Deterrence And Containment

The term of "revolution in military affairs"(RMA) came from the "military technical revolution"(MTR). From the background standpoint, RMA stared as early as the late 1970s or the early 1980s.lt consists of revolution hi dominant factors and revolution in assistant factors. Dominant factors is the backbone which includes the obvious changes in military equipment, doctrine and organizations. The revolution in military equipment includes, stealth weapons, precision-guided weapons, unmanned-smart weapons and the system of C4ISR's appearing and improving. The revolution in military theory mainly includes the research of Information warfare, the Air-Land doctrine and full-spectrum doctrine. The revolution in military organizations includes reducing scale of the army, organizational system moving toward smaller units, omnipotence and lightness; chain of command changes from hierarchical structure to network structure. Assistant factors refer to the revolution of training and military industry which assures the prosperous march of RMA. The transformation of military industry is substance assurance of RMA; training revolution is an effective way in which the revolutionary army is set up to grasp the revolutionary achievements. According to the procedure of RMA and the measure which America has taken, this revolution has its own specialty different from those of former military revolutions. From a technological standpoint, the key factors driving the RMA is Information technology; from the relationship among each factors of RMA, it embodies system of system; from the relationship between it and security environment, the explanation and description on the whole globe's security environment the threat of American benefits support and limit American RMA; from the practical course of RMA, the incessant evaluating on exact conception of future wars is an effective way to push RMA. Although RMA hasn't been finishedat present, it has had the ability to change the way people fight war from the achievements which has been grained and some wars, which embodies the following: the importance of master of the information being increased in wars; the fog of war being dissipated in part; the principle of collecting army being changed; the relationship between destroy and wound being changed; at last, the pale of tactical operation and strategy operation being fog gradually. At the same time, RMA has a sibnificant effect on the strategic military balance. America is the van and leader of RMA. Other countries maybe make much progress in some respects, but only America can combine all elements into the whole and push the revolution towards advancing. Because of this, America is in the lead of other countries in military power, which can gain great strategic resources. All kinds of technology and theories from RMA make America get its strategic purpose by less cost , less accessional lesion and more strategic lightness. Certainly, RMA also brought bad effect, eg, the level of combat readiness declining, the skillful ones in the army missing and "asymmetric threatener". The achievement of RMA is obvious, and there is no doubt that it made progress in skill, but it is combined with American hegemonism tightly, and serves its "deterrence" and "containment" strategy, whose essential is to try to found a sharp sword which is used to endeavor and support its the world hegemony.