Urban Warfare Experts' Christmas Wish List

A New Way of Conceptualizing Urban Operations. Militaries must stop thinking of cities as a special environment. Urban operations are pervasive precisely because the terrain is universal.

A US DoD Line Item for the Urban Operations Planners Course. For three years, the 40th Infantry Division has conducted a weeklong Urban Operations Planners Course to teach division and brigade staff members how to conduct large-scale urban operations (offense and defense) in dense urban areas. The course does not have a consistent or dependable funding source.

More Urban Operations Courses. The 40th Infantry Division’s Urban Operations Planners Course includes non-US students, but it does not have the capacity to meet the needs of all allied and partner nations. There must be an equivalent course available to each of these militaries.

A NATO Urban Operations Center of Excellence. There are twenty-nine NATO centers of excellence for topics such as countering improvised explosive devices, mountain warfare, and security force assistance, and a further thirty-three partnership training and education centers covering topics such as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons, peacekeeping, and special operations, and more. However, none is dedicated to urban operations.

Fit-for-Purpose Equipment. Urban operations should be the driver for equipment requirements. The challenges of operating in urban environments is almost always treated as an afterthought for equipment design and procurement, with negative results. Basic urban-specific equipment such as ladders and breaching tools are seen as specialist items rather than standard equipment and are consequently less commonly available for training.

Cheap, Expendable Drones for All Squads. Urban environments can be full of unknown threats and challenges to military forces operating there, hidden across a labyrinth of three-dimensional terrain. Drones are needed at the lowest level of fighting formations for reconnaissance, security, strike, and even protecting civilians that, no matter the evacuation measures taken, are always present.

A Heavy-Duty, Remote, Armored Bulldozer. Historically, the bulldozer is a vital tool when attacking an enemy-held city.

More Subterranean Training Areas. Current events are demonstrating the need to have more and better subterranean training areas. Existing subterranean training areas are few and far between and are also severely lacking in variety.

Better Urban Representation in Professional Reading. Individual professional development matters. In an ideal world, a military service could make reading one urban-focused book a year mandatory.