The U.S. Army has begun looking at ways to make its command posts much more survivable than they currently are if faced with a near-peer enemy.
“If our tactical command posts can be found, then they can be killed,” Lt. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford, Army chief information officer, said at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.
Not only must command posts be survivable, they must be mobile as well the Army has concluded after learning that Russian-led forces have been able to quickly locate and destroy Ukrainian army command posts, Crawford noted.
“They have gone to school on us,” Crawford said. “They have developed capability that put us at significant risk if we don’t make investments now to mitigate those risks.”
Peer militaries have managed to dramatically improve their ability to both find command posts and then quickly link sensors to shooters, which has cut the kill chain timeline dramatically.
“As we currently operate them, they are not adequately mobile and if you examine closely the electro-magnetic signatures of our command posts, they are not survivable,” he said.
Command posts are essential, according to Army documents. Mounted and dismounted leaders at the brigade level require the tactical network to quickly and accurately communicate with higher headquarters, subordinates and soldiers. Leaders must also be close to the action, so placing them out of harm’s way is not an option. [source]
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