Future Armies, Future Challenges: Land warfare in the information ageMichael Evans, Alan Ryan, Russell Parkin 'As the early 21st century emerges as an era that is likely to be the most operationally demanding decade in Australian Army history since the Vietnam War of the early 1960s, I commend this excellent study to all those who seek understanding of the changing character of armed conflict.' - Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove, AC, MC, Chief of Army The war in Iraq has demonstrated that land warfare in the Information Age is infinitely more complex than in the past. Armed conflicts continue to break out and the international community is confronted with the threat of unrestricted warfare by terrorist groups and rogue states. Rapid change is challenging contemporary armies to keep pace with the strategic and operational demands that are being made of them. This book analyses the impact of the information age on future land warfare. It covers issues such as urban warfare; coalition operations; the revolution in military affairs; asymmetric warfare; close combat; peacekeeping; military training and recruiting; and the challenges posed by terrorism. Armies are being committed to a broad spectrum of land operations that range from humanitarian relief to full-scale warfare. At any stage along that continuum, soldiers can find themselves embroiled in lethal combat while trying to achieve political objectives and observing the rules of war. The expert analyses by some of the world's leading strategic thinkers on land warfare examine the operational, strategic and ethical conundrums that soldiers, their commanders and the societies they serve will have to wrestle with in the future. |
Contents
Part I The changing shape of conflict | 13 |
Part II Future challenges | 125 |
Part III Operational lessons | 253 |
Conclusion Early 21stcentury armies and the challenge of unrestricted warfare | 291 |
Notes | 306 |
Bibliography | 338 |
Index | 356 |
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Future Armies, Future Challenges: Land Warfare in the Information Age Michael Evans,Alan Ryan,Russell Parkin No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
11 September 21st century achieve Affairs Air Force allies American armed conflict armed forces Army’s Asia-Pacific asymmetric asymmetric warfare attack Australian Army Australian Defence Force Battalion battle battlefield Bosnia Canberra capabilities Centre challenge Chapter cities coalition operations Cold War Colonel combat command complex concept cooperation cosmopolitan cosmopolitan democracy countries cultural deployed develop doctrine East Timor enemy environment fight future global globalisation human humanitarian infantry INTERFET issues joint Kosovo land forces littoral maritime Martin van Creveld Mary Kaldor military forces military operations military profession military professionals mission modern naval Navy organisation Pakistan peace peacekeeping personnel political problems Ralph Peters regional Reserve role September 2001 society soldiers Staff College Strategic Studies structure Sun Tzu tactical target terrorism terrorist threat tion traditional transformation troops United Nations University UNTAET urban violence warfare warfighting wars weapons Western
Popular passages
Page 59 - And it ought to be remembered ' that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.
Page 7 - America is now threatened less by conquering states than we are by failing ones. We are menaced less by fleets and armies than by catastrophic technologies in the hands of the embittered few.
Page 147 - I think it is well also for the man in the street to realize that there Is no power on earth that can protect him from being bombed. Whatever people may tell him, the bomber will always get through. The only defence is in offence, which means that you have to kill more women and children more quickly than the enemy if you want to save yourselves.
Page 32 - Century stated: The future strategic environment will ... be one of considerable turbulence . . . The international system will be so fluid and complex that to think intelligently about military issues will mean taking an integrated view of political, social, technological, and economic developments. Only a broad definition of national security is appropriate to such a circumstance. In short we have entered an age in which many of the fundamental assumptions that steered us through the chilly waters...
Page 95 - The mission must determine the coalition, the coalition must not determine the mission, or else the mission will be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
Page 301 - ... asymmetry is acting, organizing and thinking differently than opponents in order to maximize one's own advantages, exploit an opponent's weaknesses, attain the initiative, or gain greater freedom of action. It can be political-strategic, militarystrategic, operational, or a combination of these. It can entail different methods, technologies, values, organizations, time perspectives, or some combination of these. It can be short-term or long-term.
Page 155 - ... they that have odds of power exact as much as they can, and the weak yield to such conditions as they can get.
Page 312 - NATO's War to Save Kosovo, Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, 2001. For a first-hand account of the war, see Wesley K. Clark, Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat, New York: PublicAffairs, 2002.
Page 8 - You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life — but if you desire to defend it, protect it, and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men into the mud.
References to this book
War as Business: Technological Change and Military Service Contracting Armin Krishnan Limited preview - 2008 |