This article argues that contemporary Western military innovation has become a strategic dead end. Tracing the evolution of military innovation from the Revolution in Military Affairs through counterinsurgency…
This article argues that contemporary Western military innovation has become a strategic dead end. Tracing the evolution of military innovation from the Revolution in Military Affairs through counterinsurgency adaptation to today’s emphasis on disruptive innovation, experimentation and artificial intelligence, it shows how technological change has increasingly become an end in itself. This technological determinism encourages governments and armed forces to substitute innovation for difficult choices about political purpose, force structure, industrial capacity and mobilisation. Growing dependence on private technology companies further constrains strategic autonomy.
The challenge, therefore, is not whether militaries should innovate, but how innovation can be subordinated to strategy.
This is a source-linked briefing. Read the original report from Military Strategy Magazine .