Technology and the American way of war since 1945

No nation in recent history has placed greater emphasis on role of technology in planning and waging war than United States. In World War II the wholesale mobilization of American science and technology culminated in detonation of the atomic bomb. Competition with Soviet Union during the Cold War, combined with U.S. Navy's culture of distributed command and rapid growth of information technology, spawned concept of network-centric warfare. And America's post-Cold War conflicts in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan have highlighted America's edge. Mahnken concludes with examination of reemergence of traditional American way of war, which uses massive force to engage the enemy. Tying together six decades of debate concerning U.S. military affairs, he discusses how the armed forces might exploit the opportunities of the information revolution in the future.
Abstract: No nation in recent history has placed greater emphasis on role of technology in planning and waging war than United States. In World War II the wholesale mobilization of American science and technology culminated in detonation of the atomic bomb. Competition with Soviet Union during the Cold War, combined with U.S. Navy's culture of distributed command and rapid growth of information technology, spawned concept of network-centric warfare. And America's post-Cold War conflicts in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan have highlighted America's edge. Mahnken concludes with examination of reemergence of traditional American way of war, which uses massive force to engage the enemy. Tying together six decades of debate concerning U.S. military affairs, he discusses how the armed forces might exploit the opportunities of the information revolution in the future