These are huge strategic challenges — and Ryan McCarthy is emphasizing them more than any of his predecessors in at least a decade.

More collective defense cooperation will be on display at the massive AUSA 2019 conference, attended by 92 different nations, including the chief generals of 13 armies.

The hard part of Multi-Domain Operations isn’t hypersonic missiles or robotic tanks. It’s getting civilian agencies and foreign allies to fight disinformation — long before the shooting starts.

“Gen. Raymond has asked me, in particular, to make sure that we are incorporating all aspects of space warfighting … into our curriculum.”

Lockheed Martin’s Kim Ponders, who’s done much to help me understand the concepts and some of the technology behind Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2), explains what the company is doing and answers one crucial question: Is Multi Domain just another Pentagon buzzword.

The ultimate goal of ABMS, Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper enthused, is to “build a family of systems” and “create something that feels like the Internet of Things for the Air Force.”

“But make no mistake…if in fact a war starts or extends into space, everyone loses,” Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein told the AFA 2019 conference. “I don’t see any winners.”

The threat of long-range missile launchers in the Russian enclave is driving the Air Force to develop new tactics for multi-domain attack and dispersed defense.

In a massive simulated conflict, the human players adapted rapidly to futuristic technologies and tactics. But their command-and-control software couldn’t keep up.

“Kill webs,” not kill chains. Instead of exquisite platforms like the F-35 fighter, exquisite functional technology nodes (such as an advanced infrared sensor) that can be mixed and matched via AI-enhanced networks.