Acquiring Targets in the Bears Backyard

As the US Army continues to transition its operational focus to Large Scale Ground Combat operations, with a necessity to counter an Anti-Access/Area Denial environment and defend NATO allies against Russian activity, the doctrine, as well as Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures of the US military to conduct dynamic targeting needs to be addressed and updated to ensure success. While some may argue that the current doctrine is time-tested, strong, and flexible enough to facilitate dynamic targeting in a contested environment, their reasoning misses the mark. The fast-paced, dynamic battlefield of the future requires a shift in doctrinal emphasis away from the deliberate targeting cycle of the past to a focus on rapid dynamic targeting. At the operational level, creating Army-led Operation Centers to complement the Air Operation Centers that currently take the lead on the targeting process will be crucial to facilitate targeting during early-entry operations. Finally, at the tactical level, the Army needs to develop options to enable distributed operations to facilitate dynamic targeting capabilities.