Multi-Domain Operations: The Historical Case

The US Armys TRADOC Pamphlet 525-3-1, The U.S. Army in Multi-Domain Operations, 2028 defines convergence as rapid and continuous integration of capabilities in all domains, the electromagnetic spectrum, and information environment that optimizes effects to overmatch the enemy through cross-domain synergy and multiple forms of attack all enabled by mission command and disciplined initiative. This study demonstrates that air superiority, maritime superiority, and favorable political constraints are prerequisite military conditions, serving here as criteria for evaluation of the case studies, that enable convergence and allow the US Army to achieve strategic objectives in the land domain during armed conflict. This study analyzes and compares two historical cases, Operation Overlord 1944 and the Korean War 1950-1951. The cases highlight crucial differences in the achievement of convergence in a war with absolute political aims as in the Second World War, and the wars following 1945 dominated by limited political aims and correspondingly limited military means and strong political constraints. The comparison of the two cases highlights the temporal differences associated with achieving air and maritime superiority and the different political constraints associated with each case. The outcome of the study is analytical support for the thesis that air superiority, maritime superiority, and favorable political constraints are prerequisites to convergence in Multi-Domain Operations. This study confirms that historical cases provide powerful antecedents for modern, emerging, or future military concepts and domains.