Technology has always been accustomed produce improved tools of warfare. within the modern age, which is often accepted to own begun after the French Revolution, systematic research in sciences has enabled the event of the latest technology and innovations for both military and civilian use. These have had effects both on society and also the nature of warfare. If we reflect on the history of the Indian subcontinent, we might observe that, since the times of invasion by Babur, foreigners have exploited their superior technology and occasionally, superior strategy and tactics to subjugate India. The current age is being noted because the post-modern age or knowledge age is unfolding an unprecedented revolution in technologies. These technologies haven’t only touched myriad activities within the civil field but have also initiated a revolution in military affairs.
Historical Perspective
The development of ironclad ships within the 1860s, the machine gun within the 1890s, the manned aircraft and therefore the tank within the 1920s-1930s, the combat ship and radar within the 1930s-1940s, and nuclear weapons within the 1940s-1950s are a number of the important signposts within the evolution of military technologies. Each of those developments had revolutionary effects on the conduct of warfare. Technology has always been exploited to create wealth yet on make war. the commercial revolution launched the second wave of historical change within the form and nature of warfare. production was in the midst of the raising of mass armies loyal to modern nation-states and therefore the production of weapons. Technology was put to use to create new tools of war. Wars successively accelerated industrialization. The principle of standardization was applied to grooming, organization, and doctrine moreover. Written orders replaced oral orders giving rise to the event of General Staff. Mechanization in warfare with new styles of firepower vastly enlarged the dimensions of military operations. The aim of the war was the destruction of the enemy’s main forces on the battlefield. The concepts of total war and mass destruction were seen in World Wars I and II and that they carried on to the conflict.
The advent of nuclear weapons within the 1940s-1950s added the last word in destructive power. War scenarios between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Warsaw Pact forces envisaged the last word war of attrition. Thus, mass destruction came to play the identical central role in doctrine as production did in economies.
Transition to New reasonably War
The Gulf War is widely accepted as a transitional point that contained elements of the past i.e. industrial age warfare or Second Waveform of warfare which stressed mass destruction (e.g. fleets people aircraft carpet-bombed Iraqis in their bunkers, in villages, and everything was destroyed) and elements of a replacement reasonably war. This new war was fought with precision weapons with minimal casualties and with vastly improved means of real-time information, surveillance, and target acquisition. It absolutely was realized that destruction of the enemy’s means of command and control should be the prime canon of military doctrine. Thus, this type of warfare, when fully developed, would be knowledge-based modern era warfare characterized by maneuver instead of attrition. Toffler described this because of the Third Waveform of warfare. The Gulf War demonstrated the variety of high-tech weapon systems, surveillance and target acquisition, and command and control systems. Historically, man has always attempted to increase the range and lethality of his weapons. The impact of advances in technology on the conduct of warfare are often characterized into a variety of dominant trends, the name, search extension of the range of weapons, volume, and accuracy of the fireplace, system integration, the concentration of maximum firepower in smaller units, and increasing transparency within the battlefield.
