Information-Based RMA and the Principles of War

摘要

The U.S. military is currently experiencing a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) which has the potential to increase its combat capability orders of magnitude over any potential adversary. The essence of this revolutionary affair is that the character and conduct of warfare is undergoing a significant change driven primarily by the ability to acquire, collect, disseminate, and employ information in a very rapid manner. Conversely, there are many reason to believe that warfare is more evolutionary than revolutionary. There is a body of thought that suggests that there has always been in existence certain principles of war that are immutable, timeless, and independent of place or situation. If the information based RMA really has the potential to deliver on its promises, we must begin to embrace it by reexamining the underlying elements of our doctrine, the principles of war, and insure they lay the proper foundation for the military of the 21st century. We should challenge the current paradigms we hold and begin to think of these principles in new ways, some being radical departures from the old school solution. We must choose our words and definitions in our publications carefully, for they serve to convey to our soldiers what we hold to be true about the ways in which we wage war.