The Owl of Minerva Flies at Twilight: Doctrinal Change and Continuity and the Revolution in Military Affairs

Abstract

Revolutions in military affairs (RMA) are caused by changes in technology and the concomitant adjustments of doctrine and training to those changes. The author argues that continuity is also an essential ingredient of the revolution, particularly as it applies to the overall U.S. military doctrinal framework that has evolved since the Vietnam War. A mix of continuity and change in that framework will carry it well and effectively into the current RMA. Significant problems could arise, particularly in terms of using the fruits of the revolution to apply force across the range of military operations. But, the author concludes, those problems, as in past RMAs, have more to do with politics and civil-military relations and cannot be fully addressed by military doctrine alone. Military Technological Revolution(MTR), Revolution in military affairs, Information technologies, Precision strike weaponry, Communication- information breakthroughs

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA281196

Entities

People

  • David Jablonsky

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Civil War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Law
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Recreation
  • Sociopolitics
  • Vietnam War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design