ABSTRACT

This book explores contemporary military innovation, with a particular focus on the balance between anticipation and adaption.

The volume examines contemporary military thought and the doctrine that evolved around the thesis of a transformation in the character of war. Known as the Information-Technology Revolution in Military Affairs (IT-RMA), this innovation served as an intellectual foundation for the US defence transformation from the 1990s onwards. Since the mid-1990s, professional ideas generated within the American defence milieu have been further disseminated to military communities across the globe, with huge impact on the conduct of warfare.

With chapters written by leading scholars in this field, this work sheds light on RMAs in general and the IT-RMA in the US, in particular. The authors analyse how military practice and doctrines were developed on the basis of the IT-RMA ideas, how they were disseminated, and the implications of them in several countries and conflicts around the world.

This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, defence studies, war and technology, and security studies in general.

chapter |12 pages

5 Restoring the primacy of battle

U.S. military theory and the RMA

chapter |23 pages

Improving in war

Military adaptation and the British in Helmand, 2006–2009

chapter |20 pages

10 Innovation in the crucible of war

Counterinsurgency operations in Anbar and Ninewa, Iraq, 2005–2007

chapter |6 pages

Conclusion

Military innovation between anticipation and adaptation