Interdiction

Interdiction, based on the core competencies of precision employment and information dominance, will still be used to shape the battlespace in 2025. The critical pieces of these core competencies accuracy, lethality, target identification, and cycle time will necessarily undergo great change in the next 30 years. The result of these changes will be interdiction, with a different face but the same heart. Interdiction in 2025 will require affordable enhancements to current capabilities in the areas of accuracy, lethality, target detection/identification, and timeliness, allowing the warfighter to shape the battlespace in revolutionary ways.A number of technological "leaps" will drive these required changes. Penetrating sensors and designators, coupled with micro-technology, will permit weapons to have the processing power required to "touch" targets in exactly the right spot. Variable lethality will permit the option of killing, delaying, deterring, or breaking targets. Synergistically combining these capabilities with intelligent system logic processing, improved target detection, decreased sensor-to-weapon cycle time, and airpower will provide the necessary pieces to dominate the battlespace.The systems required to build the interdiction system of systems in 2025 include: beyond-electromagnetic sensors; acoustic, penetrating and variable yield weapons; sensory netting; energy and particle weapons; and a virtual OODA loop. From these systems, a nexus of three critically enabling technologies emerges, which, if pursued, will provide the leveraged investment necessary to revolutionize interdiction. These technologies include: nanotechnology for inertial measuring units, sensors, transmitters, processors and locomotion; non-linear modeling and intelligent systems to support the virtual OODA loop; and expanded use of the electromagnetic spectrum for weapon guidance and remote sensing.