Internet, DARPA en Disneyland.

"Information technologies, in particular, are becoming more prevalent and significant components of modern military systems. These information technologies are having the same kind of transforming effects on military affairs as they
are having in the larger world. The effects of this military transformation will have profound implications for how wars are fought, what kinds of weapons will dominate the battlefield and, inevitably, which nations enjoy military preeminence."
p.51

"combined-arms units described above, this “transformation laboratory” must be established as rapidly as possible. Although many of the weapons systems already exist or are readily available, the introduction of new systems such as an armored gun system, wheeled personnel carrier such as the
Light Armored Vehicle or the HIMARS rocket artillery system in sufficient numbers will take several years. Further, the process of “digitization” – the proliferation of information
and communications in tactical units – must be accelerated. Finally, the Army needs to increase its investment in selected new systems such as UAVs and the Comanche
scout helicopter to field them more rapidly. These will need to be integrated into a coherent organization and doctrinal
concept. The process of near-term experimentation needs to be sharply focused on meeting the Army’s near- and mid-term
needs, and to produce the new kinds of units needed.
Yet this initial process of transformation must be just the first step toward a more radical reconfiguring of the Army. Even While the exact scope and nature of such change is a matter for experimentation, Army studies already suggest that it will be dramatic. Consider just the potential
changes that might effect the infantryman. Future soldiers may operate in encapsulated, climate-controlled, powered fighting suits, laced with sensors, and boasting chameleonlike “active” camouflage. “Skin-patch” pharmaceuticals help regulate fears, focus concentration and enhance endurance and strength. A display mounted on a soldier’s helmet permits a comprehensive view of the
battlefield – in effect to look around corners and over hills – and allows the soldier to access the entire combat information and intelligence system while filtering incoming
data to prevent overload. Individual weapons are more lethal, and a soldier’s ability to call for highly precise and reliable indirect fires – not only from Army systems
but those of other services – allows each individual to have great influence over huge spaces. Under the “Land Warrior” program, some Army experts envision a “squad” of seven soldiers able to dominate an area the size of the Gettysburg battlefield – where, in 1863, some 165,000 men fought."
p.62

"Further, the process of transformation,
even if it brings revolutionary change, is
likely to be a long one, absent some
catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a
new Pearl Harbor."
p.51

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)