Modern warfare – The rise of the machines |
The 26 years of this century have seen the metal-on-metal thunder of the 1900s replaced by a pervasive, high-pitched buzz.
The 26 years of this century have seen the metal-on-metal thunder of the 1900s replaced by a pervasive, high-pitched buzz.
If you were to look back at the closing chapters of the 20th century, warfare was a game of giants. Victory belonged to those who could field the most tanks, the fastest jets, and the heaviest aircraft carriers.
These were the “exquisite” systems of multi-million-dollar feats of engineering that took decades to build and required vast, visible logistics chains to maintain. Today, that world feels like a relic. We have moved from a time when a single fighter jet cost more than a small nation’s education budget to an era where a $500 plastic quad-copter can neutralize a $10-million main battle tank.
This shift isn’t just about the machines; it is about the death of secrecy. In the 1990s, a commander could hide a headquarters in a thick forest or move a division under the cover of night. Now, the battlefield is transparent. With thousands of eyes in the........