HCSS defence experts Davis Ellison and Tim Sweijs have just published their latest chapter on multi-domain operations (MDO) as part of the edited volume “Multidomain Operations: The Pursuit of Battlefield Dominance in the 21st Century” by Amos Fox and Franz-Stefan Gady.
Based on field research in the US, UK, France, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, and Taiwan, Ellison and Sweijs argue that MDO as a military concept is fraught with unaddressed problems, including, inter alia, an undertheorised theory of success, technological immaturity, and civil-military dissonance.
With their chapter, titled “Warfighting Concepts and the State of MDO Development: Does the Emperor have any Clothes?”, they draw from their extensive field research for the HCSS programme On Future War, for which they examine why and how states and groups use violence and coercion to achieve political goals—across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace.
About the book
In “Multidomain Operations: The Pursuit of Battlefield Dominance in the 21st Century”, Amos Fox and Franz-Stefan Gady challenge one of modern war’s most influential doctrines: MDO. Is it the right framework for 21st-century conflict—or a concept rushed into service without sufficient grounding? Through the lenses of origin, field application, academic critique, and international perspectives, the authors examine MDO’s theoretical and practical shortcomings. They argue that MDO is a solution in search of a problem—strategically narrow, tactically vague, and ill-suited for America’s allies. This book calls for a doctrinal reset: one that addresses precision strike overreach, rising attrition warfare, and the enduring need for land forces.
With rigorous policy and PME recommendations, Fox and Gady offer a vital roadmap for rethinking military doctrine. Essential reading for defence leaders, scholars, and warfighters alike, this book reshapes how we must think about future battlefields.
Order now to read on, or check out Davis and Tim’s related researched published at HCSS and in War on the Rocks.
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