The Strategic and Tactical Implications of New Weapons Technologies,
Abstract
This paper deals with the impact of a new generation of nonnuclear weapons--especially precision-guided weapons--on military affairs, on foreign policy, and on arms control. For Australia, as for the United States, many of these developments will ultimately decrease the effects of distance, since many work very effectively over long distances. These developments have an important bearing on the fundamental assumption of past years that Australia is effectively defended by distance from many of the threats that concern other industrialized nations. Moreover, the new weapons are likely to enhance Australia's ability to exercise her own military power over great distances--both her own distances and distances external to her shores. The new weapons hold out prospects (1) for saving money, (2) for increasing stability, and (3) for reducing the brutality of war through decreasing damage to unintended targets. But these are potential values, and the importance of the new weapons has been overstated--when the reference is to the near term. This paper begins by examining what has happened in conventional weapons technology.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA040867
Entities
People
- James Digby
- S. J. Dudzinsky Jr.
Organizations
- RAND Corporation