Protracted War and the Role of Technology: The USSR Revision

摘要

This paper is going to address the USSR's application of technology to enhance its capabilities to support and wage military operations in 'local wars'. To be sure, recent Soviet developments in this regard often have been no more subtle than the production of the new Antonov 'Condor' long-range transport aircraft, or the recent establishment of Naval Infantry airborne assault battalions tasked to seize or destroy coastal targets using the most recent assault transport means. Accompanying these more dramatic applications of military technology to power projection capabilities, however, has been the focused examination of technologies and techniques that--while scarcely constituting high technology in the general understanding of the term--nevertheless have the potential of increasing Soviet capabilities to support or conduct insurgency or counterinsurgency operations in the Third World. Before addressing these issues--as well as some of the problems technology has posed for the USSR in the Third World--it is useful first to say a few words about declared Soviet views on the proper application of military technology, and the mechanisms established to systematically study Third World conflicts and practically apply lessons learned. Keywords: Low intensity conflict, Third World, Special operations, Strategic mobility, Power projection, Technology, Unconventional warfare.