The Force Divisor

Abstract

As a coin has two sides, so also has military technology. Although many technological advancements have vastly improved our military's ability to wage war, many others--because of high costs, extreme complexities, severe shortcomings, and outright failures--have fallen far short. Technologies which were originally promised as assets have instead emerged as practical liabilities both in terms of real costs and in terms of opportunity costs. Correspondingly, many of our armaments, although initially touted as being technological 'Force Multipliers', have instead become 'Force Divisors'. This paper will examine the latter concept from several different perspectives. In evolving the concept of a Force Divisor, and in extrapolating the effects thereof, the author has called upon his not insignificant experience as a military user, a military developer, and civilian developer. To the extent of the author's knowledge, a major portion of this material is original (the author coined the term 'Force Divisor').

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA228263

Entities

People

  • Gerald J. Stiles

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Battlefields
  • Corporations
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Materials
  • Systems Management
  • Training
  • War
  • Warfare
  • Weapon Systems
  • Weapons

Fields of Study

  • Economics

Readers

  • Linear Algebra
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design