Can We Get There From Here? RMAs, Network-Centric Warfare and the Process of Transformation

Abstract

Abstract : Among the hot buzzwords in U.S. military circles at present are the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and Network Centric Warfare (NCW). RMA enthusiasts and technocrats argue that by harnessing emerging information technologies the U.S. can achieve Information Dominance in the battlespace of tomorrow, and fundamentally change the nature of warfare. The RMA is comprised of three elements: technology, doctrine, and organizational adaptation encompassed in the perceived strategic context. Network Centric Warfare envisions the combination of advanced sensors, weapons, and C4I systems from geographically dispersed units networked together into a continuously evolving ecosystem to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The results are forces achieving the massing of effects versus the massing of forces, operating with increased speed and synchronized from the bottom up to lock out enemy options while locking in success. Although the means of conducting war will change, the nature of it will not. The key to successfully formulating, implementing, and realizing any RMA will be the investment of our intellectual capital along the path. There is no such thing as the foreseeable future and we must not lock ourselves into a course with no allowable deviation but rather critically assess the who, what when, why, where and how as we move into the 21th century. We cannot wait for someone else to solve the problems for us rather we must all be involved to get there from here.