Re-Envisioning Command and Control for the Intelligence Era
The complexity and pace of future warfare will push current Command and Control (C2) systems to their limits. To maintain decision advantage, militaries must embrace a new paradigm: robust human-AI partnerships.
Three key developments are needed:
- Streamlining C2 processes
Advanced AI-based systems could dramatically accelerate planning and decision-making. Interactive “Intelligent COA Suites” would generate, analyze and compare courses of action in near real-time, drawing on the combined strengths of human expertise and machine intelligence. Commanders and staff would collaborate with AI to rapidly explore decision-outcome links and adapt plans as situations unfold. - Enabling distributed unity of effort
Scalable AI-enabled C2 could empower coordinated action across echelons with minimal communication. Advanced systems would maintain nested COAs tailored to each unit’s likely information picture. On-board sensors and algorithms would track battlefield progress, dynamically update projections of friendly and enemy actions, and signal discrepancies. Units could rapidly converge on common intent, even in degraded environments. - Developing adaptive knowledge systems
To cope with rapid change, C2 systems must continuously learn and adapt. Interactive machine learning would allow AI to absorb insights from human feedback, AARs, and mission data. Trained C2 personnel would guide system adaptation via demonstrations, critiques, and structured reviews. Over time, AI would capture expertise that today is lost in personnel rotations.
Success hinges on redefining human and machine roles. AI becomes a core C2 technology – tracking data, generating options, recommending actions. Humans become teachers and guardians – steering learning, controlling adaptation, ensuring ethical behavior. Building this partnership will require advances in AI capabilities, human-machine interfaces, and organizational processes.
The path ahead is challenging. But as complexity mounts and decision timelines compress, human-AI teaming will be essential to mission success. The military that masters it first will dominate the future battlefield.
TL,TR: To dominate future warfare, militaries must integrate AI as a core Command and Control (C2) technology—streamlining decision-making, enabling decentralized coordination, and fostering adaptive learning—while humans guide, refine, and ensure ethical oversight in an evolving human-AI partnership.