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A Transformation Gap?

Stanford University Press

Contents

Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................................viiContributors........................................................................................................................................ix1 Military Transformation in NATO: A Framework for Analysis Theo Farrell and Terry Terriff.........................................................12 The Rise of Military Transformation Frans Osinga.................................................................................................143 Innovating within Cost and Cultural Constraints: The British Approach to Military Transformation l Theo Farrell and Tim Bird.....................354 From Bottom-Up to Top-Down Transformation: Military Change in France Sten Rynning................................................................595 The Rocky Road to Networked and Effects-Based Expeditionary Forces: Military Transformation in the Bundeswehr Heiko Borchert......................836 Innovating on a Shrinking Playing Field: Military Change in The Netherlands Armed Forces Rob de Wijk and Frans Osinga............................1087 The Innovation Imperative: Spain's Military Transformation and NEC Antonio Marquina and Gustavo Díaz........................................1448 Transformation through Expeditionary Warfare: Military Change in Poland Olaf Osica...............................................................1679 The Diffusion of Military Transformation to European Militaries Terry Terriff and Frans Osinga...................................................187Notes...............................................................................................................................................211Index...............................................................................................................................................251

Chapter One

Theo Farrell and Terry Terriff

Across the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), member states are undergoing military transformation. For new member states from the former Eastern bloc, there has been transformation with the introduction of democratically controlled military organizations. Some existing member states have also been transforming their militaries to phase out conscription and move toward all-volunteer professional forces. On top of these de facto transformations in military professionalism across Europe, NATO undertook a commitment at the 2002 Prague Summit, to transform its capabilities for, and approach to, military operations, and to lead that effort a specific NATO command was created, Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

Notwithstanding the establishment of ACT, military transformation has been a US-led process centered on the exploitation of new information technologies in combination with new concepts for "networked organizations" and "effects-based operations" (EBO). European states have simply been unable to match the level of US investment in new military technologies, and so for some time critics have warned of a growing "transformation gap" between the United States and the European allies. In recent years, this process of developing transformational technologies and concepts for war has been reoriented toward tackling counterinsurgency (COIN) and stability operations. Here, the experience (especially from colonial times) of states such as Britain and France gives some European militaries a possible transformation advantage over the big war orientated US military.

This study assesses the extent and trajectory of military transformation across a range of European NATO member states. It considers cases of the major European military powers (Britain, France, and Germany), smaller Western militaries (Spain and The Netherlands), and one new member state (Poland). This study offers a more nuanced picture of the much touted transatlantic "transformation gap." It shows the enormous variation among the European allies on the extent of transformation, suggesting that there may be both technological and conceptual gaps within Europe. It describes how a complex and contingent mix of international and local drivers is operating to push forward military transformation in each country. And, accordingly, it provides insight into the variable trajectories of military transformation among NATO member states.

In this chapter, we introduce the common analytical framework for the book. Essentially, this centers on breaking transformation down into three discrete elements — namely, network-enablement, effects based operations, and expeditionary warfare. The extent and trajectory of military transformation in each case-study is assessed in terms of these respective technological, doctrinal, and organizational innovations. A secondary goal of this volume is to assess the process of military transformation in each country. This involves an enormously complex interaction among international, national, and organizational factors in each case. Nonetheless, three discrete scholarly literatures considered in this chapter, on military innovation, norm diffusion, and alliance theory, respectively, do provide pointers for analyzing the processes of military transformation.

WHAT IS MILITARY TRANSFORMATION?

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the United States officially embarked on a process of military transformation. Chapter 2 of this volume discusses the rise of military transformation in detail, and thus we provide only a brief introduction in this section to orientate the reader. In the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), the US Department of Defense (DoD) declared transformation to be "at the heart" of its "new strategic approach." Military transformation is rooted in the US-led Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) of the 1990s, when it became apparent that advances in information technology (IT), as harnessed by a resource-rich US military, offered the potential to revolutionize the conduct of warfare, in much the same way that mechanical transport, metal steam-powered ships, and manned flight all revolutionized warfare. The spectacular American victory in the 1991 Gulf War also seemed to suggest that a US-led RMA was underway and that US forces were leaping forward in military capability. Indeed, while a number of NATO states provided air and naval forces to support the US-led coalition, only Britain and France provided significant ground contingents. Moreover, the French 6th Light Division was allocated to the far left flank, well away from the main coalition land offensive, because, unlike the British 1st Armoured Division, it was not deemed to be up to major combat operations. In large part, then, the Gulf War appeared to be a success for the RMA, and militaries around the world began to look closely at the new US military model based on the exploitation of IT. However, no state could hope to match the level of US investment in IT-enabled military capabilities. So while the rhetoric of the US RMA spread rapidly to other militaries, actual emulation of the new US military model, insofar as it occurred, did so selectively and on a surface level only.

By the end of the 1990s, the term "military transformation" had begun to replace that of RMA in describing the...