Disruptive technologies drive doctrinal and operational changes for modern militaries. Particularly in the last 120 years, industrial and technological advancements have revolutionized warfare. In the last century, the United States military has developed a military machine that is centered on a guiding command-and-control principle: centralized control, decentralized execution. However, the next decade will bring significant advancements in autonomous decision-making and artificial intelligence, chauffeuring in resilient, distributed command and control and dislodging the human operator from mission command. While artificial intelligence and autonomous systems are already broadly employed in health, transportation and digital services, true autonomy in military systems is still in development.

Disruptive technologies drive doctrinal and operational changes for modern militaries. Particularly in the last 120 years, industrial and technological advancements have revolutionized warfare. In the last century, the United States military has developed a military machine that is centered on a guiding command-and-control principle: centralized control, decentralized execution. However, the next decade will bring significant advancements in autonomous decision-making and artificial intelligence, chauffeuring in resilient, distributed command and control and dislodging the human operator from mission command. While artificial intelligence and autonomous systems are already broadly employed in health, transportation and digital services, true autonomy in military systems is still in development.

It's time for robots to replace soldiers for certain specialized tasks involving "dull, dirty or dangerous work and to reduce their cognitive load," said Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins. So the Army is now investing $30 million to harness the power of big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to create unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, such as future vertical lift and the next generation combat vehicle, said Wins, who is the commander of U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM). Mark J. Shepard, commander of the USCG's National Strike Force (right) hear about the array of robots the PEO CS&CSS Robot Logistics Support Center manages. The RLSC transferred 18 robots from its life cycle management team to the USCG for use in the fleet's Strike Force Teams in May. The RLSC will also provide training and support for all 18 systems.

Ask a business person about the metaphor of war and business and pretty quickly you'll get to Sun Tzu's The Art of War an ancient text about terrain, tactics, and frontal assault. A few years ago Art of War was all the rage in business circles and every hotshot executive could quote it. Heck, it is often claimed that Larry Ellison, then CEO Oracle, ran his business with a well thumbed copy of Sun Tzu's tome within easy reach. Regardless, Tzu is off the front burner now and management fads have moved on. Even so, the war metaphor is revived regularly, most recently by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden in Sense and Respond: How Successful Organizations Listen to Customers and Create New Products Continuously.