TRADOC Pamphlet 525-3-1

One of our duties as Army professionals is to think deeply and clearly about the problem of armed conflict in the future so that we can build and prepare our Army to deter that conflict and, if necessary, fight and win it. As we consider the future, our Army's challenge is clear. In a new era of great power competition, our nation's adversaries seek to achieve their strategic aims, short of conflict, by the use of layered stand-off in the political, military and economic realms to separate the U. S. from our partners. Should conflict come, they will employ multiple layers of stand-off in all domains-- land, sea, air, space and cyberspace--to separate U. S. forces and our allies in time, space, and function in order to defeat us. If they are successful, we risk losing the strategic depth that gives our Joint Force its operational advantage and enables our offensive military capability. As a nation, we rely on our ability to project power from the Continental United States and to integrate the actions of the Joint Force globally. Our adversaries seek to fracture this capability and erode the United States' strategic advantage--the greatest challenge to U. S. security, power and influence to emerge in the 21st century. The American way of war must evolve if we are to successfully thwart the aims of our adversaries in competition or to defeat them in conflict. The U. S. Army in Multi-Domain Operations 2028 concept proposes a series of solutions to solve the problem of layered standoff. The central idea in solving this problem is the rapid and continuous integration of all domains of warfare to deter and prevail as we compete short of armed conflict. If deterrence fails, Army formations, operating as part of the Joint Force, penetrate and dis-integrate enemy anti-access and area denial systems; exploit the resulting freedom of maneuver to defeat enemy systems, formations and objectives and to achieve our own strategic objectives; and consolidate gains to force a return to competition on terms more favorable to the U. S., our allies and partners.