Military Innovation

Jerry Pournelle was one of the first to discuss technological advantage in terms of strategic warfare in theory. In the last post, we discussed this a little bit.

But technological "warfare" requires military innovation...the ability to "improvise, adapt, and overcome" as an organization.

The need for innovation goes beyond technology. Every new threat or ability must be met with organizational change. many times, beancounters and pencil-pushers, come up with a variety of terms to describe the names of plans to change. In other words, sometimes the "changes" are nothing but verbal jargon-garbage intended to give hacks something to do.

In this article,The Military's Search for Innovation, 5 points are made regarding military change.

• Innovation is about ideas
• Innovation should be based operational requirements
• Innovation is NOT restricted to technological change, but includes "operational concepts, business process reforms, changes to policy or organizations, new training methods" as well.
• Not all areas of interest are likely to benefit equally from technological advancement
• The organization's culture will be the most important area for innovation to succeed
  Sending waves of soldiers into machinegun fire during WWI is my biggest example of military organizations that FAIL to "improvise, adapt, and overcome"

Side note: the failure of American citizens to note the informationwar waged against THEM is an example of a cultural failure to adapt OUTSIDE the military concept

There is a counter argument to the centrality of technology in this article Technology Innovation Is Great, But Strategy Is Better.

Returning to the idea of changing military cultures... we need to look at who drives those changes when necessary.

Decisions, policies, and behavior derive from the training, traditions, and fundamental culture of the people who make them. What is the role of ethics, training and other culture forming activities in defining the military professional?

This is the discussion from the podcast at CDR Salamander

Finally, some related local news for Austinites, announced last month...
Army Futures Command will reside in Austin, Texas, because the city ranked highest on an assessment of locations with the best features in place to support the critical modernization effort.

Irregular War...Pirates and Druglords

What?

You thought there weren't pirates anymore?

U. S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide - HORN OF AFRICA/GULF OF GUINEA/ SOUTHEAST ASIA: Piracy Analysis and Warning Weekly (PAWW) Report for 2 – 8 August 2018

Non-state actors like pirates and cartel organizations use military methods, so they can not be excluded from the news we share regarding militaries.

And returning to the theme of innovation and planning to close out the serious side of this post; regarding security issues on the border, the US, Mexico to announce new plans on cartels ...of course, sometimes a plan isn't much more than...

"The new game plan is ... pick up the speed and arrest more people, faster,

/derp

And we'll end with a little humor from DuffleBlog

Female private files sexual harassment complaint with Space Force IG

@warfeed is a project of @stevescoins

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