The Technological Arsenal : Emerging Defense Capabilities. This item is unavailable.The Technological Arsenal : Emerging Defense Capabilities

The rapid pace of technological innovation is propelling revolutionary change in America's defence strategy. In this study, William C. Martel and a dozen contributors, all experts who are actively involved in shaping US defence policy, explore the ways in which new defence technologies could change the nature of war and the basic foundation of national and international security. The contributors describe the development, analyze the capabilities, and measure the implications of emerging technologies that will mature in the near future, organizing them in three broad categories: directed energy, targeting, and command and control. Each chapter focuses on a specific technology that is already funded or authorized by Congress. With several chapters on missile defence, the first section includes discussions of airborne and space-based lasers and their uses in communication, sensing, and destructive systems, as well as the applications of high-energy microwave technology. The second section focuses on innovations in targeting, for use in cruise missiles, unmanned reconnaissance systems, and reusable space vehicles. The third section concentrates on the expanding opportunities for computer and communications networks in military operations, directing and controlling warfare from a distance, and disrupting the computer and communications systems of a potential enemy. Without advocating specific programmes, the text evaluates individual technologies and their consequences for US security as well as possible civilian development. As Martel suggests in the concluding chapter, questions regarding the relationship between advanced technologies and security have increasingly broad implications as the margin by which US technological capabilities exceed those of other states continues to grow.