Vojenské Rozhledy

Czech Military Review

Vojenské rozhledy / Czech Military Review Nr. 2/2025, Vol. XXXIV. (LXVI.): 18-38


From Battlefield to Classroom: Leveraging Military Design Thinking for Enhanced Officer Training of Multi-Domain OperationsReviewed - Research

Steven P. A. Hornstra1,2,3,4, Walther N. K. A. van Mook3,4,5, Steven J. Durning6,7, Stefan P. Nelwan1,8, Rabia Saylam Author profileORCID...1,9, Joris J. Wijnker1,10,11, Jaap A. Hoogenboezem2,12
1 NATO Command and Control Centre of Excellence, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2 Royal Netherlands Army, Armed forces of the Netherlands, The Netherlands
3 School of Health professions Education, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
4 Academy for postgraduate medical education, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
5 Department of intensive care medicine, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, The Netherlands
6 Department of medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
7 Center for health professions education, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
8 Netherlands National Cyber Security Centre, Ministry of Justice and Security, The Hague, The Netherlands
9 Turkish Air Force, Ministry of National Defence, Türkiye
10 Department of population health sciences, Institute for risk assessment sciences, Faculty of veterinary medicine, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
11 Animal Disaster Education Foundation, Leusden, The Netherlands
12 Department of political science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

In military operations, there is increasing emphasis on multi-domain operations (MDO) across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace, with technology and cognitive domain operations playing key roles. However, it remains unclear how NATO can optimally prepare officers for MDO. We applied a military design thinking method in an international setting, involving participants from diverse professional backgrounds (government, academia, industry, and military), all experts in Command and Control, to design a blueprint for an operational-level MDO training program. This blueprint outlines the tasks, knowledge, skills and attitudes required for MDO, and describes the conditions for such a training program. Our findings provide valuable insights for developing MDO training programs for NATO officers.

Keywords: Education & Training; Preparedness; Military operations

Published: January 2, 2026  Show citation

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Hornstra, S.P.A., van Mook, W.N.K.A., Durning, S.J., Nelwan, S.P., Saylam, R., Wijnker, J.J., & Hoogenboezem, J.A. (2025).
From Battlefield to Classroom: Leveraging Military Design Thinking for Enhanced Officer Training of Multi-Domain Operations. Czech Military Review106(2), 18-38
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