After a smart discussion yesterday with dks about the fact the US neo-conservatives won their influence war against the establishment (conservatives), I read an interesting article in Wired last issue about how Donald Rumsfeld modified warfare. One of the striking feature here is the fact that innovation and progress come from neo-conservatives.
Rummie’s new theory of warfare (swarm tactics) proposes that instead of keep you soldier comrades in sight, marines uses complex awareness tools (like blips on global command and control system map). Technology hence allows soldiers to keep track of each other more efficiently and then they can move in any formation. Rumsfeld’s swarm theory also holds that teams move fast and don’t need to secure the rear : that’s the real innovation in gulf war II. The consequences are simple : fewer troops and less equipment and since team are disperesed it’s more difficult for the ennemy to attack.
Research on awareness (situational awareness in particular) is a crux issue in this context. I’ve found a lot of stuff about awareness on US military think tanks research center. It could easily be related to my thesis : awareness and command&conquer/decision making.