Global Security in the Twenty-First Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace by Kay Sean

Author:Kay, Sean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2015-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

The Dilemma of Advanced Technology

Only a few states possess the spectrum of advanced capabilities or research-and-development methods to deploy advanced military technology. Globalization does, however, allow for the proliferation of technology so that a state might skip entire generations of conventional military evolution and focus on high-tech capabilities. Many of the innovative technologies used to enhance modern military operations also have dual-use civilian functions and can be purchased on international markets. Militaries must also struggle to employ technological experts who can make more money in the private sector—though such hiring can be easier in less developed nations seeking to skip generations of technological advancements. Traditional measures of military power might not be adequate to define the relative power or capability that a particular state possesses in terms of technological know-how and capacity. A related problem arises in coalition fighting. If one state makes technological advances, it can become less capable of entering combat inter-operably with other nations’ military equipment. During the 1999 Kosovo War, the United States found that its pilots’ communication systems were incompatible with older systems used by its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. The United States could not always utilize its technological advantages in that war, a cost deemed worth paying to gain the benefit of a larger political coalition. Another operational dilemma posed by advanced technology is the high degree of expertise required to operate modern military systems. A more advanced education might be at least as important for military recruitment as combat skills. Finally, for all the precision technology, large bombs and conventional ground forces still matter. In 2004, the U.S. military asked defense contractors to develop a precision-guided thirty-thousand-pound bomb to be called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, informally known as Big Blue, and the United States and other nations continue to maintain large strategic nuclear capabilities.25

As technology makes combat more precise, war might come to seem like a painless exercise, perhaps making it more likely as a policy option if the perceived destruction is likely to be low. Because technology enables the projection of military power from far-off platforms and the appearance of minimal casualties is established in the public mind, war might become more probable. A premature resort to war on such assumptions could lead to quick military solutions to otherwise intractable problems—or just as easily result in an unwinnable quagmire. The latter in particular will become a problem if overreliance on technology diverts planning and investment away from important military tools, such as land armies. If, due to an impression that war can be fought and won via airpower alone, ground options are not available, military commanders could lack a critical tool for achieving victory. Winning a war with airpower is possible, but securing a long-term peace will likely require ground troops. If these are not to be had, then the war might not have been worth fighting in the first place. Even then, technology has its limits, as Israel discovered in its 2006 war in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah forces

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