The Revolution in Military Affairs and Coalition Operations: Problem Areas and Solutions

摘要

Many commentators on the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) have argued that certain technological breakthroughs will have a major effect on the ability of commanders to achieve greater operational speed. Indeed, high operational speed may be one of the major advantages that the RMA offers to field commanders in future. Global communications systems spurred by the explosion in micro-processing and digital technologies will provide commanders (perhaps already today and certainly in future) with the ability to reach heights of operational speed that far surpass the rates made attainable at any other time in history. Given such new technological advances, RMA armed forces might be able to overwhelm in extremis (e.g., via minimum mass tactics) any force without the benefits of such technology. Indeed, the US armed forces that put to wholesale flight Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm, either presage the wave of the future, or manifest the contemporary validity of such theses. Indeed, some unabashed advocates of air power further argue that the use of modern air power and precision-guided weapons during the NATO war against Yugoslavia demonstrates that warfare has entered a new phase. Not surprisingly, therefore, recent key US planning documents have stressed the importance of the RMA and the need for the US armed forces to be developed along lines that will enable them to exploit such technological advantages.