afghanistan to undermine the U.S. military, says Rear Adm. Michael Tillotson, deputy commander of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. In the future, would-be adversaries who have coffers to empty on expensive defense technologies may decide to employ the cheaper insurgent tactics to stymie the United States and its high-tech systems.

"Why spend the money on weapons systems if it is proven in current operations that you can get around those major combat capabilities?" he asks. Insurgents in Iraq have circumvented the U.S. military's technological prowess through the employment of civilian technology.

"The enemy has a very sophisticated command and control system called the cell phone. And the enemy uses the cell phone, not just to talk to the terrorist next door, but to talk to the node in some other country, to send pictures, to send information," retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, former commander of Central Command, told reporters at a conference sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute.

That exploitation of commercial technology has given the insurgents an advantage over U.S. troops who remain reliant upon systems that are caught in an inextricable web of proprietary restrictions.

"They have figured out how to enable these small cellular structures all around the world to be able to take the commanders' intent and go forward with that in a decentralized fashion. What we need to figure out is how to enable our young soldiers out there fighting to have the tools necessary to take decentralized action on their own," he adds.

As systems are developed to aid in that arena...