Introduction

The Air Force Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a three-part workshop series to investigate the changing paradigm of time and knowledge in modern-day warfare. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, three 2-day workshops were held virtually on September 16–17, 2020, September 23–24, 2020, and October 1–2, 2020 (see Appendix A for the workshop series Statement of Task and Appendix B for the agendas from each workshop). The objective of the first workshop was to explore the ways in which the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has adjusted its capabilities in response to past shifts in operational timing. In consideration of these past shifts, the second workshop aimed to consider when there could be an advantage to synchronize or desynchronize rates of change with adversaries. Participants had the opportunity to discuss lessons learned and possible changes for USAF Doctrine and future operations. The goal of the third workshop was to examine the implications to doctrine, concepts of operations, and command and control from the recent acceleration of battlespace operations, arising from wide-scale digitization, large-scale sensing, and faster technologies. In all three workshops, speakers explored the broader issues surrounding changing environments, and participants discussed ways to adapt to fundamental changes in the time constants of conflict.

This proceedings is a factual summary of what occurred during the workshop series. The planning committee’s role was limited to organizing and convening the workshops (see Appendix C for biographical information for the planning committee members). The views expressed in this proceedings are those of the individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of the participants as a whole, the planning committee, or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.