Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments is pleased to release The Maturing Revolution in Military Affairs. The report, authored by Center Senior Fellow Barry Watts, considers the maturation of the precision-strike regime and five of the most consequential fundamental changes in the conduct of war by 2040-2050.
The symmetric precision-strike regime people envisioned during the 1990s has not unfolded as most observers expected, according to Watts. “Nearly two decades after the Office of Net Assessment raised the issue of a revolution in military affairs based on precision munitions, advanced sensors, and more automated command and control, the United States is still the only power able to conduct information-enabled precision-strike on a global basis,” he finds.
The spread of both long-range and short-range precision strike capabilities that is occurring today, most notably in the case of China in the western Pacific, will pose significant challenges to the U.S. military in the next decade or two, according to the report. Among other things, traditional American approaches to power projection are likely to become increasingly difficult and costly to execute, according to Watts.
The report can be downloaded at www.csbaonline.org