Road not taken in Afghanistan's tryst with peace

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As Afghans head to the polling booths to elect a new president, a contested and fraud-marred elections could potentially throw Afghanistan into a renewed cycle of violence and instability, says Dr Shanthie Mariet D'Souza.

On September 9, US President Donald Trump declared the peace talks with the Taliban 'dead'.

Interestingly, this declaration, which symbolised a collapse of the much-hyped process, provided the space for the resumption of the much-delayed presidential elections in Afghanistan.

The twice delayed elections had led to a political stalemate of sorts induced by the chicken and egg dilemma of the signing of peace deal first before the conduct of elections, and consequent ethnic polarisation and fraying of the fragile post Bonn consensus in that country.

For peace and stability, however, much more needs to be done than swinging from one end to the other.

Afghanistan’s Victory for Democracy and Loss for Peace

BY SAMUEL RAMANI 

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On Saturday, Afghanistan will hold its fourth presidential elections since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. The vote, which pits incumbent President Ashraf Ghani against Afghanistan’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, and former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil, is a milestone in the country’s transition to democracy. And the international community is largely supportive of Afghanistan’s decision to hold elections, after several postponements. Roland Kobia, the European Union’s special envoy to Afghanistan, recently said that elections “become more necessary by the hour” after the recent collapse of U.S.-Taliban peace negotiations. Although the United States has expressed concerns about political violence during the vote, it has not questioned the timing of the elections.

But despite such widespread support for the upcoming vote, Ghani’s decision to hold elections at this uncertain juncture in the conflict resolution process could seriously undermine long-term prospects for peace. A divisive election campaign has exacerbated polarization among supporters of Afghanistan’s legitimate government, and the Taliban’s efforts to subvert the Afghan election process have intensified their hostilities with Kabul.

A Deal With the Taliban Is Only the First Step Toward Peace

By Johnny Walsh 

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After months of closed-door negotiations in Doha, Qatar, the United States appears close to finalizing a deal with the Taliban that would end Washington’s 18-year war in Afghanistan. The agreement would reportedly set a conditional timetable for the United States to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for Taliban commitments to suppress terrorist groups and open peace talks with their fellow Afghans.

The deal is controversial. Supporters (and I am one of them) view the agreement as far preferable to the status quo—a bloody battlefield stalemate—and a necessary first step toward any deal among Afghans to end the war. Critics worry that the deal sells out Washington’s Afghan allies, places naive trust in an extremist group, and provides cover for a troop withdrawal that Trump wants regardless of whether it makes diplomatic or military sense.

Ghani, Abdullah Facing Off In Two-Horse Afghan Presidential Race

By Frud Bezhan

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A bitter, fraud-marred presidential election in 2014 pushed Afghanistan to the brink of civil war before a power-sharing deal was reached between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who became president and chief executive officer.

Five years on, even as 13 other candidates vie for the presidency, the race is shaping up again as a two-horse race between Ghani, a Western-educated technocrat, and Abdullah, a trained ophthalmologist who was a senior member of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance before the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

As leaders of the deeply unpopular and fractured national-unity government, both men's reputations have been tarnished.

But with no viable challengers, they are front-runners in an election that features former mujahedin fighters, warlords, and communists.

With so much at stake in a two-way contest, observers warn of a possible repeat of the large-scale vote-rigging and fraud that marred the last presidential poll.

Missiles and drones may steal the show at military parade marking Chinese anniversary

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BEIJING – China’s armed forces are expected to roll out an array of new weapons at a military parade in Beijing next week as President Xi Jinping shows off his ambitious military modernization program.

China’s advanced missiles will be a main attraction at the Oct. 1 parade to mark seven decades of communist China. Many of them are designed to attack the aircraft carriers and bases that undergird U.S. military strength in the region.

Among them are the so-called carrier killer Dongfeng-21D (DF-21D), unveiled at a parade in 2015, which China says can hit warships at a range of up to 1,500 kilometers, and the DF-26 intermediate range missile, dubbed “Guam killer” in reference to the U.S. Pacific island base.

Attention in state media has focused on the DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile, which can carry several nuclear warheads and reach the United States, forming the backbone of China’s nuclear deterrent.

China has also made rapid strides in developing hypersonic missiles, known as the DF-17, which theoretically can maneuver sharply at many times the speed of sound, further bolstering the reach of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Bringing China into the fold on arms control and strategic stability issues

Frank A. Rose

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As I argued in a recent speech at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs’ Helsinki Summer Session, including China in a future framework is the right objective, but the plan to get there appears lacking. In the speech, I discussed: 1) China’s nuclear policy, programs, and doctrine; 2) its development of asymmetric military capabilities, specifically its medium- and intermediate-range ballistic and cruise missile force, anti-satellite capabilities, and offensive cyber weapons; 3) my own assessment of the Trump administration’s proposal; and 4) some pragmatic recommendations on how the U.S. might achieve this goal over the long term.

CHINESE NUCLEAR POLICY AND PROGRAMS

China’s nuclear forces represent a fundamentally different challenge to the United States than those of Russia. Since achieving nuclear weapons capability in 1964, China has maintained a “no first use” (NFU) policy, which means China will not to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances. As the U.S. Department Defense notes in a recent report, though, “ambiguity remains over the conditions under which China’s NFU policy would no longer apply.” Though China has been actively modernizing its strategic nuclear forces over a decade, there is no evidence to suggest that it seeks to move beyond a “minimum deterrent” force or pursue strategic nuclear parity with the United States.

Could Hong Kong Become Belfast?

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Back to the future: Protests that heralded civil strife in Northern Ireland, left, seem to echo in Hong Kong as protesters confront the Beijing-backed governmentHONG KONG: The crowds surged through the streets, demanding basic political rights. They were met by club-wielding riot police firing teargas and rubber bullets. The clashes became routine, reflecting the gap between an aroused populace and an isolated and unresponsive government.

This sounds very much like Hong Kong, where I live, in the summer of 2019, but in fact describes Northern Ireland 50 years ago. As the crisis in Hong Kong shows no sign of resolution, the strife increasingly resembles the early years of what became known as “the Troubles”– a conflict that lasted 30 years and left 3000 people dead. I covered Northern Ireland as a journalist in the 1970s and 1980s. Over the last three years, I have studied that history in detail while researching and writing a book about the life of the late Professor Kevin Boyle, a leader of the Northern Ireland civil rights movement and later a prominent human rights lawyer.

China steals US designs for new weapons, and it's getting away with 'the greatest intellectual property theft in human history'

ELLEN IOANES,ELLEN IOANES

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US officials have repeatedly warned about China's increasingly sophisticated military technology and about China's habit of lifting that technology from elsewhere. 

Defense Secretary Mark Esper recently warned that China was perpetrating the "greatest intellectual property theft in human history," just days after retired Navy Adm. William McRaven said China's growing technological capabilities should be a "holy s--- moment" for the US. 

But technological prowess is only one part of military dominance, and there are other areas where China is lacking. 

China's intellectual property theft of both civil and military information is no secret.

Chinese-American property heiress Tiffany Li lured her children’s father to his death, prosecutor says at murder trial

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A San Francisco Bay Area heiress charged with murder in the death of her children’s father is wrongly accused of a crime committed by someone who plotted to kidnap him, her lawyers said Monday.

Prosecutors said in opening statements that Tiffany Li lured Keith Green to her Hillsborough mansion to discuss a custody dispute, where her boyfriend Kaveh Bayat fatally shot the victim in the mouth. The pair then hired a friend to dispose Green’s body and took steps to cover their crime by creating alibis for themselves, San Mateo County prosecutor Bryan Abanto said.

Li, a naturalised American citizen who was born in China, has pleaded not guilty. Her case drew national attention when Li, backed by the wealth her family made in real estate construction in China, posted an astonishing US$35 million bail that allowed her to stay in her home pending trial.

China digital consumer trends in 2019

By Lambert Bu, Jacob Wang, Kevin Wei Wang, and Daniel Zipser

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New research from a survey of 4,300 Chinese consumers suggests a path forward for brands and marketers seeking the next wave of growth.

DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES

Full Report (PDF-745KB)

China’s rise as a global leader in e-commerce has been nothing less than stunning. This year, online retail sales are expected to swell to $1.5 trillion, representing a quarter of China’s total retail-sales volume, and more than the retail sales of the ten next largest markets in the world—combined (Exhibit 1).

Saudi Arabia Agrees to Limited Cease-Fire in Yemen War

by Mohammed Hatem

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Saudi Arabia has agreed to a limited cease-fire in several areas of Yemen including the capital Sana’a, which is controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, as part of broader efforts to end a four-year conflict that has threatened to escalate into regional war.

A Yemeni government official and a diplomat said attempts were underway to expand the truce. Saudi officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Last week, the Houthis announced a unilateral halt to the hundreds of drone and missile attacks that have targeted OPEC’s largest producer in recent years…

Read on.

The U.S.-Iran Standoff Is Militarizing Cyberspace

BY ELIAS GROLL 

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With U.S. President Donald Trump considering ways to retaliate against Iran for an attack against Saudi oil infrastructure—but desperate to avoid getting entangled in a shooting war—cyberattacks against Iranian targets have emerged as a potentially bloodless way to flex American power.

But experts in cyberwarfare worry that the administration’s apparent eagerness to rely on digital weapons to strike back against Tehran for a missile and drone attack that briefly ground Saudi oil output to a halt carries with it a great risk: normalizing the militarization of cyberspace.

The risk is twofold. The United States and its massive digital economy would be exposed to attack—with more vulnerabilities than most other countries. And Washington would be lowering the bar for engaging in a new domain of warfare, exposing the broader digital economy to new types of threats.

After Iran’s strike on Saudi oil, US, China and Russia must join forces to prevent drone terror attacks

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It may have cost a few million, but the Sept. 14 drone and cruise missile attack on Saudi Arabia exacted immediate economic damages measured in billions. The burning fields and twisted metal illuminate risks that could cost the world trillions.

That very asymmetry, and the ability to circumvent traditional military defenses, may open a new era of global terrorism. In the long run, the United States, China and Russia may have the most to lose – and the greatest incentive to create a new regime against drone and cyber terror.

The attack on the Abqaiq processing facility and Khureis field knocked out production of 5.7 million barrels a day, 60% of Saudi Arabia’s production. In a day, the world oil price jumped 15%, to over $69 per barrel. Yet, with Saudi Aramco’s assurance to meet market commitments and restore full production, oil crawled back to the mid-$60s.

How Trump Can Escape His Iran Jam

By AARON DAVID MILLER, STEVEN SIMON and RICHARD SOKOLSKY 

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Aaron David Miller served as a State Department Middle East analyst, adviser and negotiator in Republican and Democratic Administrations and is the author of The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President.

Steven Simon is professor of international relations at Colby College. He served as the National Security Council senior director for counterterrorism and for the Middle East and North Africa, respectively, in the Clinton and Obama administrations. He is the co-author of Our Separate Ways: The Struggle for the Future of the US-Israel Alliance.

Richard Sokolsky, a non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Office from 2005-2015.

President Donald Trump has no good options with Iran in response to its recent strikes on critical Saudi oil facilities. The choices, thanks to his administration’s diplomatic malpractice and campaign of maximum pressure, range from very bad to worse: Not responding forcefully gives some administration officials a severe case of reputational anxiety; in their telling, America will be exposed as a paper tiger if it fails to stand up to Iranian aggression and defend its regional partners. But a direct U.S. military strike against Iran would be infinitely worse because it would be untethered from any viable strategy to deter Iran from further attacks and could easily spiral out of control.

US deploys air defense systems, troops to Saudi Arabia

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

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FILE - This March 27, 2008, file photo, shows the Pentagon in Washington. The Pentagon says it will send one Patriot missile battery and four radar systems to Saudi Arabia, in what officials describe as the first steps to help the kingdom protect itself against Iranian attacks. Two more Patriot batteries and a THAAD missile defense system will be prepared to go later if needed. The deployment will involve about 200 troops. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is sending one Patriot missile battery and four ground-based radar systems to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said Thursday, in what officials describe as the first steps to help the kingdom protect itself against Iranian attacks.

Two more Patriot batteries and a THAAD missile defense system will be prepared to go later if needed, and the deployment will involve about 200 troops.

Military commanders and defense leaders have been working since last week to iron out what military aid to send to the region in response to what U.S. officials say was a brazen and unprecedented cruise missile and drone attack by Iran on Saudi oil facilities on Sept. 14.

How Much Damage Will Trump’s Scandal Do to Zelensky in Ukraine?

Candace Rondeaux 

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It’s hard not to feel a little sorry for Ukraine’s president. The content of Volodymyr Zelensky’s now-infamous July 25th call with U.S. President Donald Trump will doubtless be picked over ad nauseum as the impeachment inquiry against Trump gets underway in Congress. Nor is history likely to forget how the release of a partial, reconstructed transcript of a single phone call between Trump and Zelensky triggered a constitutional crisis in the world’s most powerful country.

Zelensky’s obsequious tone, his cloying requests to Trump for Javelin anti-tank missiles and his disparaging remarks about Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, have severely damaged Zelensky’s political credibility at a time when he needs it most. The comedian who was elected president in April will likely have to work overtime to convince Ukrainians, as well as allies in Europe and Washington, that he is in thrall to no one and is prepared to defend what is arguably the most fragile democracy on the European continent.

A Looming Global Recession?

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Japan's Hong Kong conundrum

BY STEPHEN R. NAGY

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On many levels, the Hong Kong protests represent the proverbial canary in a coal mine in terms of China’s intentions for the Indo-Pacific. The manner in which the situation unfolds in Hong Kong could transform the region’s geopolitical balance.

Japan is deeply connected to Hong Kong as it is the home of countless Japanese businesses that rely on the increasingly tenuous “one country, two systems” formula to conduct business with Hong Kong and mainland China. Hong Kong is also home to tens of thousands of Japanese residents who act as grassroots ambassadors and forge strong people-to-people ties between Japan, Hong Kong and mainland China

Intervention by Beijing or further escalation of the violence in Hong Kong would destabilize this important bridge between Japan and the greater China region.

Equally worrisome for Japan is what a violent intervention or increased instability in Hong Kong would mean for Japanese businesses in the region.

As trust in the “one country, two systems” formula continues to erode, supply chains will continue to shift away from the current China-centered one toward a supply chain that is partly centered in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

UN Report Paints a Bleak Outlook for the World’s Oceans and Coastal Areas

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This week the UN held a Climate Action Summit designed to encourage greater action on the part of world leaders to address the causes and impacts of climate change. The summit was accompanied by a Youth Summit and protest, unprecedented in its size and global coverage. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also issued a special report on the ocean and the cryosphere, which lays out the extreme damage being done to the world’s glaciers, permafrost, and ocean by climate change. IPCC studies serve as the basis for a shared understanding of the changes to earth’s natural systems both now and across a range of greenhouse gas emissions scenarios into the future. This report represents the state of the science regarding impacts on the ocean and cryosphere. It also contains recommendations on needed steps to mitigate and adapt to these impacts. The 100 plus scientists that contributed to the report lay out a stark view of what is to be expected by the end of the century and beyond under multiple scenarios.

The broad conclusion is that we face dramatic change under every emissions scenario with projected outcomes under a business as usual approach being exceptionally grim. However, it is also clear that we have agency; if global emissions are capped in the near term and aggressive approaches are taken to support resilience in marine ecosystems and coastal communities, we may yet avoid the worst impacts.

Q1: What physical changes to the earth’s oceans and cryosphere have already occurred?

The New Wave of Russia’s Surreptitious Offensive in Eastern Europe

By: Dumitru Minzarari

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The Kremlin has reason to celebrate as Russian foreign policy recently registered several significant successes across Europe’s East. First, following almost three decades of resistance, Belarus ostensibly agreed to a number of important joint institutions with Russia, pushing bilateral integration forward, with Minsk as the junior partner (Deutsche Welle—Russian edition, September 16; see EDM, September 23).

On the Ukraine front, Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently succeeded in setting the agenda by convincing his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, to back the so-called Steinmeier Formula during the next Normandy Four (Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany) summit that he is expected to host (RT, September 9; see EDM, September 24). Not even the initial and unexpected resistance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (EADaily, September 19) managed to discourage Macron: the latter recently announced that “Ukraine needs courage to build peace” and that the Normandy Four summit will take place in the coming weeks (Ukrinform.net, September 25). Ukraine is under pressure to accept the Steinmeier Formula, which would result in Russia achieving the exact political goals that triggered the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s proxy invasion of Donbas.

The end of the German-American affair

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BERLIN — Just off a wide boulevard in a leafy west Berlin suburb, the U.S.-German friendship is alive and well.

Americans play football, sail and dance with their German friends. The decades-old bond between the two countries is on full display.

Trouble is, it's only a display. Opened in 1998, the Allied Museum, a free exhibition housed in an old U.S. Army theater, offers a window into what once was — and a welcome escape from what is.

Nearly 75 years after the end of World War II, the U.S.-German relationship isn’t just moribund, it’s on life support.

At both the official and unofficial level, the foundation that has supported the transatlantic alliance since the 1950s is crumbling. About 85 percent of Germans consider their country’s relationship with the U.S. to be “bad” or “very bad,” according to a recent study, while a clear majority want Germany to distance itself from the U.S.

Democracy Versus Kleptocracy

Franklin Foer

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Ever since the earliest years of this century, Ukraine has been the contested frontier in a grand ideological struggle between the forces of democracy and kleptocracy.

It was in Ukraine that Russia tested the misinformation tactics that it used in the American presidential election of 2016. And when Russia meddled in the U.S. campaign, one of its ultimate objectives was stunting American pressure to withdraw from the swaths of Ukraine that it illegally occupied.

Over the course of two revolutions, in 2004 and 2014, Ukrainians attempted to turn back the Russian-aligned oligarchs who have looted their country. And American presidents tried to bolster them. After the revolutionaries won power, the United States supplied rhetorical solidarity and aid. It prodded the new governments to resist the temptations of corruption and despotism.

How Much Damage Will Trump’s Scandal Do to Zelensky in Ukraine?

Candace Rondeaux

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It’s hard not to feel a little sorry for Ukraine’s president. The content of Volodymyr Zelensky’s now-infamous July 25th call with U.S. President Donald Trump will doubtless be picked over ad nauseum as the impeachment inquiry against Trump gets underway in Congress. Nor is history likely to forget how the release of a partial, reconstructed transcript of a single phone call between Trump and Zelensky triggered a constitutional crisis in the world’s most powerful country.

Zelensky’s obsequious tone, his cloying requests to Trump for Javelin anti-tank missiles and his disparaging remarks about Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, have severely damaged Zelensky’s political credibility at a time when he needs it most. The comedian who was elected president in April will likely have to work overtime to convince Ukrainians, as well as allies in Europe and Washington, that he is in thrall to no one and is prepared to defend what is arguably the most fragile democracy on the European continent.

Reckless Choices, Bad Deals, and Dangerous Provocations

By Hal Brands 

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Superpowers have a lot of room for error. Unlike lesser nations, they can shrug off many of the consequences of failed policies. Their weight and influence can compensate for subpar statecraft. But bad policy eventually takes its toll on everyone. And right now, bad policy is taking its toll on the United States.

As U.S. President Donald Trump nears the fourth year of his presidency, he confronts the damage wrought by his own policies almost everywhere. The Trump administration has maneuvered itself into diplomatic cul-de-sacs with Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. It has undermined its own efforts to end the war in Afghanistan. The economic damage from Trump’s trade war with China is mounting, and Beijing shows few signs of giving in. At the same time, the president’s laceration of alliances leaves the United States weaker and more isolated.

Russia’s Naval Strategy in the Mediterranean

BY DMITRY GORENBURG

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One more in the series of policy briefs on Russian strategic culture and leadership decision-making, written for a collaborative project organized by the Marshall Center with support from the Russia Strategy Initiative. This one is on Russian naval strategy in the Mediterranean, written in June but only recently published. As with the last one, I am posting the full text here with permission from the Marshall Center. Please go to the Marshall Center website if you would prefer to read a PDF version.

Executive Summary

Over the last decade, Russia has expanded its military footprint in the Mediterranean. Since establishing its Mediterranean Squadron in 2013, it has largely maintained a permanent naval presence in the region, based primarily on ships from the Black Sea Fleet, with support from ships and submarines of the Northern and Baltic Fleets.

Russia’s strategy uses the Mediterranean’s geography to protect Russia’s southern flanks while seeking to challenge the naval supremacy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States in the eastern Mediterranean. Russia depends on maintaining and gradually expanding its naval presence in the Mediterranean while also securing expanded access to ports and bases, with the possibility of eventually contesting NATO’s dominance in the central Mediterranean as well.

Hope Fades as Venezuela’s Crisis Grows Increasingly Intractable

The political and humanitarian crises that have sent Venezuela into a death spiral for the past several years has now spilled over into neighboring countries and become a flashpoint in international affairs. But a protracted fight for control of the country, if civil war does break out, will only mean additional suffering for its citizens. Learn more when you subscribe to World Politics Review (WPR).

There is no end in sight to the political and humanitarian crises that have overwhelmed Venezuela and spilled over into neighboring countries for the past several years. And a protracted fight for control of the country, if civil war does break out, will only mean additional suffering for its citizens, who are already living in the most dire conditions outside of a warzone in recent memory.

Even if the political stalemate is broken, there are no easy solutions for fixing the country’s economy, which was too dependent on oil and collapsed as global crude prices fell. But President Nicolas Maduro has shown more interest in consolidating his grip on power than making needed structural changes. The result has been growing shortages of food and basic supplies, widespread power outages and alarming rates of malnutrition.

EW, Cyber Require Next-Gen Hardware: Conley

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
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WASHINGTON: The military is investing heavily in artificial intelligence — but AI alone is not enough. You need hardware that can handle your high-powered algorithms, without taking up so much space, weight, and power that it can’t fit into a frontline command post, fighter jet, or tank. And that’s not easy.

There’s “a changing demand signal” from the Defense Department, said Bill Conley, the incoming CTO of electronics maker Mercury Systems. He should know: He just left government after a career that took him from a Navy lab to DARPA to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he was director for electronic warfare.

“Over the last couple of years there’s been a substantial amount of effort dedicated [to] the next generation of artificial intelligence, algorithm training, data,” Conley told me in an interview, “[but] at the tactical edge, not only do you need the algorithms and the data… you also need the hardware it actually runs on.”

WeWork's CEO drama has one industry insider calling it an 'Elon Musk situation'

GRAHAM RAPIER

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WeWork CEO Adam Neumann stepped down from the startup on Tuesday, as its IPO remains delayed.

The founder will remain on the company's board as non-executive chairman.

That's good for the company, Santosh Rao of Manhattan Venture Partners, told Business Insider, given that the company is fueled by his vision and charisma.

"It's almost like an Elon Musk situation," he said.

WeWork's CEO Adam Neumann is stepping down from the startup amid its delayed initial public offering.

Is Homeland Security prepared for its central role in cybersecurity?

By: Andrew Eversden

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The Department of Homeland Security is not “well-positioned” to carry out its cybersecurity role, according to the agency inspector general.

The agency watchdog wrote in a Sept. 23 report that the Cabinet agency’s lack of a cybersecurity workforce strategy and insufficient workforce assessments prevent the agency from being prepared for its duty in federal cybersecurity.

“Lacking an assessment, DHS cannot provide assurance that it has the appropriate skills, competencies and expertise positioned across its components to address the multifaceted nature of DHS’ cybersecurity work,” the IG wrote.

DHS manages several programs that are supposed to secure federal networks across federal civilian agencies.

How the Army will test its new battlefield network

By: Mark Pomerleau  

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The Army has developed a test and evaluation strategy for its tactical network, which officials say will help guide what capabilities they buy and then field in 2021.

The integrated tactical network is a mix of existing programs of record and commercial off-the-shelf capabilities that allow a unit to communicate in congested environments and improves battlefield awareness. Four infantry brigade combat teams will use those tools in 2021, and the Army’s intent is to incrementally distribute newer capabilities to units every two years until 2028.

The Army is looking to leverage a variety of systems for incorporation to its tactical network.

Throughout the Army’s testing of the ITN, it has relied on operational deployments as well as exercises and lab tests to reduce risk, understand what’s needed and to refine the service’s strategy.