473
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND
CHANGING FACEOF WARFARE
A downsized force and a shrinking defense budget result in an
increased reliance on technology, which must provide the force
multiplier required to ensure a viable military deterrent...Battlefield
information system became the ally of the warriors. They did much
more than provide a service. Personal computers were force
multipliers.
- Gen Colin Powell
1
The battle cry of the communication revolution is "better, faster, cheaper." The
only field where cost is continuously falling down with improved performance is
Information Technology field. The fusion between computers and communication is
complete. A $2000 laptop is more powerful than a computer worth 10 million dollar
20 years back. A 3 minute New York London phone calls in 1930 would have cost $
300 in today's price, today it costs less than $10 and quality of speech is much better.
The revolution in information technology is also causing revolutionary
changes in how warfare will be fought in today's information age. All over the world
there is a dramatic reduction in cost and increase in facilities in all information
technology fields. Cost of making a telephone call, sending a mail or data have come
down drastically whereas the computing power of computer is increasing dramatically
with rapid reduction of cost and size. The software interaction is becoming more
versatile and more user friendly and fantastic facilities are available in these
softwares. All the latest technology such as the Global Positioning System (GPS),
satellite surveillance, fibre optic communication, Direct Broadcast systems (DBS),
internet access, cryptography, sensors and precision weapons are commercially
available in world market. Technology is improving the methods of obtaining and
disseminating information. Though technology can be seen as a force multiplier, the
limitations of information and technology as tools of war need to be recognised and
their risk assessed. The success of the coalition forces at Persian Gulf war has
drowned the lessons of the Vietnam war learnt by US Armed Forces. All the technical
advantages of USA at Vietnam could not win the war for them . The "crude" forces
defeated high technology force at Vietnam. One should not forget that "All the
information in the world will not help poorly motivated, badly trained and
undisciplined soldiers led by indecisive leaders fighting without a sound doctrine ".
2
New Information Technologies. Much is being written about Information
Revolution and Information Warfare. This revolution is based on many new
Information Technologies which are listed in table 1.
