Abstract
The issues that form military doctrine and political policies towards international relations are complex. The types of military systems required to enforce these doctrines and policies are predicated on the likely scenarios that states may encounter. It is important, therefore, to have an understanding of where future threats are likely to emerge; only then can coherent strategic doctrine be formulated and the correct military equipment procurement and training policies be implemented. No country or region should be viewed in isolation; rather how they relate to each other should be considered. This is a fundamental premise of international relations. Whether there will be major state-on-state conflicts in the coming epochs is debatable, but is, nonetheless, a major consideration for any government’s military strategy.
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Notes
See Rupert Smith, The Utility of Force, pp. 16–17. For a view on the role of people and states in future wars, which offers a different perspective to Smith’s, see generally, Pascal Vennesson, ‘War without the People’, in The Changing Character of War, Hew Strachan and Sibylle Scheipers (eds), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 241–251.
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See Michael Howard, The Invention of Peace & the Reinvention of War, London: Profile Books, 2001, pp. 99 and 101–102.
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Brodie was writing with reference to a nuclear deterrence and expanded on his thoughts in Bernard Brodie, ‘The Development of Nuclear Strategy’, International Security, 2(2), 1978, 65–83.
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For a discussion on China’s ASBM development and its implications for the US and its allies, see Michael Chase, Andrew Erickson, and Christopher Yeaw, ‘Chinese Theater and Strategic Missile Force Modernization and Its Implications for the United States’, The Journal of Strategic Studies, 32(1), 2009, 67–114.
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Ian M. Easton and L. C. Russell Hsiao, The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Project: Organizational Capacities and Operational Capabilities, Arlington, VA: Project 2049 Institute, 2013, pp. 13–14.
Evans, ‘US “Failed to Spot China’s Rapid Advance in Missiles and Jets”’. A US Congressional Research Service analysis describes the potential counters to China’s ASBM, in particular what is required to break the ASBM’s ‘Kill Chain’ — see Ronald O’Rourke, China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities — Background and Issues for Congress, Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, April 2013, pp. 63–64.
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Wills, C. (2015). International Relations and Future Threats. In: Unmanned Combat Air Systems in Future Warfare. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137498496_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137498496_7
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