Synopses & Reviews
US Defence Strategy from Vietnam to Operation Iraqi Freedom examines the thirty-year transformation in American military thought and defence strategy that spanned from 1973 through 2003.
During these three decades, new technology and operational practices helped form what observers dubbed a 'Revolution in Military Affairs' in the 1990s and a 'New American Way of War' in the 2000s. Robert R. Tomes tells for the first time the story of how innovative approaches to solving battlefield challenges gave rise to non-nuclear strategic strike, the quest to apply information technology to offset Soviet military advantages, and the rise of 'decisive operations' in American military strategy. He details an innovation process that began in the shadow of Vietnam, matured in the 1980s as Pentagon planners sought an integrated nuclear-conventional deterrent, and culminated with battles fought during blinding sandstorms on the road to Baghdad in 2003. An important contribution to military innovation studies, the book also presents an innovation framework applicable to current defence transformation efforts.
This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, US defence policy and US politics in general.
Synopsis
From 1973 to the 2003 liberation of Iraq, American military thought and defense planning was transformed. "US Military Innovation and Strategy after Vietnam" presents the reader with a clear overview and assessment of this Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA).
Robert Tomes skillfully details this thirty-year process that began in the aftermath of Vietnam, matured in the 1980s as Pentagon planners sought an integrated nuclear-conventional deterrent, and culminated with battles fought during sandstorms on the road to Baghdad in 2004. He distills the key historical, conceptual, and doctrinal factors central to the evolution of US defense policy and military thought during the last three decades. In doing so, Tomes explores the widespread perception that advanced US war fighting capabilities became suddenly available in the early 1990s, a perception that skewed defense policy discourse at a time when a more balanced understanding of historical factors was sorely needed.
In addition, the reader is presented with a wide range of invaluable insights into innovation phenomena and a clear understanding of the origins and core elements of recent US advances in areas such as battlefield surveillance and reconnaissance, long-range precision strike, stealth technology, and end-to-end information and knowledge capabilities.
This book will be of great interest to all students of the US military, military history and of military and strategic studies in general.