EST 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Future Combat Systems, Conventional Warfare, Information Revolution
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 8
Consequences of the Information Revolution on Warfare
●Technological improvements tend to have more immediate effects in conventional
warfare, not irregular.
●While combat systems have changed little in recent decades, communications systems
have changed rapidly.
Land Warfare
●Tanks and anti-tank weapons have improved over the years. US budgeting $124 billion to
develop a Future Combat System to replace current battalions.
●Critics think guerrilla warfare will outpace armored readiness.
●Most updates of infantry equipment have been enhancements of previous generations of
weapons.
Naval Warfare
●Navies divided among surface ships, submarines and aircraft carriers.
●Only substantial fighting navy in the world belongs to the United States: 12 aircraft
carriers while most countries have smaller carriers comparable to amphibious assault
ships.
●US has largest fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines (54) and nuclear-powered
ballistic-missile subs (16)
●US Navy uses a tactical intranet called FORCE.net
Aerial Warfare
●Most threats to Western air forces (AF) have been eliminated thanks to Israeli destruction
of Syrian AF in 1982, US-Allied destruction of Iraqi AF in 1991.
●Biggest theoretical threat comes from conflict with China, which may have planes
exceeding performance levels of current USAF.
Low-Tech Drawbacks
●Simple countermeasures, the weather and difficult terrain still trip up US military
planners.
●US trying to develop a database of terrain to maintain a “God’s-eye view” of battlefield.
●Higher-Tech solutions: microwave radars, data compression, real-time 3D model of city
and its inhabitants, biological computers.
US Power
●Information Age dawned in parallel to US hegemonic power worldwide.
●US unrivaled on air, sea, land and space.
●US military the strongest the world has ever known – Gregg Easterbrook.
●Manpower reduced compared to EU, Chinese, North Korean, Russian militaries; military
edge comes from technology.
●Wars between states have declined because of integration of former rivals into
international organizations, plus futility of challenging US military power.
●US spends more money on military research and applications than any other state.
●All-volunteer force is professionalized; less reliance on draftees becoming a model for
military reform.
Asymmetrical Warfare
●Greatest emerging threat to US military.
●Naval vessels might be considered obsolete in the future.
●Threats to military stations like ports could prove organizationally disastrous to the US.
●Many considerate it premature to change entire structure of a military based on
theoretical threat assessments.
●Terrorist organizations are substantial threats that military power cannot defend against.
●Irregular attacks could prove difficult to predict and plan for.
Proliferation of UAVs
●US using extensively in Iraq & Afghanistan; 50 countries use UAVs.
●Biggest sellers are American and Israeli; biggest buyers are EU, Arab countries, Latin
American.
●Pakistan, India, Iran and Russia developing own generation of drones.
●Biggest threat to American dominance of the market from China.
●Too many suppliers might guarantee the technology’s spread to every state, even in the
developing world.
Kinetic Attacks
● US government is pushing more legal loopholes that would not classify drone attacks as
acts of war.
●This enables US President to maintain full control over military operations without
reporting to Congress.
○Is drone activity short of warfare?
○Is the use of drones an introduction of “armed forces?”
Pentagon, CIA
●US Dept. of Defense has argued drone attacks are legitimate tools for preemptive strikes.
●CIA has used drone strikes since 1979.
Document Summary
Technological improvements tend to have more immediate effects in conventional warfare, not irregular. While combat systems have changed little in recent decades, communications systems have changed rapidly. Tanks and anti-tank weapons have improved over the years. Us budgeting billion to develop a future combat system to replace current battalions. Critics think guerrilla warfare will outpace armored readiness. Most updates of infantry equipment have been enhancements of previous generations of weapons. Navies divided among surface ships, submarines and aircraft carriers. Only substantial fighting navy in the world belongs to the united states: 12 aircraft carriers while most countries have smaller carriers comparable to amphibious assault ships. Us has largest fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines (54) and nuclear-powered ballistic-missile subs (16) Us navy uses a tactical intranet called force. net. Most threats to western air forces (af) have been eliminated thanks to israeli destruction of syrian af in 1982, us-allied destruction of iraqi af in 1991.
