Technology and the changing face of war

Abstract

Conflict in the future will be shaped heavily by the epochal, technology-driven change from the industrial age to the information age that is now well under way. Wars among nations will likely take a backseat to a range of conflicts that may crop up almost anywhere under various guises outside todays norms of international law and Riles of engagement. Amorphous enemies without territories or borders could become a greater threat than traditional nation-state rivalries as cyberstates replace nations as the typical adversary. According to an article in the April 27 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology , these were some of the key points made during a recent gathering of national security experts and theoreticians at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. As the AWST article puts it: The new stateless enemy might be an amalgam of transnational or subnational adversaries, outlaw syndicates, [and] corporations or drug cartels. Terrorist, political, or criminal in nature, it ...