Modern War Institute

Most people know something about the most famous amphibious operations in military history—the D-Day landings and Gallipoli, for example. But what about an amphibious night attack on the shores of Tuscany in 1555? Or a Turkish amphibious assault in response to a coup in Cyprus in 1974? This episode features a conversation with Tim Heck, co-editor of the book On Contested Shores: The Evolving Role of Amphibious Operations in the History of Warfare, and explores the past, present, and future of amphibious operations.

This episode features a conversation about innovation and the future battlefield and features two guests perfectly suited to discuss those topics. Maj. Gen. John George served as the deputy director of the Futures and Concepts Center and is now the commanding general of the Combat Capabilities Development Command. Mr. Jay Harrison served as Futures Command's first command innovation officer. As they make clear, the ways in which the Army is preparing for the future involve robotics, artificial intelligence, and the high-tech gadgetry, but it’s also about new ways of organizing, new doctrine, new personnel policies, and more.

In an era of renewed great power competition, what are the risks of that competition migrating to the Arctic region and Antarctica? How might it play out? What are states' key interests in the polar regions? How should we conceptualize issues of security and geopolitics in both areas? This episode tackles those questions and more. It features a discussion with Liz Buchanan and Ryan Burke, co-directors of the brand new Project 6633.

The recent decision to withdraw seven hundred US servicemembers from Somalia offers a timely opportunity to explore a few important questions: How does the US military work with partners in pursuit of US objectives? And more specifically, what role does proxy warfare play in US strategy in Africa. Those questions are at the center of the discussion in this episode. (Note: This is a sample episode from the Irregular Warfare Podcast. If you enjoy it, be sure to subscribe to hear a wide range of conversations about subjected related to irregular warfare. Get it wherever you listen to podcasts.)

In this episode, MWI's John Amble speaks to Robert Work, former deputy secretary of defense. He describes his expectations for the future of conflict, including the role unmanned and autonomous systems are likely to play, how the way the military acquires new equipment will change, and more. Note: This episode was originally recorded and released in 2019.

This episode features a conversation with MWI's chair of urban warfare studies, John Spencer. In the conversation, he explores a wide range of questions. Why are cities so challenging for military forces? What steps can be taken to achieve a higher level of preparedness for those challenges? Is it possible to replicate cities’ complexity in a training environment? These are just a few of the topics he offers his keen insights on.

In this episode of the Modern War Institute podcast, MWI editorial director John Amble speaks to Dr. James Giordano, the Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at Georgetown University and Scholar-in-Residence in the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics. Dr. Giordano discusses the rapid pace of advancement in neuroscience and neurotechnology—and what that advancement means for the future of war.

In this episode, Maj. Jake Miraldi talks to Max Brooks, bestselling author of "World War Z" and "The Zombie Survival Guide" about how he uses zombies in his books as a stand-in for the kinds of major crises that transcend borders and require coordinated responses, often with a military component. The conversation also touches on society's civil-military gap, the importance of creative thinking for military leaders, and more.

In this episode Dr. Jack Watling, Research Fellow for Land Warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, discusses the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that has erupted since late September surrounding the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. He examines what we can learn from it about ground combat on the modern battlefield. Among other things, he discusses the saturation of the battlefield with a variety of sensors, challenges associated with electronic warfare, and the importance of camouflage. Collectively, these represent a problem set that the US military and those of its allies largely have not encountered during nearly two decades of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan—which makes the lessons he discusses especially important.

In this episode of the MWI Podcast, John Amble talks to Dr. Moriba Jah, an aerospace engineer who has worked for NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory. He is now an associate professor at the University of Texas, where he monitors space and works to track thousands of objects—a number that continues to grow—orbiting Earth. Note: This episode was originally released in May 2019.