The Future of War: Power, Technology and American World Dominance in the Twenty-first Century Books,discount prices 0312181000,

	The Future of War: Power, Technology and American World Dominance in the Twenty-first Century by George Friedman, Meredith Friedman
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Product Details Binding Paperback Dewey Decimal Number 355.033073 EAN 9780312181000 ISBN 0312181000 Manufacturer St. Martin's Griffin Number Of Items 1 Number Of Pages 272 Publication Date February 15, 1998 Publisher St. Martin's Griffin Availability Usually ships in 24 hours Product Description The Future of War makes a brilliant case that the twenty-first century, even more than the twentieth, will be the American century, and that America's global dominance will be associated with a revolution in weaponry and warfare as basic as the one that arose with the development of gunpowder five hundred years ago. From the era of flintlocks and cannons to the day of automatic weapons and heavy artillery, the waging of war-while undeniably changing in many aspects-has continued to rely on the technology that began with the use of black powder to expel a projectile through a tube. In The Future of War, the authors argue that this Age of Ballistics is ending and we are entering a fundamentally new period, the Age of Precision-Guided Munitions (PGMs), the so-called smart weapons that will antiquate the traditional way of making war. Where guns and artillery are inherently inaccurate and need to be fired thousands of times to hit one target, these new projectiles are precise and lethally efficient; while ballistic weapons platforms must be brought within range of the battlefield, PGMs can devastate from any distance. The authors show how the innovations in weapons technology will affect America's defense strategies on land and sea, in air and in space, reshaping our military forces, while confronting us with new strategic challenges as America enters the twenty-first century as the dominant power on the globe. The Friedmans are geostrategic optimists. The next century, they argue, will be the American century?not from any economic, diplomatic or moral achievements, but because of a revolution in warmaking. According to the Friedmans, who operate a business intelligence firm, technology?specifically that of precise-guided munitions (PGMs)?is creating a revolution as fundamental as that inaugurated by gunpowder. The authors establish their case by concentrating on the 'senility' of major 'traditional' weapons systems (tanks, aircraft carriers, manned aircraft) when confronted with weapons 'that can, in some sense, think.' The U.S. possesses the knowledge and the resource base to take advantage of a form of warfare that will eventually, they say, reduce costs not only in money, but also in the lives Americans are increasingly reluctant to sacrifice. The Friedmans advocate in particular the extension of weapons and control systems into outer space. Their book is more convincing as history than as prognostication, however. The authors make strong complementary cases for the technical vulnerability of high-cost, high-profile weapons and for the tendency of those weapons to exceed the physical and psychological capacities of their human operators. Their emphasis on technology takes too little account of the complex spectrum of nonmaterial factors that are increasingly recognized as critical to shaping 'revolutions in human affairs.' The concept of a paradigm shift in conducting wars based on PGMs is a useful tool, but one requiring careful examination and critical review that seems beyond the scope of the advocacy to be found here. Author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. The Friedmans, noted for The Coming War with Japan (LJ 5/1/91), work at the GPA Strategic Forecasting Group, 'a corporate intelligence service involved in military modeling.' Although their book's title suggests futurology, the contents are more historic. In fact, the book is, as the Friedmans admit, 'not really about war today' either. It offers some decent analysis of the evolution of battleships, carriers, tanks, and aircraft, but it comes nowhere near matching the astonishing vision of the late Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, former Chief of the Soviet General Staff. In fact, their work doesn't even cite him or some other key foreign strategists who have written at length about this subject. Perhaps the Friedmans should rerun their model. An optional purchase.?John J. Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. For those whose libraries can't possibly subscribe to the numerous specialty periodicals covering military technology, the Friedmans corral the openly available information concerning the ongoing revolution in precision weaponry. They contend that smart missiles have rendered the tank, the piloted airplane, and the aircraft carrier obsolete--a case they laminate together in acronym-studded layers that cover each weapon's invention, heyday, and 'senility' (a jargon term meaning improvements that defend the weapon--for instance, tank armor--but increasingly impede the weapon's main mission). Even the Persian Gulf War's air offensive, the Friedmans insist, represented not so much vindication of piloted planes as the maximum effectiveness of technology; hereafter, they say, precision weapons will get the upper hand, despite stealth technology. Their thesis implies a fundamental reorientation of weaponry development toward hypersonic, intercontinental munitions. Bureaucratically, the thesis would compel the U.S. Navy to wean itself from aircraft carriers in favor of controlling the seas from space. For interested civilians, a provocative glimpse into the issues roiling America's military professionals. Gilbert Taylor From those wonderful folks who brought you The Coming War with Japan (1991), another arresting, thoughtful, and closely reasoned appreciation of how and by whom armed conflicts might be successfully conducted in the post-millennial era. Persuasively dismissing the beguiling notion that global interdependence, economic or otherwise, has made war unthinkable, the Friedmans (who run the GPA Strategic Forecasting Group, a corporate intelligence service) assume that the days of shooting irons (artillery, machine guns, mortars, rifles, et al.), which ruled the world's battlefields for over five centuries, are numbered. As the final stages of Desert Storm made clear, they assert, precision ordnance (directed by lasers or other advanced means) is supplanting ballistic firearms. The advent of so-called smart bombs and missiles, the authors point out, has made a wealth of inordinately expensive weapons systems obsolete by making them unacceptably vulnerable to assault; cases in point range from manned fighter planes crammed with avionics through aircraft carriers and tanks. Nor, the authors maintain, do nuclear capabilities loom large in the strategic scheme of things, other than as a deterrent against other countries' nuclear arsenals. Accordingly, the Friedmans conclude, the key to military domination in the 21st century will be conventional ordnance precisely applied, and the willingness to use it. With unrivaled command of computer, guidance munitions, radar satellite, and sensing technologies, they argue, the US is in the strongest position to seize the high ground of space (for use not only as a reconnaissance site but also as a launching pad) and achieve a capacity to engage in remote-control warfare in which pilotless vehicles deliver explosives at hypersonic speeds and with deadly accuracy to enemy targets anywhere on earth. Provocative, accessible perspectives on the long history of war and on a new world of belligerency whose convincingly documented emergence could give pause to prophets of Western decline. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. 'Revolution in modern warfare is upon us. George and Meredith Friedman have provided us an important insight into many of the critical elements of that revolution and their possible implications. There are no answers, but there is one certainty: It is in America's national interest to have the debate about where technology is taking us and to then resolutely put policies, doctrines, and budgets in place to protect our country. This book is an important element in that debate. I strongly recommend it.'--Adm. Bill Owens, Ret. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 'We will be hearing a great deal more about this book as time goes on. It is one of those rare watershed documents in a class with the works of Giulio Douhet, B.H. Liddell Hart, and Herman Kahn. It is a benchmark . . . Competitors and critics alike will find themselves obliged to deal with it, one way or another.'--Maj. Gen. Edward B. Atkenson, Army magazine -- Review 'Revolution in modern warfare is upon us. George and Meredith Friedman have provided us an important insight into many of the critical elements of that revolution and their possible implications. There are no answers, but there is one certainty: It is in America's national interest to have the debate about where technology is taking us and to then resolutely put policies, doctrines, and budgets in place to protect our country. This book is an important element in that debate. I strongly recommend it.'--Adm. Bill Owens, Ret. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 'We will be hearing a great deal more about this book as time goes on. It is one of those rare watershed documents in a class with the works of Giulio Douhet, B.H. Liddell Hart, and Herman Kahn. It is a benchmark . . . Competitors and critics alike will find themselves obliged to deal with it, one way or another.'--Maj. Gen. Edward B. Atkenson, Army magazine The Future of War makes a brilliant case that the twenty-first century, even more than the twentieth, will be the American century, and that America's global dominance will be associated with a revolution in weaponry and warfare as basic as the one that arose with the development of gunpowder five hundred years ago. From the era of flintlocks and cannons to the day of automatic weapons and heavy artillery, the waging of war-while undeniably changing in many aspects-has continued to rely on the technology that began with the use of black powder to expel a projectile through a tube. In The Future of War, the authors argue that this Age of Ballistics is ending and we are entering a fundamentally new period, the Age of Precision-Guided Munitions (PGMs), the so-called smart weapons that will antiquate the traditional way of making war. Where guns and artillery are inherently inaccurate and need to be fired thousands of times to hit one target, these new projectiles are precise and lethally efficient; while ballistic weapons platforms must be brought within range of the battlefield, PGMs can devastate from any distance. The authors show how the innovations in weapons technology will affect America's defense strategies on land and sea, in air and in space, reshaping our military forces, while confronting us with new strategic challenges as America enters the twenty-first century as the dominant power on the globe. Making a brilliant case that the 21st century, even more than the 20th, will be 'The American Century, ' and that America's global dominance will be associated with a revolution in weaponry and warfare as basic as the one that arose with the development of gunpowder 500 years ago, The Future of War speaks of a new geopolitical system that will shape the next century. 480 pp. Author tour. Radio & print ads. National publicity. 25,000 print. George Friedman is coauthor of The Coming War with Japan as well as numerous other books and articles on politics and international and military affairs. He is on the faculty of Tulane University in New Orleans and is chairman of Strategic Forecasting in Baton Rouge, which specializes in business intelligence and analysis. Meredith Friedman was born and educated in Sydney, Australia, and moved to the United States in 1976. She is a freelance writer who has published on international affairs and other topics and was coauthor of The Coming War with Japan. She is a senior writer for Strategic Forecasting and manages research on business intelligence. Customers who bought this item also bought The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between the United States and Its Enemies Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent The Intelligence Edge: How to Profit in the Information Age The Craft of Intelligence: America's Legendary Spy Master on the Fundamentals of Intelligence Gathering for a Free World Customer Reviews for: The Future of War: Power, Technology and American World Dominance in the Twenty-first Century Rating - The Future is Now? This book is about the coming American epoch. This author predicts that the face of war in the 21st Century will be dominated by the United States. His Prediction? The 21st Century is the American Century. The author presents a very complelling and optimistic survey. In one sense it is a traditional approach. Warfare will still be waged in accordance with rules and principles, but, the focus of this book is on technology and how that technology will shape the future of warfare. Rating - Worth the Read Friedman has done a wonderful job of laying a broad overview of US techno-politico power and policy plans for the new millenium. He has not however fully discussed the appalling breach of security that our own US based companies are guilty of committing. China has now armed themselves with advanced missile technologies that representatives and technicians of many US firms have given away. This is not only an insane and profoundly stupid act of retardation but an act of treason. Every one of these people that devulged these secrets, however casually, should be publically executed as an example. Because ... Read More Rating - Entertaing, thought-provoking, but kind of silly "The Future of War" predicts US dominance of warfare throughout the 21st Century, as a result of US advanced technology in general and precision weaponry in particular. Their train of thought has considerable merit, and deserves reading and thoughtful attention. However, the book suffers from the same two major flaws as most books by visionaries without enough practical experience: misunderstanding of specific happenings in the past, and unlikely projections into the far future. Having been involved with US defense for 50 years, as a member of the military, as a designer and developer and advisor on US weaponry, and as an advisor ... Read More see more reviews See all books by author George Friedman, Meredith Friedman

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