The Revolution in Military Affairs: Implications for Canada and NATO

200 Pages·2002·4.02 MB·English

by  Elinor C. Sloan

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THE REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRS
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foreign policy, security and strategic studies
Editors: Alex Macleod and Charles-Philippe David
The Foreign Policy, Security and Strategic Studies Series seeks to
promote analysis of the transformation and adaptation of foreign
and security policies in the post–Cold War era. The series welcomes
manuscripts offering innovative interpretations or new theoretical
approaches to these questions, whether dealing with specific strate-
gic or policy issues or with the evolving concept of security itself.
monographs
Canada, Latin America, and the New Internationalism
A Foreign Policy Analysis, 1968–1990
Brian J.R. Stevenson
Power vs. Prudence
Why Nations Forgo Nuclear Weapons
T.V. Paul
From Peacekeeping to Peacemaking
Canada’s Response to the Yugoslav Crisis
Nicholas Gammer
Canadian Policy toward Khrushchev’s Soviet Union
Jamie Glazov
The Revolution in Military Affairs
Implications for Canada and nato
Elinor Sloan
collections
Nato after Fifty
Enlargement, Russian, and European Security
Edited by Charles-Philippe David and Jacques Lévesque
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The Centre for Security and Foreign Policy Studies
and
The Raoul-Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca
• •
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© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2002
isbn 0-7735-2363-4 (cloth)
isbn 0-7735-2394-4 (paper)
Legal deposit second quarter 2002
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from
the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada,
using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the financial
support of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for its
publishing activities. We also acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.
The author acknowledges the permission granted by the Director
of Intellectual Property, Department of National Defence, to use
excerpts from reports originally prepared for the Directorate of
Strategic Analysis in the preparation of this work. Although
parts of this work were originally undertaken for the Canadian
Department of National Defence, this book does not necessarily
reflect the views of the department.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in
Publication Data
Sloan, Elinor C. (Elinor Camille), 1965-
The revolution in military affairs: implications for
Canada and nato
(Foreign policy, security and strategic studies)
Published for the Centre for Security and Foreign
Policy Studies and the Raoul-Dandurand Chair of
Strategic and Diplomatic Studies.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-7735-2363-4 (bound). – isbn 0-7735-2394-4
(pbk.)
1. Military art and science – Technological
innovations – History – 20th century. 2. Security,
International. 3. North Atlantic Treaty
Organization – Military policy. 4. Canada –
Military policy. I. Université du Québec à Montréal.
Centre d’études des politiques étrangères et de sécurité
II. Raoul-Dandurand Chair of Strategic and
Diplomatic Studies III. Title. IV. Series.
u42.s56 2002 355′.0330049 c2001-903613-2
This book was typeset by Dynagram Inc. in 10.5/13 Sabon.
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For Tom, Thomas, and William
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Introduction ix
1 What Is the Revolution in Military Affairs? 3
2 The rma in Historical Perspective 18
3 Is There an rma? An Assessment of u.s. Force
Transformation 32
4 Allied Approaches to the rma: Britain, Australia, France,
and Germany 56
5 nato and the rma 77
6 The rma and Peace Support Operations: A Question of
Relevancy 91
7 Asymmetric Threats 108
8 Canada and the rma 123
Conclusion 143
Epilogue 147
Notes 155
Glossary 167
Bibliography 169
Index 183
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Advances in information technology are driving a high-tech revolu-
tion in military affairs (rma) that is transforming the nature of
modern warfare. New technologies are being harnessed and incor-
porated into new military doctrines and organizational concepts to
such an extent that the ultimate result could render obsolete or ir-
relevant the doctrines and concepts that guided the great powers
throughout the Cold War period. This process began in a limited
fashion with the introduction of precision munitions in the latter
stages of the Vietnam War and took root in the late 1970s and
1980s with America’s “offset strategy” of countering Soviet numer-
ical supremacy in troops with Western technological strength. The
Gulf War provided the first concrete, vivid indication that a military
technological revolution was under way. This conflict can be seen as
the precursor to a broader rma that, balancing the onward march
of technology with the constraints of defence budgets and bureau-
cratic inertia, could come to fruition anytime between 2015 and
2025.
Although the rma has been the subject of much discussion in the
United States since the early 1990s and has figured in official u.s.
defence policy for several years, it has not received the same level of
analytical attention in Canada or elsewhere. Outside the rather lim-
ited defence policy circles there has been little discussion of the
changing nature of warfare, the developments it encompasses, and
the potential foreign and defence policy implications for Canada
and nato. This book seeks to bridge that gap. Its goal is to explore
the diverse dimensions of the rma, how Canada and its allies are
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x Introduction
responding to its challenges, and to what extent the rma is applica-
ble to the sorts of military missions to which they may want to com-
mit their forces in the future. Taking this analysis into account, the
book sets out a way ahead for Canada and nato.
Chapter 1 begins by making the somewhat abstract phrase “revo-
lution in military affairs” more comprehensible by outlining the key
technological, doctrinal, and organizational developments that make
up the rma. Chapter 2 places the rma in historical context, provid-
ing a brief overview of how selected thinkers have evaluated military
revolutions over the course of history and, in doing so, have offered
valuable insights into the current transformation in military affairs.
The chapter discusses the origins of the current rma, its strategic
drivers, and some cautionary points about the promises its offers.
Chapter 3 addresses the question, Is there an rma? by examining
concrete efforts that the United States, which is at the forefront of
rma-related developments, is taking to transform its military forces
and thereby exploit the revolutionary potential of military technolo-
gies. Chapter 4 broadens this perspective by looking at allied ap-
proaches to the rma, focusing on Britain, Australia, France, and
Germany. Chapter 5 analyses more specifically the technology and
capability gap between the United States and its nato allies and the
role the alliance’s Defence Capabilities Initiative is playing in ad-
dressing this gap.
Chapter 6 examines the relevance of the rma to peace-support
operations, while chapter 7 discusses “asymmetric” threats – which
were recognized even before the terrorist attacks on the United
States as being the primary means by which u.s. adversaries would
be likely to respond to America’s pursuit of the rma. Chapter 8
outlines measures Canada is taking to respond to the technological,
doctrinal, and organizational imperatives of the rma and highlights
some important contextual factors that will frame its future ap-
proach. The concluding chapter draws on the key themes and con-
clusions of the preceding chapters to set out a way ahead for
Canada and nato in responding to the u.s.-led revolution in mili-
tary affairs.
Although this book was on its way to press in the summer of
2001, it has been modified in preliminary fashion throughout, and
particularly in chapters 3 and 7, to reflect the tragic events of