Scale urges shift to agentic warfare as traditional military planning breaks under data load
In a new white paper, the AI firm argues the US military’s centuries-old command model can no longer keep pace with modern conflict, and calls for permanent deployment of AI agent systems to secure “decisional advantage” over near-peer adversaries.
Scale has released a white paper warning that the US military’s existing planning and command structures are no longer fit for modern warfare, and proposing the deployment of coordinated systems of artificial intelligence agents to transform how wars are planned and fought.
The document, titled The Agentic Revolution in War: The Present and Future of Decision Advantage, argues that the traditional OODA loop, Observe, Orient, Decide, Act, is breaking down under the volume and speed of battlefield data. Scale said current processes remain largely linear and manual, rooted in a general staff model codified by Napoleon in 1803, and still produce static operational plans that can take two years to prepare and are often obsolete before they are used.
In a conflict with a near-peer adversary, the company said, commanders may not even have two days to decide. The paper argues this reality requires a fundamental shift in command philosophy, with leaders moving from being “in the loop” to being “on the loop”, overseeing and directing AI-driven systems rather than personally processing information and issuing every decision.
Scale frames the solution as what it calls Agentic Warfare, defined as deterrence through decisional advantage. Rather than relying on a single large model, the firm argues advantage will come from teams of specialised, heterogeneous agents that can sense, reason and act faster than human-centric command structures.
The paper outlines two core architectures under development. The first, Observe with Agentic Alerting, is designed to run at the edge, using low-fidelity sensors to detect anomalies and then cross-cue higher-fidelity sensors to gather detailed intelligence. The second, Decide with Agentic Planning, builds on Scale’s work on Thunderforge and uses thousands of physics-based simulations run overnight to test Courses of Action, producing what the company describes as living operational plans that continuously adapt as conditions change.
Scale also introduces its Horizon-Gate Framework, intended to distinguish research-gated from engineering-gated capabilities, and sets out rigorous test and evaluation regimes aimed at ensuring agent systems operate within rules of engagement and policy constraints.
The paper warns that adversaries, including China, are already reorganising military doctrine around concepts such as “intelligentized warfare” and so-called command brains. Scale argues the technology to respond exists today, but that the window to secure a lasting decision advantage is narrowing.
The full blueprint is available at scale.com/agentic-warfare, and positions agentic AI not as a future experiment, but as an urgent requirement for modern command and control.
The Recap
- Scale released a white paper on agentic military AI.
- Paper says planners still use 1803 general staff processes.
- Full blueprint available to download at scale.com/agentic-warfare today.
