Marines with the All Domain Reconnaissance Detachment of the 11th MEU operate a MANTAS T12 unmanned surface vessel during training with Task Force 59 at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on Oct. 28, 2022.

Marines with the All Domain Reconnaissance Detachment of the 11th MEU operate a MANTAS T12 unmanned surface vessel during training with Task Force 59 at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on Oct. 28, 2022. U.S. Marine Corps / Sgt. Seth Rosenberg

Right Hands, Right Place: Why We Must Push Military Technology Experimentation to the Edge

The Pentagon will struggle to keep up with rapidly evolving threats unless it gets better at sending promising new gear to deployed troops.

In the summer of 1943, the American submarine USS Tinosa came upon the Tonan Maru, a Japanese oil tanker supporting the imperial fleet. The American submarine spent an entire day and 15 torpedoes trying to sink the Maru, which escaped with light damage after all but one of the U.S. weapons failed to explode on target. Sadly, this episode was hardly unique: more than 70 percent of the sub fleet’s Mark XIV torpedoes malfunctioned during the first two years of World War II.

It turned out that the Mark XIV had only been tested in shallow, calm water, at targets that were closer than was realistic, and from barges that did not accurately simulate the effect of firing from submarines. Most importantly, few submariners were part of the testing. When the torpedoes were fired in the deep, choppy water of the Pacific, they neither ran correctly nor consistently detonated.

The enduring lesson? Mature technologies must be put in the hands of the user as quickly as possible to debug, iterate, and improve their capabilities. The commercial sector intuitively knows this. Apple would never release an iPhone without extensive tests and user feedback. (And when it doesn’t, it accidentally releases a phone that doesn’t work for left-handed users; “Antennagate,” anyone?) 

Real-world testing is even more important for military equipment. Apple may replicate how and where someone might use an iPhone with some precision, but you will have a harder time precisely replicating how a soldier, sailor, airman, or guardian would use technology in the field, where performance is affected by temperature, geography, weather, and available facilities. A quadcopter might have a perfect record from a company’s launch pad in the U.S. but struggle to take off in the windy mountains of Germany. A fast boat might run well off the coast of Rhode Island, but only half as long in the hot, salty, choppy waters of the Arabian Gulf. 

This rule doesn’t only apply to hardware; software must equally be tested in theater. A computer-vision algorithm should be trained with real, recent images from the location it will be used, and a system detecting air threats should be tested against the actual threats it will encounter at a given base. The list goes on.

Military users in the real world are the ultimate gauntlet to determine usefulness of technology. At a remote outpost in Iraq or on a ship in the Pacific, functionality is king; buzzwords and hypotheticals serve no purpose. The technology either works to support the mission, or it doesn’t. 

For that reason, the military must push more operational experimentation. While early-stage tech research and development can and should remain at the labs and with the development communities, more mature technology should be pressure-tested in a real environment by real users at the earliest opportunity. The Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps and the Navy’s Task Force 59 are already rapidly driving technology integration out in the real world, but this model of tech experimentation has not yet been accepted and adopted broadly. The military must shift its approach to technology experimentation focused on real user testing in real-world environments if it hopes to keep pace with rapidly-evolving threats and technologies.

U.S. Central Command has already accepted this reality and is moving out. Within the last year, CENTCOM stood up experimentation cells in its Army, Navy, and Air Force Component Commands and is driving technology integration through iterative sprints and exercises in its theater of responsibility. By pushing technologies to their physical limits in a challenging environment with extreme heat, wind, sand, and salt, CENTCOM can serve as the experimentation sandbox for the Defense Department. 

It can also test technologies against diverse real-world threats. CENTCOM faces activities ranging from drug smuggling to state-level aggression and conflict, with threats from advanced drones and ballistic missiles at a scale and regularity that cannot be found in other theaters. CENTCOM can iteratively test technologies against increasingly more challenging environments and threats, and is ideally positioned to conduct this experimentation while reducing the risk of catastrophic failure and escalation.

The shift to edge experimentation will require a coordinated push from the policy community and an acceptance of responsibility from the operator community, but it cannot come soon enough. We need to work through the inevitable friction and pain points of technology integration now, or risk repeating the failures that the torpedo community experienced in WWII. The stakes are too high to work through pain points once the shooting starts, and the threat is evolving too quickly to take two-plus years to fix technology failures. The path to rapid technology adoption for the military exists with edge experimentation. We just have to take it.

Schuyler Moore is chief technology officer for U.S. Central Command.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.