Julia Brackup

This report describes the 2021 U.S. Air Force-sponsored Plan Blue game, which examined competition against Russia in the Arctic with a focus on the role of sensing in competition and featured robust participation from regional partners and allies. The purpose of the game was to increase understanding of the capabilities, postures, and alliance command, control, and communication relationships that may be called for in future Arctic operations.

The People's Republic of China's (PRC's) and the People's Liberation Army's (PLA's) understanding of the military balance is fundamentally based on systems warfare concepts. The authors provide a detailed analysis of the factors and components associated with PRC leaders' assessments of the Chinese PLA's strength and the implications for the U.S.-China military balance.

The authors identified disputes among roles, missions, and functions (RMF) that have endured as problems for the U.S. Air Force, factors associated with major RMF changes, and reasons why reform efforts failed. In crafting a framework for analyzing the RMF implications of strategic-level guidance and emerging operational concepts, the authors considered how future leadership choices will influence relative attractiveness of RMF courses of action.

The growing cruise and ballistic missile threat to U.S. Air Force bases in Europe has led to a reassessment of defensive options, including ground-based systems currently assigned to the Army. The gap between this threat and the U.S. capacity and capability to counter the threat is particularly worrisome. This report offers alternative courses of action for Air Force consideration and assesses strengths and weaknesses of each.

A competition for digital infrastructure (DI) is underway between the United States and China, which has implications for military forces and operations that rely on this infrastructure in competition and conflict. This report summarizes an alternative futures analysis of how the global DI could evolve out to 2050 and the military implications of those futures for the United States and China.

The U.S. Air Force is exploring adaptive basing (AB) concepts to reduce the vulnerability of U.S. forces and to preserve critical combat capabilities in highly contested environments. These concepts are likely to stress the U.S. Air Force's global mobility capabilities. This report assesses the impact of AB concepts on the Mobility Air Forces and to recommends enhancements to better support AB operations in a contested environment.

This report describes fifth-generation (5G) network security, the 5G supply chain, competition in 5G equipment and mobile device markets, where the United States has security advantages over China, and how to preserve those advantages in the 5G competition between the United States and China. The report provides recommendations for securing 5G networks and mobile devices of the United States, its allies, and foreign partners.

The unclassified networks of defense industrial base firms have become an attractive entrance for adversaries seeking access to cutting-edge technologies and research and development efforts. This report describes a way for the U.S. Department of Defense to better secure such networks through the establishment of a cybersecurity program designed to strengthen their protections.