The Future of Land Warfare
by Michael O'Hanlon
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Pub Date Aug 31 2015 | Archive Date Nov 30 2015
The Brookings Institution Press | Brookings Institution Press
Description
In today’s U.S. defense policy debates, big land wars are out. Drones, cyber weapons, special forces, and space weapons are in. Accordingly, Pentagon budget cuts have honed in on the army and ground forces: this, after the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, seems like an appealing idea. No one really wants American boots on the ground in bloody conflicts abroad. But it is not so easy to simply declare an end to messy land wars. A survey of the world’s trouble spots suggests that land warfare has more of a future than many now seem to believe.
In The Future of Land Warfare, Michael O’Hanlon offers an analysis of the future of the world’s ground forces: Where are future large-scale conflicts or other catastrophes most plausible? Which of these could be important enough to necessitate the option of a U.S. military response? And which of these could in turn require significant numbers of American ground forces in their resolution? O’Hanlon is not predicting or advocating big American roles in such operations—only cautioning against overconfidence that we can and will avoid them.
O’Hanlon considers a number of illustrative scenarios in which large conventional forces may be necessary: deterring Russia from even contemplating attacks against the Baltic states; deterring China from considering an unfriendly future role on the Korean peninsula; handling an asymmetric threat in the South China Sea with the construction and protection of a number of bases in the Philippines and elsewhere; handling the aftermath of a major and complex humanitarian disaster superimposed on a security crisis—perhaps in South Asia; coping with a severe Ebola outbreak not in the small states of West Africa but in Nigeria, at the same time that that country falls further into violence; addressing a further meltdown in security conditions in Central America.
A Note From the Publisher
Available in Hardcover, Paperback, and Ebook.
This book is the first in a new series from Brookings Institution Foreign Policy, GEOPOLITICS IN THE 21st CENTURY.
Available in Hardcover, Paperback, and Ebook.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780815726890 |
| PRICE | $32.00 (USD) |
Average rating from 1 member
Featured Reviews
David M, Media/Journalist
“Fatigued by Iraq and Afghanistan, rightly impressed by the capabilities of U.S. special forces, transfixed by the arrival of new technologies such as drones, and increasingly preoccupied with rising China and its military progress in domains ranging from space to missile force to maritime operations, the American strategic community has largely turned away from thinking about ground combat.” — Michael O’Hanlon
The question used in the title is the hook line the Brookings Institute uses to introduce Michael O’Hanlon’s book The Future of Land Warfare. O’Hanlon, a Brookings Institute national security analyst and director of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence pushes beyond the typical Department of Defense Five Year Plan to look at what threats the U.S. may encounter and how the U.S. could counter them. He asserts that though technology will be an important element in future warfare, it will “not radically change how forces are sized and structured for most ground combat missions.” See Link for the full review
