BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE

PRINCIPLES OF WAR
presenting the enemy with the opportunity for a knockout
blow delivered by their WMD .
Victorious armies facing NASTIs may be more preoccupied
with active defense, passive defenses, mobility, dispersion, and
concealment than with conventional offensive actions that
could get them annihilated . Indeed, the lethality of the future
battle area may be so great that a new vision of defensive deployment
is required while simultaneously adding new urgency to
the locating, targeting, and destroying of enemy launchers and
storage compounds for enemy weapons of mass destruction
and the adversary's very advanced conventional weapons .
The Principle of Offensive Initiative in Warfare
One of the principles of war found in US military doctrine is
the necessity to "seize, retain, and exploit the initiative" in
combat . 14 Maintaining the offensive initiative in warfare is
important to victory, and also helps avoid defeat . An enemy on
his heels is seldom an enemy at your throat . There is still
some truth to the old adage that the best defense is a good
offense . A good offense that keeps the adversary busy
defending his own forces and homeland robs him of some of
the potential to carry the fight to yours .
Unfortunately, offensive operations under attack by enemy
WMD, or the threat of such an attack, can be difficult to
execute . US Army operations during its Combined Arms in a
Nuclear/Chemical Environment (CANE) exercises have shown
that enemy WMD very much hindered "Blue" forces' offensive
success . As one report summarized, "during offensive
operations, it was noted that :
" attacks and engagements lasted longer;
" fewer enemy forces were killed ;
" friendly forces suffered more casualties ;
" friendly forces fired fewer rounds at the enemy;
" fratricide increased ;
" terrain was used less effectively for cover and
concealment ." 15
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