Organizing for multi-domain operations convergence: lessons learned from US Army and US Air Force integration.

While the US Army focused on counter-insurgency operations during the beginning of the 21st century, competitors such as Russia and China focused on conventional military force modernization threatening US military dominance. This perceived decrease in the US military capability gap coupled with emerging technology, such as cyberspace, space, and the electromagnetic spectrum, changed the character of warfare. The US Army's response, Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), seeks to use the concept of convergence to integrate all military domains, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the information environment rapidly and continuously to confer a military advantage. To achieve convergence, the US Army must conduct joint development efforts with other services, develop inter-service agreements, revise staff structures, and revise personnel policies. The development of AirLand Battle in the post-Vietnam era and subsequent military operations in Operation Desert Storm provide a historical case study focused on organizational changes to achieve convergence between the land and air domains. Current institutional mechanisms for US military force modernization, developed mainly during the AirLand Battle period, may need to be adjusted to ensure adaptation for achieving MDO convergence.