Introduction: Information Resources and Military Performance

Abstract

Dramatic advances in telecommunications and data processing, collectively known as information technology, lend credence to the idea that we are in the midst of an 'information-based Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA)'. The exploitation of advances in information technology is producing greater knowledge, and when linked with precision weaponry, is transforming the way wars are fought by the world's leading military powers. Strategic thinkers and security experts have been discussing and debating the impact of information technology on military operations and warfare ever since the late 1970s when Soviet General Nikolai Ogarkov argued that a range of recent innovations would become as important to waging war as nuclear weapons. These innovations included new kinds of explosives, precision-guided weaponry, advances in C 3 I (command, control, communications and intelligence), sensor technology and automated control systems, and weapons based on new physical principles (e.g., particle beams and lasers). 1 US high-tech weapons in the 1991 Gulf War, particularly the unprecedented integration of precision-guided munitions and C 4 I (command, control, communications, computers and intelligence), seemed to confirm that an RMA was underway. By linking advances in precision weapons, surveillance satellites, computer-based information processing and organizational changes that network military units, this information RMA could provide greater efficiency and flexibility, and fewer risks of casualties through the use of more highly-skilled troops and smart technologies. 2 Most discussions of the current RMA focus on the central role played by information technology (IT) and its potential to contribute to an RMA when combined with tactical, doctrinal and organizational innovations. A vast literature on the RMA cites the important -indeed dominant -role that IT is playing in contemporary military innovations that have dramatically increased US military performance. Recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated the technological prowess of the US military. In the Afghan campaign, SOF-directed precision airpower was a crucial component of rapid success, particularly in combination with ground forces. 3 The US military was able to project power over vast distances with relatively small numbers of troops. The war in Iraq provided a laboratory to test the 'hightech low numbers-on-the-ground' strategy of RMA proponents, which proved extremely effective in the conventional combat phase of the conflict.Yet IT is only one of several 'information resources' that have shaped, and are reshaping, the ways wars are fought. The purpose of these papers is to examine the relationship between information and RMAs. Important distinctions need to be made between the concepts of information, IT and information resources. By failing to make these distinctions and keep them in mind, we run two risks: first, underestimating and not fully appreciating the ways that information influences RMAs; second, overestimating the uniquely informationa...

The defence performance measurement framework: measuring the performance of defence organisations at the strategic level

“…Nations following this strategy tend to focus on change and continuous improvement by reducing, rationalising, or redistributing personnel, materiel, and infrastructure. Information systems such as enterprise resource planning tools and cost accounting systems support the implementation of such efficiency initiatives (Goldman 2004;Levene 2013;Perry 2013). In turn, a more efficient and more agile organisation has a better perceived chance of "mission success" as it is able to channel more of its resources to the front lines when needed (Porter and Mykleby 2012).…”