(Washington, D.C.) The most advanced and highly effective defensive interceptor weapons save lives, generate major warfare advantages, keep ships, planes and armored vehicles functioning amid heavy incoming enemy fire … yet winning a war cannot only require defense.
Forces can thwart enemy attacks to be sure, but winning a major engagement undoubtedly requires going on attack with sustained, precise and highly lethal offensive operations to destroy an enemy.
Despite this known reality, the Pentagon’s weapons arsenal could to some extent be described as divided too stringently between offense and defense.
For instance, the Air Force is building new ICBMs for offensive strike or counterattack in the event of nuclear war, while the Missile Defense Agency is fast-tracking its Next-Generation Interceptor to track and destroy approaching enemy ICBMs.
The U.S. military services operate large numbers of highly effective, technological mature and emerging offensive and defense weapons, so why not explore ways to engineer weapons that do both?
Merging Offensive and Defensive Weapons
Offense and defense, especially in the realm of missile defense, are deeply intertwined in many respects, a reality prompting Pentagon leaders to make a new push to merge the two when it comes to articulating new warfare strategies.
“We have signed a document that says we need to look at these campaigns today to see how offensive and defensive weapons can work together.
