Leveling the Hierarchy: Levels of War in the Information Age

摘要

Advances in weapons accuracy and delivery systems as well as steadily improvingcommand and control technologies have changed the nature of warfare. Information age warfare utilizes smaller forces wielding precision weapons over large distances. The result is a de-massification of warfare, where massing of forces is replaced with massing of effect, and tactical units have vastly expanded operational reach. This empowers individual warfighters and small tactical units, merging the traditional hierarchy of levels of war. In many cases, discrete tactical actions will be synchronized and combined with superior battlespace awareness to directly affect strategic objectives. Commanders will find themselves working on multiple levels simultaneously and contemplating single discrete actions aimed at strategic level objectives. The linear hierarchy of strategy, operations, and tactics must be reexamined and adapted to accurately reflect the non linear battlespace of the information age.