Warfare is an evolving process where innovations in technology and the application of that technology to military operations combined to provide an opportunity to gain military advantage. Today's military performs missions across the spectrum of warfare. In these roles, operators and planners must leverage technology in order to gain an advantage over their enemy and protect their forces. Directed Energy (DE) weapons (DEW) are at the forefront of the next revolution in military weaponry. These weapons seemingly promise the military planner and operator a wide variety of lethal and non-lethal capabilities to meet the challenges across the spectrum of warfare. The progress the U.S. is making in the development of these weapons holds the prospect of significant new capabilities in both offensive and defensive operations. Important questions remain regarding the use of DEWs on the future battlefield. One of the most important is does current U.S. policy and doctrine adequately address the employment of emerging directed energy weapons? The purpose of this monograph is to explore whether current U.S. policy and doctrine are adequate to employ emerging DEW technology. Second, it will recommend possible areas where doctrine and policy should focus in order to provide the best framework for implementing DEWs into joint operations. This study will address why DEWs are important to our national defense; what policy and doctrine are; current policy/doctrine concerning DEWs; provide an assessment of the current doctrine and policy; and finally provide a conclusion followed by a set of recommendations for future development of directed energy weapon policy and doctrine. The joint publications and policy cited in this paper effectively address the general organization, training, execution, and support of the forces and DE weapon systems necessary to ensure effective execution of joint operations. Further, current doctrine provides general planning methodology, fundamentals, coordination, and integration/deconfliction guidelines and common understanding of conducting these operations while providing a common language for discussion. However, current doctrine and policy falls short in two areas. First, future DEWs may be capable of creating effects across the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war and therefore more specific guidance must be developed in order to properly organize, plan, coordinate, and utilize these weapons. Second, although current policy and doctrine do account for current and near-term anticipated realities in terms of developing capabilities to meet emerging threats, they fail to articulate the U.S. position on the use of DEWs in light of current international treaties and conventions. Additionally, the U.S. has failed to articulate its policy on placing weapons in space. Therefore, more research, analysis, and specific guidance is required in these two areas before we can employ more advanced DEW systems. Technology may allow us to gain a decisive advantage on the battlefield however, the proper integration, development, and employment strategies are critical to exploiting any new weapon system. Military forces must be organized, equipped, and trained properly. Doctrine and policy provide this framework to ensure our systems provide the required capabilities and necessary effects on the battlefield. Without well-defined doctrine and policy, weapon system acquisition, deployment, employment, and integration are done in an ad hoc fashion, resulting in a piecemeal of systems that are unable to provide the necessary synergistic effects in the joint warfighting arena.

ADA429291 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.)