Carl G. Jacobsen – författare

This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the strategicm military and technological forces which are changing the nature and likelihood of war. As the world enters the post-nuclear, or 'second' nuclear age, it has to take account of this revolution in military affairs which is as fundamental as the introduction of gunpowder once was.The contributors explain and chart the exotic technologies such as 'Star Wars', the Cruise Missile explosion, new naval dynamics, the US Army's Forward 'Air-Land' doctrine, the Soviet 'Operational Manoeuvre Groups' and 'Theatres of Military-Strategic Operations', battle management, and new challenged complicating international security calculations. They also take account f the fact that we have twenty-first century weapons but only nineteenth century ways of thought, and that computers and artificial intelligence are lessening our comprehension and control. They conclude that the risk of inadvertent war is increasing, even as the risk of deliberate war is diminishing.

Realistic appraisal of Soviet defence efforts is crucial to strategic planning and foreign policy analysis. Since Soviet defence expenditure figures are incomplete, however, our knowledge in this area is extremely limited. This study reviews the state of current knowledge in this field, and presents a critical review of the nature and limitation of traditional approaches.The contributors analyse newly available sources of economic, scientific, and technical military information, and conclude with an in-depth consideration of the relevance and impact of historical and cultural influences on current Russian-Soviet military strategy. There emerges a fascinating account, which both extends our knowledge and understanding, and sheds light on what is perhaps the single most important 'unknown' in the study of international affairs and defence needs.