McArdle presents expertise on cyber and the integrated military force

Jennifer McArdle, assistant professor in the Department of Administration of Justice, presented her expertise on the challenges and opportunities involved with integrating networked – cyber, electronic and information – operations with conventional military operations as a featured speaker at last month’s biennial Air Power Conference hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Canberra, Australia.

McArdle lectured at the request of the RAAF based on research she’s conducting along with eight administration of justice students on how to integrate networked operations with kinetic mission training programs. The RAAF’s conference theme was “Air Power in a Disruptive World.”

“Our research is particularly useful, as the RAAF, like other services and militaries around the world, are moving in this direction,” McArdle said. “This is new territory – militaries and the defense industry are just starting to think about what the future military synthetic training environment should look like. Salve has a unique opportunity to make a real and impactful contribution.”

The conference drew more than 1,300 delegates from national and international air forces, along with other military services, government representatives, defense industry personnel, members of academia and think tanks. Australia’s minister of defense was in attendance, as well as the military service chiefs from numerous Air Forces around the world.

Sandra Finney, RAAF’s deputy director for planning and engagement, praised McArdle’s work as “authoritative, reliable and a balanced critical appraisal of world events and future drivers and disruptors.”

In November, McArdle’s commentary, “Gaming to Victory: Synthetic Training for Future Combat,” was published in War on the Rocks. Her talk at the RAAF conference focused on “The Disruptive World and the Integrated Force: Readiness through Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) Training.”

“Australia is a big country at the end of the earth,” McArdle said. “For the RAAF connecting synthetically – via virtual and constructive simulations – is the way to go for military training. Moreover, the Australian military is small, so they must operate as an integrated force – breaking down service and domain level silos. Their synthetic training environment must support integrated training.”

(McArdle is a fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council and a Ph.D. candidate in war studies at King’s College, London. She is a 2017 recipient of the RADM Fred Lewis I/ITSEC doctoral scholarship in modeling and simulation.