Clues to the 5th: Shorter Chains?
And, no, we’re not talking about snow chains for your car or those hanging swag light chains. The 5th is being marked by something very simple, and I’ll just drop a few breadcrumbs to get ya walkin’ in the right direction:
- JTIDS
- JSTARS
- TADIL
- MC2A
- MOP/DSHTW/Big BLU
- JSF
- JDAM
- HDBTDC Thermobaric Weapon
- Metal Storm
- MOAB
- NLOS
- RJ
- SWF
- UAV/UCAV/JUCAS
In the strategic and tactical execution of warfare, the above have enabled or will produce a tectonic change, uncovering the holy grail of warfare: the Shortened Kill Chain.
Really, the dialectically qualitative change has happened, you just need to read the simple signs. Several of the above I’ve seen on Future Weapons. And a couple of these I’ve had the honor of supporting on active duty. I believe that once you tie all the US Military services’ commands, infrastructure, tools, and weapons together you’ll start to see just how much the change is so very real.
More to come. (how ya doin’ so far, eh?)
UPDATE: added the Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SWF) and Direct Strike Hard Target Weapon (DSHTW) as these two truly change the “response” of the enemy on the battlefield. In fact, in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the SWF was used and was VERY effective. Oh, and ya can’t leave out the MOAB - she’s got game!
UPDATE 2: added the Hard and/or Deeply Buried Target Defeat Capability (HDBTDC) Thermobaric Weapon, or the BLU-118/B. This is the cave-buster used in Afghanistan that was rushed through development, test, and live fire, to be used live - in less than 67 days (from the woman in charge of the program at Eglin AFB that was interviewed on Future Weapons). Another item to make the enemy, think, before hiding …
TAGS: Fix4RSO, Milblog, Military, 5GW, Warfare, Kill+Chain, Technology, GWOT, Neural+Attack
January 2nd, 2007 at 15:09
Closet geek still with ya’
Interesting links, I will have to read in more detail later.
January 3rd, 2007 at 15:28
One of the things being bandied about this topic is that our guys are still focused on 40 or 50 year old tactics…I hope you have some good news for me!
January 4th, 2007 at 10:11
Laurie - I knew ya’d still be readin’! I have at the very least 5 more posts on this subject. It’s amazing what one can uncover on the net, not to mention just watching Future Weapons and Weapons Races … astounding.
Thunder Pig - I think that in mass, the ground troops still use 40-50 year old tactics. Maneuvers are always the same requiring coordination, to keep things safe and moving quickly with extreme effect. I beleive, and am leading towards, there are so many more “pre-movement” strategies and tactics that reduce overall casualties on the advancing ground forces.
In fact, in 5GW, most of the work is done waaaay before boots of any significant number are required - and that includes all their toys, too.
January 4th, 2007 at 22:37
Heya. Happy 007
Question — why are the maneuvers always the same? I see what you mean about coordination required of anything, and better toys are better. But (and forgive me for being so far behind the X#GW de jour), but ‘is this the sign of things to come’, if we are working in a world where there isn’t an easily identifiable enemy on a battlefield?
I’m not saying that conventional forces aren’t needed, but … just looking ahead, and maybe currently, as the theatre of operations is rather disperse, and the tools of this warfare aren’t necessarily made in a manufacturing plant. So how do these various tools come together, other than ‘as a tool’, in an overall strategy of ‘winning the war on global terror’, aka (lots of guys bringing lawsuits)
I know, boring!
and I know, read the rest of the articles Vic. Ok, will stop in; let me know when you post the next installment.
here’s to lovely sunshiny winter days in your world,
v
January 4th, 2007 at 22:44
Fix, the biggest thing that worries me about all this is the enemy getting them. Metalstorm is a terrifying weapon that could devastate a brigade in short order. It’s use on naval vessels would make them virtually impenetrable (assuming you could keep them armed. The rate of fire is so high that any sustained activity would require vast areas of storage.) The SWF can kill an entire tank battalion in seconds.
So, I hope *someone* is thinking about really good defenses for these weapons as well, and I hope *that* work is kept very, *very* secret.
I get where you’re headed - total battlespace awareness and robotic battlefield prep that leaves the boots on the ground doing hold only since clear is already accomplished before they get there.
January 5th, 2007 at 1:56
Vic - actually, you are not in the ‘boring’ area, you have touched on what is to be about 2 posts ahead!
The key to 5GW is to utilize the dialectically qualitative change against a non-state enemy. The Short Kill Chain is a big deal in 5GW, but that only allows us to prosecute an attack in moments, and these tools make it easier to hit the enemy once the decision is made. However, even with a shortened kill chain, one needs to develop these disperse players into an enemy - and, in some respects, the enemy is here at home within our borders, on our TVs, writing in our newspapers, voting in chambers, litigating against or for, modern day Neville Chamberlains and Jimmy Carters.
And the enemy was born here, schooled here, worked here, lives among us.
Antimedia - when it comes to the advanced weapons, like the thermobaric LGB (BLU-118/B) that uses insensitive high explosives, the effect is to make the enemy leave the field of battle first. And yes, I hope no one can catch up to the SWF or Metal Storm! For our side, defense against such weapons is paramount, I agree. I’m sure as the weapon moves through development, defense is also a factor. My only reason for listing these weapons and strategic/tactical platforms is to give a little breadth to what is coming in the follow on posts - and, the previous to posts were long winded!
I needed a short post to keep people awake!
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:32
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