US Joint Forces Command has just concluded the first phase of Urban Resolve 2015—a three-phase experiment designed to simulate an urban battlespace in the year 2015. Air Force Col. Terry Kono with JFCOM says that the two-week first phase provided an opportunity to “really make the federation of models and [simulations] work. … It’s a focused environment, refined for the experiment.” The “environment” finds a US-led coalition confronting an adversary equipped with modern capabilities and operating in an urban setting. Phase 1 centered on exploiting human-intelligence collection methods and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance assets. Phase 2 runs in mid-September, followed by Phase 3 in late October.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
