BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE

BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE
Advanced physics drove the next RMA, which extended from
the mastery of flight to improved radios and the introduction
of radar through the creation of nuclear weapons at the end of
World War II .
The current RMA has as its source what has been called new
physical principles . These principles focus on technologies
such as lasers and particle beams . Current trends indicate
that the next revolution in military affairs may have a
biological source . Some manifestations of these biological
advances may include biosensors, bioelectronics,
nanotechnologies, distributed systems, neural networks, and
performance-enhancing drugs .
New technologies and systems significantly influence the
RMA, although the resulting RMA could take one of a number
of forms . The interwar innovations of armored warfare by the
German army, amphibious warfare by the US Marine Corps,
carrier warfare by the US Navy, and strategic bombing by the
US Army Air Forces have been characterized as "combinedsystem
RMAs ." Their revolutionary nature derived from a
collection of military systems put together in new ways to
achieve a revolutionary effect .
A different type of RMA is the "single-system RMA." An
example is the nuclear revolution of the 1940s and 1950s, in
which a single technology, nuclear fission/ fusion, drove the
revolution . Another example of a single-system RMA is the
gunpowder revolution, in which gunpowder transformed land
and naval warfare through the use of siege guns, field artillery,
infantry firearms, and naval artillery .
Evidence suggests that the revolution unfolding today is
neither a combined-system nor a single-system RMA but an
integrated-system RMA . The outlook is for the rapid evolution
of new technologies eventually leading to the development of
several advanced military systems .
These systems, when joined with their accompanying
operational and organizational concepts, will become
integrated systems . In contrast to developments during the
interwar period, this system-of-systems approach will aim to
take advantage of the cumulative effect of employing each of
the new capabilities at the same time .
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