The book tells the story of the theory and history of the mission command approach (decentralized command) and the attempts by different armies to adopt and reform according to this approach.
As part of its general rethinking of America's global strategy, the Bush Administration initiated a re-examination of America's nuclear doctrine that has generated considerable controversy with its focus on maintaining a reliance on nuclear weapons and potentially increasing willingness to use them. Here a group of leading strategic analysts examine the background to the re-evaluation, issues of implementation and potential implications internationally.
International politics have become ever more volatile over the last decade, increasing the risk of large-scale military violence. Yet the precise character of future war will depend on a range of factors that relate to adversaries, allies, technology, geographical scope and multiple domains of warfighting. Few would question that land forces will be important also in the foreseeable future. However, given that the battlefield is in a state of transformation, so is the mission, purpose and utilization of land forces. Indeed, the future conduct of land warfare is subjected to serious and important questions in the face of large and complex challenges and security threats. Advanced Land Warfare explores the evolving role of land forces, paying particular attention to the changes that have taken place in the art of commanding and executing combat, as well as the role of rapid technological innovation and information dissemination in shaping warfare. The book provides insights into key contemporary developments in land warfare and presents case studies on land tactics and operations in different national contexts, drawing on the best of theory, practice, and professional experience and featuring chapters written by leading international scholars and practitioners. Relating to the realities of the modern battlefield, the book addresses a number of critical questions about land tactics and operations, combining a conceptual basis with empirical examples of tactical thinking and practice and emphasising the importance of understanding the perspectives of various national armies, in order to provide a current understanding of the central issues of land warfare. An open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence.
The Department of Defense (DOD) considers the transformation1 of the U.S. military a strategic imperative to meet the security challenges of the new century. In October 1998, DOD established a joint concept development and experimentation program to provide the engine of change for this transformation. The U.S. Joint Forces Command, the executive agent of the program, carries out experiments-with support from the military services, the combatant commands, and other DOD organizations-to explore and analyze new joint operational and organizational concepts. The experiments can include studies and analyses, conferences, workshops, seminars, war games, and simulated or live field experiments. On the basis of these experiments, the Joint Forces Command recommends changes aimed at achieving significant improvements in joint capabilities. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council2 reviews the Command's recommendations, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is responsible for approving them. The Council also oversees the implementation of approved recommendations. The cumulative changes are expected to contribute to the way U.S. military forces are transformed. In November 2001, DOD also created an Office of Force Transformation to foster innovation and experimentation and assist the Secretary of Defense to develop guidance and identify strategies and policies for transformation. Because of the central role DOD's joint experimentation program plays in military transformation, we reviewed related activities to determine whether changes are needed to improve the program's ability to focus on future joint operations, military transformation, and the rapid integration of results.
The Economic Pivot in a Political Context, by Charles Wolf, Jr., explains how iron curtains have been replaced by porous ones in the post-cold war era. New countries, multilateral organizations, regional and subregional groups, multinational corporations, international business alliances, and financial networks have made the global arena ever more complex. As seen in the cases of Haiti, Iraq, and Chechnya, rapid change and a less predictable atmosphere generate an ever-present threat of volatility. Openness to global, continuous flows of information, trade, capital, technology, and people continues to blur our borders. Simultaneously, a postmodern preoccupation with domestic, social, political, and economic affairs is taking shape