Ep 008 “Fixing Fight Club: Reimagining Land Warfare or Else”

The Libertarian Institute - All Podcasts

***Just discovered there was an audio synchronization problem that truncated from 1:11 to 0:50; it is now fixed.*** I take the time to discuss some of the conventional ramifications of modern warfare and book recommendations that have given me a deeper and more nuanced understanding of why wars begin and end as they do. Robotics, autonomous targeting and hyper-velocity munitions are democratizing the battle field in a way heretofore unimagined. Drones are the new "low tech" answer to the First World's exquisite military platform that are over priced and have the same provenance of battleships planet-wide in January 1942. The electronic emissions environment in future conflicts will be a two-way street that will put any active acquisition sensors and attached effectors in the hazard if they emit and remain in one place. Autonomous targeting will become more and more relevant as the speed of munitions increases and the salvo competition costs are driven down. Hyper-velocity munitions are here to stay. The US Army and all land forces in the allied nations in the first world are in for a dramatic wake-up call. The life of the light infantryman will change significantly since for the first time in human history, the cost of hunting individual soldiers and small groups of soldiers in an effective fashion has reached a cost in concert with technology. "Quantity has a quality all of its own." - Thomas A. Callaghan Jr. ** I cover these issues in detail on my Chasing Ghosts podcast in Episodes 19, 24, 33-34, 47-48 and 53-54. ** References: A Retrospective on RMA, 2000-2020. The Russian Reconnaissance Fire Complex Comes of Age Army Futures Command Concept for Fires 2028 Christian Brose The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare Lester Grau & Charles K. Bartles The Russian Way of War: Force Structure, Tactics, and Modernization of the Russian Ground Forces David Glantz Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945 (Soviet (Russian) Study of War) David Glantz Soviet Military Operational Art: In Pursuit of Deep Battle (Soviet (Russian) Military Theory and Practice) Georgii Samoilovich Isserson G.S. Isserson and the War of the Future: Key Writings of a Soviet Military Theorist Sun Tzu The Art of War Carl von Clausewitz On War Miyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy H. John Poole The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO’s Contribution to Warfare Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America My Substack Email at [e-mail]