Technology and the Nature of War: Four Vignettes

Abstract

While technology remains an enduring and important factor in warfare, defense planners, commanders, and policy makers should not put their faith solely in technology as a panacea for all existing and imagined battlefield problems. In addition to technology, a force needs (among other things) a coherent doctrine and overall strategy, a good understanding of their potential adversaries, an idea of the type of war that is most likely to be fought, and a grasp of what is feasible with regard to utilizing new technology in the near and mid-term. The article considered four vignettes toward this examination: WWII Wonder Weapons and Technological Determinism; The 1950s, the Pentomic Division, and Misjudging Future War; The Vietnam War and Superior Technology in Search of a Winning Strategy; and Future Combat Systems and Technological Overreach.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2022
Accession Number
AD1211947

Entities

People

  • Patrick J. Savage
  • Thomas C. Greenwood

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Defense
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Aircrafts
  • Armored Vehicles
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Combat Areas
  • Improvised Explosive Devices
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • New York
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Second World War
  • Security
  • United States
  • Vietnam War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design