Revolution in military affairs - The operation mole cricket 19 as a case study for the technological race during the cold war

Abstract

The article reviews the development of the modern idea of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) whose buds appeared after the First World War, matured during the Cold War and demonstrated in 1982 in the First Lebanon War by the Israeli Air Force, and in 1991 in the Iraq War by the American Army. After analyzing the essence of RMA, with reference to the concept of both evolution and revolution of military technologies and doctrines, the article suggests that two types of revolutions should be distinguished. The first is a revolution in military affairs in the broadest sense in which a paradigm shift in the nature of war is occurred, and it is possible to apply it mainly by superpowers. The second, is a limited revolution that is essentially an approach of solving a military problem, suitable for small countries. The article examines these ideas and shows that Operation Mole Cricket 19, in which Syrian missile batteries made in the USSR were destroyed by the Israeli Air Force in 1982, is a revolution in military affairs of the second type.