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Multi-Domain Operations
NATO’s Military Instrument of Power enables, prepares, plans, orchestrates, and executes synchronized activities, across all domains and environments, at scale and the speed of relevance, in collaboration with other instruments of power, partners and stakeholders. This delivers tailored options at a time and place of our choosing that build advantage, across the shaping, contesting and fighting contexts, in order to decisively influence the attitudes and behaviours of adversaries and connected audiences.
Multi-Domain Operations aim to orchestrate and synchronise military activities with non-military activities, across all domains and environments, to enable commanders to deliver converging effects.
(Allied Command Transformation, Multi-Domain Operations Concept, Dec. 2021)
Related Publications
Non-Lethal Measures of Effectiveness in Targeting
By Mr
Adam
Jux
‘Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts.’ William Bruce Cameron In a world of rapid technological advances, specialists in non-lethal warfare face a persistent challenge: measuring the intangible [...]
Technology and Trust
Interoperability for NATO’s Multi-Domain Operations and US Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control
By Cdr
Michael
Posey
By Col
Jörg
Stenzel
‘Never fight unless you have to, never fight for long, and never fight alone.’ General Fox Conner, mentor of both Eisenhower and McArthur As NATO considers how to conduct Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), the Alliance must [...]
Enhancing NATO’s Strategic Edge
A Human-Centric Approach to Multi-Domain Operations
By Col
Tyler
Niebuhr
The war in Ukraine and conflict in Israel present a potential catalyst for wider regional hostilities. Technology has given terrorist organizations increased capabilities, and the pervasive use of information warfare allows for widespread emotional manipulation [...]
Challenged Air Superiority
Adapting to the Drone and Missile Age
By Lt Col
Andre
Haider
By Lt Col
Kim
Vogt
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has challenged current capabilities and military planner’s assumptions, highlighting the ever-evolving nature of warfare, where superiority is achieved by staying ‘one step ahead’ of the adversary. Observing the conduct of [...]
Strategic Horizons – Advancements in Air and Space for Deterrence and Defence
A Review of the JAPCC Conference 2023
By Col
Markus
Müller
By Lt Col
Florin
Sandu
Between 10 and 12 October 2023, the Joint Air Power Competence Centre (JAPCC) conducted its most prestigious annual event, the Air and Space Power Conference, to enhance deterrence and defence as one of NATO’s core [...]
The Alliance’s Transition to Multi-Domain Operations
An AIRCOM Perspective
By Sqn Ld
Shaun
Cannon
The concept of Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) has gained prominence in the context of NATO’s military strategy. What started years ago as an operational answer to peer adversary competition, in particular, to counter the Russian Anti-Access/Area [...]
The Finnish Air Force
Ensuring Readiness and Leveraging High-End Air Capabilities while Integrating with NATO
By Maj Gen
Juha-Pekka
Keränen
‘Today and in the future, the FINAF has a crucial role in constituting the backbone of security in the challenging Northern Eastern operational environment.’ The Finnish Air Force (FINAF) is recognized for its rich history, [...]
The Challenge of Symbiosis
Synchronizing Kinetic and Non-Kinetic Ops
By Maj
Charilaos
Nikou
By Sqn Ldr
David
Tucker
The landscape of modern warfare has undergone significant transformations in recent years, becoming far more complex and multifaceted. The parameters of this new era of warfare have broadened beyond the traditional military-focused model, encompassing a [...]
The Heart of Decision Superiority
Evolve or Lose – Why Your Next War May Be Won or Lost in Seconds
By Col (ret.)
Anthony
Bellione
‘The question is not whether NATO will need to evolve and develop its C4ISR capabilities but whether it can do so in time to meet the gathering threats to the Alliance.’ General James Cartwright, Former [...]
Quantum Technology for Defence
What to Expect for the Air and Space Domains
By Lt Col
Denis
Dúbravčík
By Dr
Michal
Krelina
Quantum Technology (QT) has its foundation in quantum mechanics, a discipline more than one hundred years old. The first applications of quantum mechanics, known as Quantum Revolution 1.0, include nuclear fission, lasers, semiconductors, etc., where [...]
Good News or Bad News?
Embryonic Development of Network Enabled Weapons
By Lt Col
Francesco
Esposito
By Mr
Adam
Jux
In the past few decades, the way we have understood conflict and war has seen a tremendous change. War had traditionally been understood as armed physical violence. Today, global security challenges are changing faster than [...]
MDO: What’s in a Name?
Transforming JAPCC’s JADO Project to Better Support ACT’s MDO Concept
By Lt Col
Jürgen
Welsch
What started years ago as an operational answer to counter the Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) threat has become one of the most challenging endeavours NATO has ever undertaken. The challenges posed by the A2/AD posture represent [...]
The Multi-Domain Combat Cloud in Light of Future Air Operations
An Enabler for Multi-Domain Operations
By Mr
Laurent
le Quement
By Brig Gen
Jean-Michel
Verney
By Col
Thomas
Vinçotte
Much has been published on new operational concepts to re-enhance Western air superiority when facing threats posed by peer or near-peer competitors with long-range and precise fires. Most experts advocate for a much more integrated [...]
Terabytes of Unprocessed Data or Superior Pieces of Info
Turning Airborne ISR into Multi-Domain Operations
By Col
Gianmarco
Di Loreto
By Lt Col
Roberto
Diana
The info-operational environment in which we are immersed is characterized by conflicts that span the entire spectrum of the competition continuum, including all possible combinations of conventional, asymmetric and hybrid operations. Our military organizations have [...]
Transitioning NATO to an All-Domain Mindset
By Capt
Daniel
Cochran
By Col
Matthew
Willis
Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO) is a concept with the ambition of maximizing the effectiveness of all declared NATO forces through broadly focusing on two critical interoperability areas: obstacles between services and across the nations. The [...]
Multi-Domain Combat Cloud
A Vision for the Future Battlefield
By Col
Hubert
Saur
‘… lack of information sharing impedes operational effectiveness. Information sharing restrictions and national caveats limit interoperability solutions and reduce operational effectiveness across the domains.’ This is one key finding of the Joint Air Power Strategy [...]
Future Battlespace Management
Fighting and Winning in the Increasingly Complex Air Operations Environment of the Future
By Lt Col
Livio
Rossetti
Robust Anti-Access and Area-Denial (A2/AD) structures, coupled with the proliferation of advanced technologies across multiple domains, will dominate the third dimension in the coming decades. Potential adversaries will blend conventional, asymmetric, and hybrid capabilities across [...]
The Luftwaffe in Multi-Domain Operations
By Lt Gen
Ingo
Gerhartz
NATO is living through one of the most challenging periods of its existence. Our security environment has become even more complex and increasingly dynamic. Our security situation is characterized by crises, conflicts and the revival [...]
NATO Training and Benefits of a Multi-Domain Approach to Targeting
By Mr
Adam
Jux
Since the early 2000’s the western world, and particularly NATO, has been progressively scrutinized in their ability to conduct offensive operations. Targeting (the method by which we conduct offensive operations) has been developed and refined [...]
Tracing Opinio Juris in National Cyber Security Strategy Documents
By Ann Väljataga, Law Researcher, NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The article below is a summary of Ann Väljataga, ‘Tracing Opinio Juris in National Cyber Security Strategy Documents’, NATO CCD COE, Tallinn, 2018. [...]
Multi-Domain Operations and Challenges to Air Power
By Lt Col
Juan
Cánovas
New concepts of operation, fuelled by technological advances, have facilitated interconnectivity across different domains of warfare. Consequently, this cross-domain interconnectivity now provides an opportunity to access objectives through non-linear (non-segregated) approaches. Indeed, the Alliance has [...]
The Complexity of Multi-Domain Operations
By Gen
Herbert J.
Carlisle
Courtesy of National Defense, NDIA’s Business & Technology Magazine For the US military to maintain its status as the greatest fighting force in the world, it must continue to learn and understand the Multi-Domain battlespace [...]
Accelerating Multi-Domain Operations: Evolution of an Idea
By Gen
Stephen
Townsend
Courtesy of Modern War Institute at West Point Multi-Domain Battle has a clear origin. Stemming from the idea that disruptive technologies will change the character of warfare, it recognizes that the way armies will fight [...]
Defining the ‘Domain’ in Multi-Domain
By Dr
Jared
Donnelly
By Lt Cdr
Jon
Farley
Courtesy of Over the Horizon – Multi-Domain Operations & Strategy Multi-Domain’ is the word du jour of the defence enterprise. While there are plenty of philosophical discussions on the future of warfare, the important dialogue [...]
What is a Multi-Domain Operation?
By Lt Col
Heiner
Grest
By Lt Col
Henry
Heren
The use of the term Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) has increased in popularity over the past decade as military services, those of the United States, in particular, have sought to codify their approach to warfare beyond [...]
On Multi-Domain Operations
Is NATO Today Sufficiently ‘Joint’ to Begin Discussions Regarding Multi-Domain Command and Control?
By Lt Col
Andrea
Olivieri
By Capt
William A.
Perkins
Recently, there have been multiple think papers, studies and articles proposing a new way of viewing the future battlespace. Many of these treat the entire environment as one single domain or an integrated environment of [...]
Gateway to Multi-Domain Command and Control
The E-3A Final Lifetime Extension Program
By Maj
Sameek
Parsa
By Maj
Aaron
Sprecher
Since NATO’s inception, airpower’s role has evolved from a key enabler of military capability to that of a primary means of executing the Alliance’s three core tasks: collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security. With [...]
Fifth Generation Air Combat
Maintaining the Joint Force Advantage
By Gen
Jeffrey L.
Harrigian
By Col
Max M.
Marosko III
This is an abridged version of an article published in the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Journal Ed. No. 6, July 2016. For the purposes of this paper, we must define what a ‘fifth generation’ [...]
