Today's Army is transitioning its warfighting focus from superiority of technology and industry to information dominance. If the Army's smoke generating organizations are going to remain viable, they must enhance the joint force's ability to win in future warfare. They must be able to achieve electromagnetic spectrum supremacy and meet the needs of the twenty-first century joint force throughout the range of conflict. This twenty first century obscurant capability must be able to defeat and/or control reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) sensors and targets at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war. I present a comparison of the twenty-first century maneuver force smoke/obscurant requirements and point out where the Chemical Corps needs to take further action to fill shortfalls in all twenty-first century operational requirements. This study investigates whether Army smoke generating units will remain a vital asset or become a liability to the twenty-first century joint force. It also suggests obscurant mission changes throughout the spectrum of conflict on the future battlefield. My presentation is relevant to the following topics: camouflage, concealment, countermeasures, deception, operational uses, smoke systems and materials, information operations, OPSEC, protection, multispectral obcurants, sensors, future, smoke, obscurants, and command and control weapons (C2W) attack and protection.

Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)