Non-Lethal Weapons Program

Welcome to the NEW Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office (JIFCO)!

The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) as you know it, is no longer. The Commandant of the Marine Corps’ 2020 Executive Agent’s Planning Guidance outlines the mission and vision for the new Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office (JIFCO). This milestone in the DOD NLW Program’s history ensures that the Department of Defense mainstreams the use of the vital and relevant tools known as Intermediate Force Capabilities (IFCs). IFCs, which exist between presence and lethal effects, enable U.S. and allied forces to deliver accurate, tailorable, and compelling effects in complex and ambiguous scenarios while preventing unintended escalation of hostilities, unnecessary loss of life, or destruction of critical infrastructure. Team JIFCO looks forward to serving the Joint Force and its strategic partners.

IFC EA Planning Guidance 2020 USMC Gazette Article on EA Guidance

What's New?

Pentagon Developing Electric Stun Grenade to Disable Everyone in a Room

Mr. David Law, Chief of the Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office Technology Division spoke with David Hambling of Forbes magazine about this capability in development. Read the full article HERE.

Welcome to the new Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office (JIFCO)!

The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) as you know it, is no longer.

The Commandant of the Marine Corps’ 2020 Executive Agent’s Planning Guidance outlines the mission and vision for the new Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office (JIFCO). This milestone in the DOD NLW Program’s history ensures that the Department of Defense mainstreams the use of the vital and relevant tools known as Intermediate Force Capabilities (IFCs). IFCs, which exist between presence and lethal effects, enable U.S. and allied forces to deliver accurate, tailorable, and compelling effects in complex and ambiguous scenarios while preventing unintended escalation of hostilities, unnecessary loss of life, or destruction of critical infrastructure.

Team JIFCO looks forward to serving the Joint Force and its strategic partners. [Click on the image to read the full planning guidance]

Vessel Incapacitating Power Effect Radiation (VIPER) Program is a Research and Development Based Operational Utility Assessment

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) is issuing this sources sought and request for information synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest to support the Vessel Incapacitating Power Effect Radiation (VIPER) program of the Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office (JIFCO). The VIPER program is a research and development-based Operational Utility Assessment (OUA) sponsored by the JIFCO that will provide a non-lethal, potentially reversible vessel stopping capability for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Law Enforcement community. This approach provides a safer and more effective means to subdue non-compliant vessels within a dynamic environment.

Reports on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

United Nations Assistance Mission: Afghanistan (UNAMA) prepares regular reports in accordance with its UN Security Council mandate, undertaking a range of activities aimed at minimizing the impact of the armed conflict on civilians. Since 2012, the reports have been prepared jointly with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Reports using a consistent methodology have been maintained since 2009. Note that earlier reports from 2007 and 2008 follow a previous reporting system and are included here for reference purposes only.

First Quarter, 2020 Report

Service-Related Non-Lethal Weapons Information

U.S. Navy Seal

National
Guard Bureau

U.S. Coast Guard

FOR POINTS OF CONTACT FOR EACH SERVICE REGARDING INTERMEDIATE FORCE CAPABILITIES, CLICK THE LINKS ABOVE OR CLICK THE CONTACT TAB AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

Intermediate Force Capabilities

Current Intermediate Force Capabilities

Developmental Intermediate Force Capabilities

Future Intermediate Force Capabilities

Intermediate Force Capabilities Weapons Training	Intermediate Force Capabilities Education	Unified Combatant Commands
Intermediate Force Capabilities and Requirements	Non-Lethal Human Effects	NATO Engagement

In the News

The Case for Change

Aug. 6, 2020 - Meeting the principal challenges facing the Corps The United States Marine Corps I lead in 2020 finds itself, like the rest of the U.S. defense establishment, at a crossroads. The passing of our Nation's "unipolar moment" and the emergence of revisionist great power competitors in China and Russia, coinciding with a sea change in the character of warfare driven by social and technological change, demands that we move rapidly to adapt to the circumstances of a new era.

SECDEF Esper: U.S. Will ‘Keep Up the Pace’ of South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Operations

July 21, 2020 - The U.S. will continue to keep up the pace of freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, which hit an all-time high in 2019, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on Tuesday. Esper, speaking at an online event hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the U.S. policy has always been backed up by its actions like FONOps and other presence operations. Last year marked “the greatest number of freedom of navigations operations in the South China Sea in the 40-year history of the FONOps program, and we will keep up the pace this year.”

Report to Congress on Emerging Military Technologies

July 21, 2020 - Members of Congress and Pentagon officials are increasingly focused on developing emerging military technologies to enhance U.S. national security and keep pace with U.S. competitors. The U.S. military has long relied upon technological superiority to ensure its dominance in conflict and to underwrite U.S. national security. In recent years, however, technology has both rapidly evolved and rapidly proliferated—largely as a result of advances in the commercial sector. As former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has observed, this development has threatened to erode the United States’ traditional sources of military advantage.1 The Department of Defense (DOD) has undertaken a number of initiatives in recent years in an effort to arrest this trend. For example, in 2014, DOD announced the Third Offset Strategy, an effort to exploit emerging technologies for military and security purposes as well as associated strategies, tactics, and concepts of operation.2 In support of this strategy, DOD established a number of organizations focused on defense innovation, including the Defense Innovation Unit and the Defense Wargaming Alignment Group.

Why Intermediate Force Capabilities?

Intermediate Force Capabilities (IFC) deliver discriminate and reversible effects without causing unnecessary destruction or loss of life. Skilled application of IFCs supports mission objectives by complementing lethal force without unintentionally initiating, escalating, or prolonging extensive (and expensive) hostilities.
Vision , Mission, Definition