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Cover of JFQ 119. U.S. Navy SEAL secures deck of ship and conducts board, search, and seizure training with British Royal Marine Commandos and Ukrainian special forces in Odesa, Ukraine, June 21, 2021 (U.S. Army/Patrik Orcutt)

Joint Force Quarterly 119

At 32 years and now 119 issues, Joint Force Quarterly has had over 40 people involved in making the magic happen. As great as JFQ has become, two significant events will undoubtably change how this journal is produced and delivered. Primarily because of changes in the media environment at large and the budgetary pressures across government, National Defense University (NDU) Press will be significantly reducing the available print copies of JFQ beginning with the next edition, JFQ 120, due after the New Year. And after 25 years of brilliant service, longtime Executive Editor Dr. Jeffrey Smotherman has retired.


Soldier fights in tandem with various robotics in Human-Machine Integrated Formations during Project Convergence Capstone 5 experiment, March 15, 2025, at Fort Irwin, California.

Cognitive Warfare and Organizational Design: Leveraging AI to Reshape Military Decisionmaking

The military and economic dominance of the United States in the post-Soviet era compelled adversaries to shift their strategies away from largescale conventional warfare. Instead, they have increasingly focused on contesting American decisionmaking through cognitive warfare, leveraging psychological, informational, and technological domains to erode strategic advantage. Unlike traditional warfare, cognitive warfare shapes how individuals and organizations perceive reality, evaluate choices, and act on information.


Dr. Kevin Pollpeter, Director of Research for the China Aerospace Studies Institute, and Professor David T. Burbach, Ph.D., Director of the Naval War College Space Studies Group, answer questions during Naval War College’s Future Warfighting Symposium onboard Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, August 7, 2025 (U.S. Navy/Connor Burns)

Breadth or Depth: The Ongoing Battle in Professional Military Education

The subject of military history as taught in the U.S. Army’s school system is much in the air of late. The editors of Parameters chose in 1981 to reintroduce Michael Howard’s timeless article on military education writ large. Such an introduction could serve just as well some 40 years later, when the state of joint professional military education (JPME) remains a heated source of debate.


U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division fire a Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile while conducting squad attacks during Fuji Viper 22.3 at Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji, Japan, Feb. 17, 2022. During this exercise Marines sharpened critical combined arms skills, ensuring they are ready and capable to execute a wide range of missions anywhere in the world. 1/3 is forward-deployed in the Indo-Pacific under 4th Marines as a part of the Unit Deployment Program. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Juan Carpanzano)

Ukraine, the U.S. Defense Industrial Base, and the Elusive Crisis-Era Munitions Production Surge

A growing chorus of U.S. defense analysts, lawmakers, and military officials has emphasized that the United States lacks the munitions production capacity to meet the demands of the contemporary strategic environment.


Noah Benton, Titan Dynamics chief technology officer, prepare a 3-D-printed unmanned aerial system for flight during a demonstration April 25, 2024 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.  The goal of the demonstration was to create, build and fly a UAS within 24 hours.  The team spent the week at Eglin creating UASs for various designs and mission specialties.  (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)

Fabrication at the Tactical Edge

In 1945, General Henry “Hap” Arnold observed that in the future, “science and research will have the same relative importance as pilot training.”


B-21 Raider conducts flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

The Long Pivot: The Development of the Joint Warfighting Concept

In the wake of America’s long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military faced an urgent need to pivot from counterinsurgency back to conventional warfighting, especially against peer competitors like China and Russia.


U.S. Air Force Special Tactics Operators assigned to 24th Special Operations Wing, U.S. Army Special Forces Operators, and Ukrainian special operations forces execute a bilateral military free fall from U.S. Air Force MC-130J Commando II assigned to 352nd Special Operations Wing near Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Building Strategic Lethality: Special Operations Models for Joint Force Learning and Leader Development Authors

This article examines how U.S. Joint Special Operations Forces (SOF), particularly through SAG-U and CJSOTF-10, have rapidly adapted to support Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion, offering a model for future joint force innovation.


Marine Corps Sergeant Raylin Carter, aerial observer with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 362 (Reinforced), 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, participates in flight operations with AH-1Z Viper pilots during transit of Malacca Strait.

From High Seas to Highlands: Framing U.S. Defense Strategy With Southeast Asia’s Geography

This article analyzes the strategic importance of Southeast Asia to U.S. foreign policy amid rising competition with China, emphasizing the region's complex geography, diverse political systems, and centrality to global economic growth.