Gen. David Perkins, commander of the U.S. Army‘s Training and Doctrine Command, has called on the military, industry and academic leaders to “describe” the future instead of predicting it, Army News Service reported Tuesday.
Perkins told attendees at the Mad Scientist Conference at Georgetown University that to describe the future means to gain a complete understanding of the environment, Gary Sheftick reports.
Co-sponsored by the chief of staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group, TRADOC and the Georgetown University Center for Security Studies, the Mad Scientists initiative aims to illustrate the strategic security environment in 2050, according to the report.
TRADOC leaders see advanced protection for combat vehicles as among the systems they believe will be critical in 2050, the report says.
“The problem we’re seeing now is, with the proliferation of [anti-tank guided missiles], chemical-energy munitions, shaped charges, etc., like that — is that the cost curve as well as the physics is working against us,” Perkins told the conference.
“Better think of a different way to protect,” he said.
Perkins also emphasized the value of innovation as a way to turn critical thinking into results and added that collaboration is one of the factors that describe an innovative organization, the report says.
