Past Revolutions, Future Transformations: What Can the History of Military Revolutions in Military Affairs Tell Us About Transforming the U.S. Military?

214 Pages·1999·0.71 MB·English

by  Richard O Hundley

Past Revolutions, Future Transformations :
What Can the History of Revolutions in
title:
Military Affairs Tell Us About
Transforming the U.S. Military?
author: Hundley, Richard O.
publisher: RAND
isbn10 | asin: 0833027093
print isbn13: 9780833027092
ebook isbn13: 9780585163857
language: English
Military art and science, Military history,
subject
United States--Armed Forces--Organization.
publication date: 1999
lcc: U104.H89 1999eb
ddc: 355.4/0973
subject: Military art and science, Military history,
United States--Armed Forces--Organization.
United States--Armed Forces--Organization.
The research described in this report was sponsored by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency. The research was conducted in
RAND's National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded
research and development center supported by the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the
defense agencies, Contract DASW01-95-C-0059.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hundley, Richard O.
Past revolutions, future transformations : what can the history
of revolutions in military affairs tell us about transforming
the U.S. military? / Richard O. Hundley.
p. cm
"Prepared for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency
(DARPA) by RAND's National Defense Research Institute."
"MR-1029-DARPA."
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
ISBN 0-8330-2709-3
1. Military art and science. 2. Military history. 3. United
StatesArmed ForcesOrganization. I. Title.
U104.H89 1999
355.4´0973dc21 99-25786
CIP
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Page i
Past Revolutions, Future Transformations
What can the history of revolutions in military affairs tell
us about transforming the U.S. military?
Richard O. Hundley
Prepared for the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Approved for public release; distribution unlimited
Page iii
PREFACE
The history of the 20th century has shown that advances in technology
can bring about dramatic changes in military operations, often termed
"revolutions in military affairs" or RMAs. Technology-driven RMAs
have been occurring since the dawn of history, they will continue to
occur in the future, and they will continue to bestow a military
advantage on the first nation to develop and use them. Accordingly, it
is important to the vitality and robustness of the U.S. defense posture
for the Department of Defense (DoD) research and development
(R&D) community to be aware of technology developments that
could revolutionize military operations, and for the U.S. military
services to be on the lookout for revolutionary ways in which to
employ those technologies in warfare.
This leads to three interrelated questions:
Regarding past revolutions in military affairs (RMAs),
What lessons can we learn from the historical record?
Regarding being prepared for future RMAs carried out by others,
What does it take to be prepared?
Regarding transforming U.S. military forces by carrying out our
own RMAs,
What does it take to be successful?
This report addresses these questions, which are particularly relevant
today when the DoD has set out on a concerted effort to bring about a
technology-driven transformation of the U.S. military to achieve
Page iv
the operational goals outlined in Joint Vision 2010 (Shalikashvili,
1996).
This research was sponsored by the Director's Office of the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and conducted by the
Acquisition and Technology Policy Center of RAND's National
Defense Research Institute (NDRI). NDRI is a federally funded
research and development center sponsored by the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the defense agencies, and the
unified commands.
Page v
CONTENTS
Preface iii
Figures ix
Tables xi
Summary xiii
Acknowledgments xxv
Chapter One
Introduction 1
Part I. Lessons From Past RMAs
Chapter Two
The Characteristics of Revolutions in Military Affairs 7
What Is an RMA? 8
Other Notable Characteristics of RMAs 11
Lessons from the Business World Regarding Paradigm 17
Shifts
The Relationship between Breakthrough Technologies 19
and RMAs
Is the Current Military-Technical Revolution a True 19
RMA?
Chapter Three
The Breakthrough Process Leading to RMAs 21
RMAs Result from Serendipitous Conceptual 21
Breakthroughs