NCJ Number
191425
Date Published
2000
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This essay discusses “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA), the replacing of old ideas with new ideas in the military.
Abstract
For a true revolution in military affairs (RMA) to have taken place requires the fulfillment of a specific set of circumstances and criteria. These criteria are propitious conditions, sufficient recognition, authoritative validation, specification of what is lacking in the current way of doing business, and active exploitation of the revolution. Technological RMAs generally follow the following formula: (1) normal human imagination, scientific inquiry discovery, and technical innovation yield a new concept or process; (2) military establishments grasp the significance and utility of this change; (3) the military must seriously examine the way its business is conducted, thus leading to new doctrine; and (4) if the doctrinal change is significant enough, then the military must consider major organizational adaptation and innovation. This process has historically required a generation or more to complete. Revolutions can also emerge from social and political upheaval. The best modern example of an operational/organizational RMA might be the United States concept of Air-Land Battle in the 1980's, which was occasioned by the need to find a conventional way out of a conventional/nuclear mental bind. Command and Control Warfare (C2W) was constituted of five so-called pillars: Deception, Psychological Operations, Operational Security, Electronic Warfare, and Physical Destruction. The current RMA is the product of the intertwined revolutions in telecommunications capacity and computing power. This RMA is manifesting itself in “embedded processors,” “digital combat,” and a new way of thinking about the components of military art and capabilities. What is new is the speed and agility of operations required in the Electronic Age, the more transparent nature of the operational environment, the relative “death of distance,” and the more ephemeral nature of power. Unfortunately, despite these promising developments, virtually none of these concepts were used in recent years in the Balkans conflict involving Sarajevo. 8 endnotes