Game-Changer: The Illusion of War Without Risk

Abstract

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) argued that thanks to improving technological capabilities in the areas of stand-off precision weapons, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and command and control, wars could be effectively fought and won with minimal risk to U.S. forces. The Navy particularly refashioned its fleet based on this assumption. Recent experience, however, suggests that the promises and assumptions of the RMA were unrealistic: perfect intelligence is impossible, precision stand-off weapons are not silver bullets, and centralized control can degrade military effectiveness. Moreover, the military culture that has developed since the RMA began is one that demands certainty, micromanages, and is particularly fragile to unforeseen events. This paper sets forth an argument and first-step recommendations for returning the U.S. Navy (and the military, by extension) to such a form and culture that can win wars.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 28, 2017
Accession Number
AD1041912

Entities

People

  • Curtis B. Nieboer

Organizations

  • Joint Military Operations Department

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Arleigh Burke Class
  • Birds
  • Command And Control
  • Complex Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Military Operations
  • Navy
  • Neurobehavioral Manifestations
  • New York
  • Precision
  • Second World War
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Geospatial Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence Analytics
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control