Future Wars

For The Military, A Future Of ‘Hybrid’ Wars -- National Defense

Pentagon planners often are criticized for being locked in perpetual preparation for the last war.

At the Defense Department, there is much pressure to figure out what’s next after Iraq and Afghanistan. Will it be another counterinsurgency campaign? Or a conventional war against a modern industrialized nation?

The future, according to military strategists and scholars, is likely to be somewhere in between. Opponents may not fall into the predictable categories of low-tech “irregular” combatants or technologically advanced military powers. A consensus is emerging that U.S. forces should prepare for “hybrid” wars where they may face unconventional fighters or insurgents, who are likely to be equipped with modern weapons and information technology.

“Typically when you think of insurgents or non-regulated combatants, they will primarily be armed with small arms — explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, rifles, machine guns,” said Army Maj. Gen. David A. Fastabend, director of strategy, plans and policy.

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My Comment: Counter Insurgency Warfare will never disappear. Conventional war against large armies will also not disappear. The difference will be the quality of weapons used and the training behind it.

It is true that as high energy kinetic weapons become cheaper and more precise, regular standing armies will have a bigger and greater fight against unconventional forces. But as the battlefield evolves, the modern army is also changing.

As readers of this blog know, I have predicted that future conflicts .... conventional or unconventional .... will employ automatic or robotic killing machines. The Predator and Reaper UAV's are just the first generation of these weapons, but their effectiveness are no longer doubted. This evolution will also be employed on the ground via through machines that will be able to go into areas that are too dangerous for ground forces.