The Quest for Technological Superiority — A Misunderstanding of War?

Abstract

Western military policy assumes technological superiority confers a significant military advantage. The evidence is otherwise. Western technological advantages have not offset NATO’s inferiority in combat numbers. History indicates that the military advantages conferred by technology are transitory against an adaptive opponent and innovation is more expensive than imitation. Nor does technology have the impact upon higher-order tactics and strategy that is commonly presumed. This Paper develops these issues and concludes with an alternative, classicist approach to Western security.

The author wishes to thank Prof. David Greenwood, Lt-Gen. Dr Franz Uhle-Wettler and Dr Zeev Bonen for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this Paper.