EMSO is Evolving

AOC 2025 has concluded. But before we return to our weekly duties, it’s worth revisiting some of the themes and highlights discussed at last week’s event.

The symposium focused on several intertwined EMSO lines of effort and what the EW community needs to achieve over the next 10 years to 2035. The symposium framed this conversation in the context of Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P). EMSO, and more specifically EW, has long been resourced primarily in the context of technology. But in an age of Great Power Competition, all our DOTMLPF-P lines of effort need to be built up to perform more like an orchestra rather than a solo act. Building a robust EMS enterprise for 2035 is a big job with lots of dynamic, interdependent parts, but we will fail to achieve our 2035 goals if we don’t build the EMS enterprise across DOTMLPF-P.

We should also remember AOC 2025 for offering the first open discussion of creating an EMS Force. No one knows whether this is a sound idea yet, but the time is right for the EMSO community to ask the question. If the EMS domain is as strategic and important as most military leaders acknowledge, then does it need a dedicated armed service to organize, train, and equip forces to dominate the EMS? Even if the ultimate answer is “no” or “not yet,” the debate will help us to evolve the way we think about EMSO and the ways we need to resource it over the next 10 years. In other words, there’s not a lot of downside to discussing this question right now.

– John Knowles, JED Editor-in-Chief