In the mid-1800s, the military historian and Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz wrote his famous text, On War.
Clausewitz died before he could finish his work, but he was the first to discuss war beyond mere strategic planning. Before Clausewitz, military texts were about little more than placing and moving bodies and weapons.
“War therefore is an act of violence to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.”
I bring Clausewitz into our conversation today not just because I am a fan of military history, but because despite the fact that his text was produced almost 200 years ago, his theories are still relevant — military historians still reference Clausewitz’s ideas about war.
Of course, Clausewitz lived and fought during a time when war meant incredible amounts of bloodshed.
War consisted of facing your enemy on the battlefield, and casualties would often range in the thousands.
It’s for this reason that Clausewitz has a very dismal outlook on the happenings of war. In his first book, he says:
“Kind-hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat the enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine that this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy…”
If only he could see the world now…
Today’s warfare isn’t about storming beaches or surviving through harsh environmental conditions. It’s not about causing the most casualties to your enemy’s population.
Today’s warfare is smarter, more efficient, and more information-based.
We have to ask: Has the world reached a point where we actually do have ingenious ways to disarm or defeat our enemies without too much bloodshed?
James Lewis, a senior technology expert at the Center for International and Strategic Studies says, “Today and into the future, war is an will be increasingly about knowledge, precision, and speed… with good information, a commander can take decisions without hesitation or uncertainty. An operation that used to take hundreds of bombs now only needs one or two.”
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were originally designed for surveillance, reconnaissance, and supply transportation.
Now, those vehicles have evolved. When the United States wants to take out an enemy leader, we send those unmanned drones to drop a bomb from 50,000 feet. The risk of American casualties is basically zero, and civilians are also less susceptible (or so they say).
Drones are unpiloted, so even if they crash… who cares?
No one is saying this technology is foolproof. No matter how much we hail the “safety” of drone technology, something tells me the more than 1,000 families of civilian casualties of drone attacks might disagree.
Still, with the latest advances in military technology, the business of waging a war has become a less-risky endeavor.
Smaller is Better?
Earlier this year, Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) announced the creation of its Pike missile — the defense contractor’s smallest guided munition to date. The laser-guided Pike weighs just around 2 lbs. and is approximately 17 inches long.
Rumors have been flying about the Pike. Allegedly, this miniature munition would be the world’s only handheld, precision-guided missile capable of travelling 1.5 miles and hitting within five yards of its target.
Raytheon just proved those rumors correct.
During a successful test earlier this week, two Pike missiles were fired from a standard single-tube grenade launcher at a site in Texas. After flying for more than 2,300 yards, both rounds reached the target area.
Raytheon Advanced Land Warfare Systems director J.R. Smith says, “Pike uses a digital, semi-active laser seeker to engage both fixed and slow-moving, mid-range targets.”
Upgrades to the Pike missile will include the ability to fire from small boats, all-terrain vehicles, and UAVs.
Raytheon’s new guided munition will provide military forces with unprecedented extended-range precision capabilities and significant reduction in collateral damage — all from a handheld weapon.
As if this couldn’t be more appealing, the Pike’s launch is smokeless, meaning the absence of a launch signature.
“Heads up, eyes out, finger on the trigger.”
Despite the leaps in technological advancements among airborne weaponry, we have yet to reach a point where human soldiers are absent from the ground. Land warfare is still an unfortunate necessity.
Fortunately, we have reached a point where resources for ground soldiers make their combat experiences more efficient as well.
Defense contractor BAE Systems has just recently announced its 3D battlefield vision technology. It’s called Q-Warrior, and it can transform an ordinary helmet into a device previously reserved for Iron Man.
With the Q-Warrior, an individual soldier possesses a display of all critical mission data, with 3D vision of the scene ahead. This means complete situational awareness. The “real world” is overlaid with digital data and graphics.
The Q-Warrior can immediately identify hostiles vs. friendly forces in the area, and can track the movements of each. The device is also fixed with state-of-the-art navigation capabilities, so a soldier is always aware of his own location on the battlefield.
BAE’s technology is also able to communicate with air controllers, enhancing targeting and communication with air support.
Combat will never be completely “safe,” and there is always risk for harm or worse, but heads-up display technologies like the Q-Warrior enhance existing assets, providing intelligence without distraction — crucial for infantry on the ground.
See Spot Shoot
There’s another asset in the works for infantry troops, and this one might just become their new best friend.
Boston Dynamics, recently acquired by the secretive GoogleX, began military testing a few weeks ago with its quadruped robot dog, Spot.
Spot travelled to Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to begin his evaluations in a series of missions. He was tested on different terrains and for different objectives.
In one of the missions, Spot was sent into an unexplored building to perform an initial scout and to gather intelligence about potential foes. It’s his own version of “fetch.”
The United States military hopes to be able to use robots like Spot in combat, allowing the robots to scope out dangerous situations and ultimately reduce the risk of loss of life.
“We want to continue to experiment with quadruped technology and find ways that this can be employed to enhance the Marine Corps warfighting capabilities,” said Capt. James Pineiro, the branch head for Marine Corps Warfighting Lab.
Spot can be controlled from a distance of up to 500 meters. It is equipped with smart LIDAR laser imaging sensors — the same that are on the Google Car. Spot is able to climb stairs and has incredible balancing skills.
It’s still in the early stages, so we have yet to find out exactly how Spot will be put to work. However, the collaboration between Spot’s creators and the U.S. military leads us to believe he will be entering the combat scene soon.
Napoleon himself once said, “Great battles are won with artillery.”
If he were able to witness warfare today, he might replace “artillery” with “technology.”
The addition of Spot and Q-Warrior, as well as the development of smaller, more accurate ammunitions like the Pike, are definite assets to the military industry.
War will never be pretty. There will always be the risk of harm. But technological advancements like the ones we’ve discussed here are not only protecting our own forces, but they’re also minimizing the possibility of collateral damage and civilian casualties.
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