This paper challenges the popular notion that the revolution in military affairs will bring a realignment in which air and sea forces are dominant and land forces less relevant. Many analysts have called for reductions in Army land forces to pay for 'leap ahead' modernization of air and sea platforms to assure full exploitation of the promise of technology. These analysts miss several key points. The nature of the military technological revolution is to provide all parties the capability to acquire and destroy targets effectively at far greater ranges. This revolution most affects surface navies, which have no speed or stealth. Naval forces are faced with spiraling costs which will continue to rise exponentially with efforts to assure the survivability of the fleet. In the end the fleet may not be survivable against asymmetric strategies at any cost. Marine expeditionary forces are likewise the most expensive, slowest and most vulnerable of expeditionary forces. Manned aircraft are next most affected. Their speed advantage is rapidly fading and soon missiles exceed the limits of human endurance now. Aircraft can only survive by our ability to make them vanish into thin air. Stealth against old radars has been less effective than advertised and far more expensive. Costs of stealth will be increasingly expensive if technically sustainable. Further the effectiveness of remote sensor acquisition and was exaggerated in Desert Storm.


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    Title :

    Technological Trends and Defense Choices


    Contributors:
    J. Warner (author)

    Publication date :

    1997


    Size :

    33 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English