TECHNOLOGICAL ARSENAL - Hardcover

MARTEL WILLIAM C

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1560989610 ISBN 13: 9781560989615

Publisher: Smithsonian, 2001

Synopsis

The rapid pace of technological innovation is propelling revolutionary change in U.S. defense strategy. "Within a decade," writes William C. Martel, "the U.S. could destroy ballistic missiles; radically limit the number of casualties; disrupt modern electronic weapons, telecommunications, power, and banking systems; and wage wars from the relative safety of the homeland." In The Technological Arsenal, Martel and a dozen contributors, all experts who are actively involved in shaping U.S. defense policy, explore the ways in which new defense technologies could change the nature of war and the basic foundation of national and international security.

The contributors describe the development, analyze the capabilities, and measure the implications of emerging technologies that will mature within the next five years and beyond, organizing them in three broad categories: directed energy, targeting, and command and control. Each chapter focuses on a specific technology that is already funded or authorized by Congress. With several chapters on missile defense, the first section includes discussions of airborne and space-based lasers and their uses in communication, sensing, and destructive systems, as well as the applications of high-energy microwave technology. The second section focuses on innovations on targeting, for use in cruise missiles, unmanned reconnaissance systems, and reusable space vehicles. The third section concentrates on the expanding opportunities for computer and communications networks in military operations, directing and controlling warfare from a distance, and disrupting the computer and communications systems of a potential enemy.

Without advocating specific programs, The technological Arsenal evaluates individual technologies and their consequences for U.S. security as well as possible civilian development. As Martel suggests in the concluding chapter, questions regarding the relationship between advanced technologies and security have increasingly broad implications as the margin by which U.S. technological capabilities exceed those of other states continues to grow.

About this title

From the Publisher

The political debate over sophisticated anti-missile defense systems, which began during the Reagan administration in the 1980's and resurfaced late in the Clinton years of the 1990's, is merely the tip of a virtual iceberg. "The Technological Arsenal: Emerging Defense Capabilities," compiled and edited by William Martel, is an intriguing, highly readable and understandable survey of missile defense and many other ways in which cyber-age technology is changing the nature of warfare. Anyone interested in the future face of war - from proponents to protestors of high-tech weaponry, journalists and policy analysts - will find this collection of crisp essays and clear definitions a valuable guide to this complex field.

Its most captivating chapters are those which deal with futuristic command and control of military operations (including sci-fi schemes for implanting microchips in human commanders and building "kill switches" into "machina sapiens" - "thinking machines" for the military - to allow human commanders to retain ultimate control). But this isn't science fiction; it's real-world military approaches to the profoundly ethical questions raised years ago in Kubrick's "2001". Should "uninhabited" military vehicles (robot attack planes, for instance) be allowed to take over "dull, dirty and dangerous" missions of war and inflict casualties and battle damage without human intervention? Can "extremely autonomous" weapons (uncontrolled by human commanders) distinguished between an enemy's SCUD missile launcher and a school bus full of children?

Also intriguing is the chapter on "non-lethal" technology, which might allow the U.S. to temporarily disable an enemy without permanent casualties or many deaths. Pulling the plug on a nation's computers, energy systems and communications are a few newer examples, but more traditional warfare using chemical and biological weapons fall into this category, too. In this section, "The Technological Arsenal" acknowledges obstacles to some of the military's technology planning posed by international law and nation-to-nation agreements.

Of more immediate use in the policy battle over national missile technology are the chapters explaining military lasers, microwaves and other "direct energy" weaponry and their usefulness in the air, in orbit, and on the high seas. "Technological Arsenal" is an excellent and comprehensive tour guide to complex scientific and military issues.

For the most part, "The Technological Arsenal's" direct and clear organizational and writing remains easily accessible to non-experts by minimizing Pentagon jargon (a regrettable exception is the chapter on "Reachback" command and control, about how new technology might let commanders in Washington make battlefield decisions from the comfort and safety of their bunkers in the U.S.).

Ralph J. Begleiter
Rosenberg Professor of Communication
Distinguished Journalist in Residence
Univeristy of Delaware

Edition details

• Publisher: Smithsonian
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1560989610
• ISBN 13: 9781560989615
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 284