Unified Quest

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Developing a vision of future conflict

Senior Army leaders met Sept. 7 at Joint Base Andrews, Md., to discuss the insights from Unified Quest and the Campaign of Learning. TRADOC Commanding General David Perkins hosted the four-hour discussion attended by Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and several other senior Army leaders. They discussed the Army Campaign of Learning, results from the Unified Quest Deep Future Wargame, and the annual Army Warfighting Assessment. The discussions focused on developing a vision of future war and changes to the character of war, future Army attributes, and prioritized key investment areas required to fight and win in the 2030-2050 timeframe.

Overview

Unified Quest (UQ) is the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Title 10 future study plan designed to explore enduring strategic and operational challenges to identify issues and explore solutions critical to current and future development. UQ assists senior Army leaders in making decisions using a variety of credible and plausible mid- to long-range strategic settings to develop or examine a broad set of ideas about future conflict that will impact the Army. The success of UQ relies on the ability to explore ideas from a resource-informed perspective, but not limited by resource-related constraints that typically drive near-term planning and programming. UQ will inform senior-leader Force 2025 Maneuvers: Army’s Campaign of Learning decisions on how best to develop an Army that has the capability and capacity to Win in a Complex World

Purpose

Enable Army leaders to understand, visualize, describe, direct, and assess Future Force (2025-2050) development efforts.

Key Task

  • Understand threats, enemies, and adversaries in context of the future operating environment and future missions.
  • Refine concepts to maintain a strong foundation for Future Force development.
  • Evaluate the Future Force under realistic scenarios.
  • Identify capability gaps and opportunities to improve Future Force effectiveness.
  • Design the Future Force and develop strategies to ensure that Army forces are prepared to accomplish missions while operating as part of joint, inter-organizational, and multinational teams.

End State

Future Army forces are prepared to conduct operations promptly, in sufficient scale, and for ample duration to deter conflict and win in a complex world.

Unified Quest 2017

OVERVIEW

Character of Future War - November 2016

The Character of Future War will develop a common understanding of the character of war in the 2030-2050 timeframe. The event will determine what the operational environment will look like, the sources of military power and strategic competitors (with respect to threats and missions), and will identify the implications on the conduct of future military operations.
OVERVIEW

Human Performance Seminar- December 2016

Based on the results of the Human Performance Working Group in September 16, the Human Performance Seminar will determine the desired characteristics of Soldiers, civilians and contractors required in the 2050 operational environment, and the capabilities needed to succeed in high-intensity conflict.
OVERVIEW

How the Army Fights III - February 2017

The first of two HTAFs, How the Army Fights III will explore how the Army COULD fight across multiple domains in the 2030-2050 timeframe. Leaders will link challenges, force design principles and solutions to inform capability gaps by examining how Army formations conduct Joint and Combined Arms Operations (JCAO).
OVERVIEW

Future Force Design III Seminar - March 2017

Future Force Design III will ensure that capability sets enable achievement of the learning objectives in the Deep Future Wargame. Three working groups will discuss how well the capability set descriptions enable the employment of the future force, how each capability set enables fighting in accordance with the Army Concept Framework, and what key adjustments are needed in the capability set description.
OVERVIEW

Deep Future Wargame 2017 - May 2017

The Deep Future Wargame will determine how the Army fights across multiple domains in the 2030-2050 timeframe as part of a join, inter-organizational, and multinational force. Three working groups will determine how well future forces: shape the environment; set the theater; conduct forcible entry operations; conduct dispersed joint and combined-arms and wide-area security operations; and how well future forces transition between phases and consolidate gains.
OVERVIEW

How the Army Fights IV - August 2017

The last HTAF, How the Army Fights IV, will explore how the Army COULD fight across multiple domains in the 2030-2050 timeframe. Leaders will link challenges, force design principles and solutions to inform capability gaps.

Army Space Power 2035

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Documents

25-29 Jan, 2016
29 April, 2016
March 12, 2015

2016 Archives

Future Force Design I Seminar
Future Force Design II Seminar
How the Army Fights I
Deep Future Wargame
How the Army Fights II
Senior Leader Seminar
Human Performance Working Group